Despite the overall reported annual inflation for February, 2022 easing to 14.2% from 15.1% recorded in January, 2022 mainly attributed to base effects, the prices of key commodities have continued to rise adversely affecting most households whose incomes have remained stagnant.
An analysis by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT of the detailed report availed by the Zambia Statistical Agency – Zamstats reveals that the devil is indeed in the detail. For instance, the price of the country’s staple food mealie meal recorded an increase in price of almost 8% between January and February 2022.
The Zamstats report further revealed that a 25kg bag of mealie meal was fetching a maximum price of K200 in Chinsali, a provincial capital of Muchinga region. Other daily consumer commodities whose prices have surged up include frozen chicken whose price per kilogram has increased from K41.07 in February 2021 to K58.38 in February 2022, an increase in price of about 42%.
Meat prices have also shot up in prices per kilogram with fillet and rump steak posting an increase of about 25% from February 2021 to February 2022. For the non food items, steep price increase has also been reported for bathing and washing soaps which have recorded price increases of between 27 to 41% between February 2021 to February 2022.
The recent overall increase in fuel prices coupled with the local currency – the Kwacha depreciation streak against major international convertible continue to weigh down and push up the cost of living for the majority of Zambians. The stability of the Kwacha remains a challenge.
The central bank – BOZ has set an inflation target of single digit by year end and a target range of between 6 to 8% for 2023. The BOZ governor Denny Kalyalya however hinted that the impending electricity tariff increase pose a threat to achieving the above inflation target.
