Inflation Hits Double Digit in Zambia This Week

After more than a year of single digit inflation, Zambia’s records keeper, the Central Statistical Office (CSO), has announced that the country hit double digit inflation this week. CSO Director Efrida Chulu told journalists that the double digit inflation was as a result of rising food prices, which has seen the March inflation at 10 percent from the previous nine percent.

This was attributed to the rising cost of living, exacerbated by high energy prices used to ferry consumers goods from one place to another.

Chulu also cited high food and beverage prices and accommodation costs as some of the reasons for the increasing inflation levels.

The CSO head said the trend was likely to continue unless intervention measures are put in place to curb high food prices.

The latest findings by the CSO are likely to trigger alarm bells with the government of President Levy Mwanawasa which has prided itself in bringing economic stability to the country after years of recession due to mismanagement and corruption by the previous Frederick Chiluba regime which ended in 2001.

The government recently announced that despite high food prices on the global market, Zambia was unlikely to be affected by high food costs because the country had sufficient food stocks from surplus grain grown last year.

There have, however, been some increases in the cost of the country’s staple food maize and wheat products which have been attributed to higher costs of production because of frequent electricity outages and the rising cost of fuel.

Source African Press Agency

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