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Zambia’s economy grew 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, slowing sharply from 8.3 percent in the same period a year earlier, reflecting weaker performance in key sectors, the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) said on Thursday.
“The deceleration represents a 6.7-percentage-point drop in year-on-year growth,” Sheila Mudenda, the Statistician General, told reporters.
“These estimates are based on GDP at constant 2010 prices,” she said.
Mudenda said growth during the quarter was driven by agriculture, forestry & fishing, construction, manufacturing, and transportation & storage, which contributed 1.7 percent, 1.2 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.
However, several industries weighed heavily on the overall outturn.
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She indicated that information and communication contracted 2.5 percent, wholesale and retail trade fell 1.5 percent, while financial and insurance services declined 0.3 percent.
She said the mining and quarrying sector also dipped 0.2 percent.
At industry level, the strongest growth rates were recorded in electricity generation (38.4 percent), agriculture, forestry and fishing (34.8 percent), construction (19.6 percent), transportation and storage (18.3 percent) and manufacturing (15.3 percent).
She said sharp declines were posted in information and communication (-15.2 percent), wholesale and retail trade (-9.8 percent), water supply (-7.0 percent), and financial and insurance activities (-5.4 percent).
GDP at Current Prices Rises
Mudenda said GDP at current prices for fourth quarter 2025 was estimated at K201.98 billion, up from K184.20 billion a year earlier.
She said wholesale and retail trade accounted for the largest industry share at 17 percent, followed by transportation and storage (15.6 percent), mining and quarrying (13.9 percent), and construction (10.8 percent).
Mudenda said together, these sectors contributed 57.3 percent of total economic output.
Water supply (0.2 percent) and arts, entertainment and recreation (0.1 percent) had the smallest shares.
Full-Year GDP Growth Steady at 3.8%
Preliminary estimates indicate that Zambia’s economy grew 3.8 percent in 2025, unchanged from 2024.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing contributed the most to annual GDP growth at 2.2 percentage points, while wholesale and retail trade had the largest negative impact at -1.8 percentage points.
She said the fastest-growing industries in 2025 were agriculture, forestry & fishing (51.2 percent), arts, entertainment & recreation (16.5 percent ), and accommodation & food services (15.5 percent).
Mudenda said transport and storage grew 15.3 percent, while manufacturing expanded 7.1 percent and information and communication rose 6.4 percent.
She said sectors that contracted included other service activities (-22.6 percent), wholesale and retail trade (-11.2 percent), water supply (-8 percent), administrative and support services (-6.2 percent), financial and insurance activities (-2.5 percent) and electricity (-0.2 percent).
GDP at current prices for 2025 was estimated at K725.64 billion, up from K662.09 billion in 2024.
She said wholesale and retail trade, mining and quarrying, transportation and storage, construction and manufacturing collectively accounted for 64.2 percent of output.
Mudenda said the annual GDP figures incorporated revisions following the release of the 2024/2025 Post-Harvest Survey, which resulted in upward adjustments to agricultural output for the first three quarters of 2025.
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