The curse is real in Zimbabwe: economic sanctions must go!

Zimbabwe’s economic hara-kiri has become so stupendous that it can no longer be addressed without dealing with economic sanctions first. If nothing is done now, Zimbabwe will continue to sink deep down into the sanctions-induced economic doldrums. To set Zimbabwe on a genuine economic recovery path, economic sanctions must be removed first. Empirical evidence indicates that economic sanctions are not only predatory but also cancerous for any economy and they must be removed. This study shows that economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are detrimental to the economy; hence the urgent need for their removal. On the other side of the same coin, this paper also argues that the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are also backfiring against the imposers. Therefore, there is absolutely no need for their continued imposition since the sender-countries are also being hurt by the same sanctions! However, the need to “call a spade a spade” in handling the “issues” being raised by the sanctions-imposing countries is not unimportant given the gravity of the “sanctions game” in Zimbabwe. As Zimbabweans continue to lobby for the immediate removal of economic sanctions, this paper offers four-fold policy recommendations in order to boost Zimbabwe’s resistance to economic sanctions.