Zimbabwe - Disaster Risk Finance Diagnostic (English)

This disaster risk finance (DFR) diagnostic was prepared by the World Bank Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice in response to a request from the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) for a study to assess the institutional, legal, and financial planning for financing of disaster risk in Zimbabwe. The GoZ intends to use the diagnostic to inform the development of a comprehensive national DRF strategy. The diagnostic will also inform the Zimbabwe Country Climate and Development Report, which is a joint analytical product of the World Bank and the GoZ and will complement the ongoing Zimbabwe Country Private Sector Diagnostic. The objective of this DRF diagnostic is to assess Zimbabwe’s financial preparedness to disasters and crises. Zimbabwe is ranked a medium-to low-climate risk country but faces high impacts due to high levels of socioeconomic vulnerability and a significant lack of coping and adaptive capacity. This assessment entails analysis of: (i) the economic and fiscal impact of disasters (chapter 1); (ii)the legal and institutional arrangements for DRF (chapter 2); (iii) pre-arranged funding available to the government for response (chapter 3); (iv) the domestic insurance and capital markets (chapter 4); and (v) the potential funding gap - that is, the difference between the amount of pre-arranged funding available to government and the estimated cost of response to disasters (chapter 5). Based on this analysis, the diagnostic presents recommendations to strengthen the financial preparedness of Zimbabwe to disasters and crises (chapter 6).