Zimbabwe trims 2016 economic growth forecast, budget deficit balloons

Reuters
Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa (L) addresses a media conference after meeting International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Director for Africa Chileshe Kapwepwe (R) in Harare, September 7, 2015. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's economy is now expected to grow 1.2 percent in 2016, from the 1.4 percent forecast earlier in the year, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in his mid-year budget speech on Thursday. Chinamasa also told parliament that the budget deficit had already overshot the target in the first half of the year at $623 million, and that the shortfall for the whole year could rise above $1 billion. (Reporting by MacDonlad Dzirutwe; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by James Macharia)