Zambia’s economy records strong 5.2% growth in Q2 2025 as agriculture, ICT drive rebound

Zambia’s economy posted a strong recovery in the second quarter of 2025, expanding by 5.2 percent compared to 1.9 percent in the same period last year, the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) has revealed.

Announcing the figures in Lusaka on Thursday, Acting Statistician-General, Sheila Mudenda, said the growth reflected robust performances in agriculture, information and communication, transport, and mining.

“This represents a 3.3 percentage point increase in growth compared to the second quarter of 2024, largely supported by strong output in agriculture, forestry and fishing at 42.9 percent, information and communication at 20.6 percent, transportation and storage at 16.4 percent, and mining and quarrying at 10.4 percent,” Mudenda said.

She noted, however, that several industries weighed negatively on growth, including other service activities (-33.0 percent), water supply (-16.4 percent), wholesale and retail trade (-10.6 percent), and electricity supply (-9.8 percent).

At current prices, GDP in Q2 2025 stood at K183.1 billion, up from K153.9 billion in the same quarter of 2024. The largest contributors were wholesale and retail trade (19.1 percent), mining (17.4 percent), transport (12.1 percent), construction (10.9 percent), and manufacturing (9.5 percent).

For the full year 2024, Zambia’s economy grew by a more modest 3.8 percent, up from 2.4 percent in 2023.

She explained that growth was supported mainly by information and communication, mining, financial services, and construction.

“The economy expanded to K662.1 billion in 2024 at current prices, compared to K557.4 billion in 2023. The sectors with the highest shares were wholesale and retail trade, mining and quarrying, transport and storage, and construction, which collectively accounted for nearly two-thirds of GDP,” Mudenda explained.

By expenditure, final consumption made up 60.7 percent of GDP, while gross capital formation dropped to 23.8 percent, down from 31.4 percent in 2023.

She said that exports share fell to 35 percent from 40.8 percent, while imports surged to 67.4 percent.

“The data highlights a strong rebound in 2025 despite lingering weaknesses in trade and utilities, with agriculture and ICT emerging as major growth drivers,” Mudenda said.

WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.