Africa-Press – Zambia. The Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive secretary Juba Sakala says the continued stability of the Zambian Kwacha against international convertible currencies gives confidence to local and foreign investors
Mr Sakala says ZACA is hopeful that the stability of the local currency will be sustained for the next three months. Mr Sakala in an interview said the stability of the Kwacha will give investors and manufacturers much confidence in the economy of the country.
“We commend the new administration and the central bank for stabilising the exchange rate of the Kwacha against the international convertible currencies, ” he said.
He added that the stabilizing of Kwacha has made most consumers have a lot of hope and plan properly to avoid panic as most of them now are able to wake up with few worries as it was before,” he said. He said the stability of the Kwacha will also see a reduction in the prices of commodities on the market.
The Kwacha this week trading at K 16.5 against the green buck is expected to remain stable as President Hakainde Hichilema has pledged commitment to ensure that the local currency does not lose its value.
Meanwhile Mr Sakala has expressed concern over the continuous rising of prices of commodities on the market. He said it was time the new dawn administration intervened by coming up with certain measures which will see a reduction in commodities.
“We have noticed that the prices of commodities especially food is still on the increase which is worrying our consumers because they can no longer afford to buy their necessities,” he said.
Mr Sakala said the country has continued recording a free fall of the US Dollar hence the need for all the merchants to start reducing prices of their commodities. And Yoram Mweetwa an Economist has urged government to come up with policies that will stop merchants from exploiting the consumers.
“There are some merchants making excuses that they cannot reduce prices of their commodities because they still have old stock but this excuse is not new and we know that there are some ( merchants) who are ordering new stock at reduced rates but still maintaining these exorbitant prices, something has to be done,” he said.
