{"id":37354,"date":"2023-01-01T22:59:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T22:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll"},"modified":"2023-01-01T23:18:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T23:18:58","slug":"zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll","title":{"rendered":"ZAMBIAN KWACHA CRASHES AS INFLATION PRESSURE TAKES TOLL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>A sharp slump in the kwacha that\u2019s placing upward pressure on inflation may prompt monetary policymakers to raise interest rates for the first time in more than a year when they meet in early 2023.<\/p>\n

Consumer prices rose an annual 9.9% this month, compared with 9.8% in November, interim Statistician-General Mulenga Musepa told reporters Thursday in the capital, Lusaka. That\u2019s the highest level since September and brings the average for 2022 to 11.1% \u2014 below the central bank\u2019s forecast of 11.3%. The cost of transport outpaced other price increases, Musepa said.<\/p>\n

The kwacha weakened 12% against the dollar this quarter, its worst performance since the first three months of 2020, when investors bet that the southern African nation would renege on its debt obligations. Zambia became Africa\u2019s first pandemic-era sovereign defaulter in November of that year.<\/p>\n

The currency\u2019s depreciation is partly due to slow progress in debt-restructuring talks with creditors. World Bank President David Malpass said last week the delays are impacting economic growth and poverty in the southern African nation. Zambia is seeking to rework $12.8 billion of foreign loans.<\/p>\n

The uptick in inflation and the decline in the currency may persuade the Bank of Zambia to raise borrowing costs at its February meeting after maintaining the benchmark rate at 9% this year because of a downward trend in price growth.<\/p>\n

Annual inflation, which the MPC expects to average 8.5% next year, has been above the bank\u2019s 6% to 8% target since May 2019. Food inflation decelerated to 11.9% this month from 12.1% in November while non-food price growth accelerated to 7.3% from 6.7%. Monthly inflation quickened to a 10-month high of 1.1%.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. A sharp slump in the kwacha that\u2019s placing upward pressure on inflation may prompt monetary policymakers to raise interest rates for the first time in more than a year when they meet in early 2023. Consumer prices rose an annual 9.9% this month, compared with 9.8% in November, interim Statistician-General Mulenga Musepa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":37352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-37354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nZAMBIAN KWACHA CRASHES AS INFLATION PRESSURE TAKES TOLL - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A sharp slump in the kwacha that\u2019s placing upward pressure on inflation may prompt monetary policymakers to raise intere ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ZAMBIAN KWACHA CRASHES AS INFLATION PRESSURE TAKES TOLL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A sharp slump in the kwacha that\u2019s placing upward pressure on inflation may prompt monetary policymakers to raise intere ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-01T22:59:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-01T23:18:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1672601405.33.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ZAMBIAN KWACHA CRASHES AS INFLATION PRESSURE TAKES TOLL\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-01T22:59:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-01T23:18:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1672601405.33.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/zambian-kwacha-crashes-as-inflation-pressure-takes-toll\",\"name\":\"ZAMBIAN KWACHA CRASHES AS INFLATION PRESSURE TAKES TOLL - 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