Inflation for the month of June as compiled by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) has slightly increased to 6.7% from 6.6 % in May, 2012.
CSO Director, John Kalumbi, disclosed this during the presentation of the Monthly CSO Bulletin held at Savoy Hotel in Ndola today.
Mr Kalumbi attributed the rise in inflation to increase in the prices of some food items between the months of May and June.
He said the annual inflation derived from the revised all items Consumer Price Index for June stands at 6.7 % from 6.6 % in May.
This implies that on average the prices increased by 6.7 % between June, 2011 and June, 2012.
Mr Kalumbi further said the annual food inflation rate for the month of June has also increased to 7.1 % from six point 6.8 % in May, 2012.
Meanwhile, Zambia recorded a trade surplus valued at K278.3 billion in May, 2012 compared to K129.6 billion recorded in April, 2012.
Mr Kalumbi explained that in nominal terms, the country exported more than it imported during the same period.
He noted that since 2012, the country has been recording a monthly trade surplus with the highest valued at K351.2billion recorded in January.
Mr Kalumbi disclosed that the country’s major exports in May were mainly metals and their articles which accounted for 79.4 per cent of the total exports for the two months.
ZANIS
OK, looks like MMD policies are still intact, working and delivering , just don’t anything dumb and break anything with silly economic policies from Kulima Tower School of Shiconomics or Matero University. The trade surplus number is more important than inflation and looks like that engine part of the economy is still in good shape. Keep it up.
MMd left a strong foundation…donchi destroy it… swallow ur pride and continue..Zambia is bigger than ur tu ma political parties!
Iwe MMD chief Bootlicker, your day dreaming that the MMD policies are intact is stupid self-importance. The economy of this country would have done even much better if your MMD did not embark on grand corrupt practices in every area. You have been screaming about loss of confidence by investors in the economy due to PF policy pronouncements and today when statics prove you wrong you lick your own vomit.
WELL DONE PF! INVESTORS LOVE A CORRUPT FREE ENVIRONMENT KEEP ARRESTING ALL THOSE STILL DAY DREAMING ABOUT MMD ERA AND DEMANDING FOR BRIBES. Even exhibitors for the 2012 Trade Fair have increased as the system was transparent!
I think you lack analytical skills even where facts and figures are in your face. In January (clearly MMD fruits) your trade surplus was recorded at K351.2b and the most two recent figures are K129.6 and K278.3b and you say well done to PF and investor confidence is high!! Can you not see that there are more questions to be asked here? Please learn to think. You do not need a deficit to see alarm bells. As it is your mind should be eagerly asking what the trend has been for the last 12 months. Only then can you praise PF if the trend indicates an upward direction.
Beef is now expensive, i have resulted to buying a goat for 150 pin which is much much more economical than buying beef for the same amount
Chwe chwe chwe. So, RB did leave something positive. Now let ba Chimbwi inflict more damge, and all this will disappear in 2 years time.
Crunching number that don’t make sense.
As the seigniorage of a long enduring economic expansion continues, the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise are heading in the right direction as proven by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) revealing that our trade surplus valued at K278.3 billion in May, 2012 compared to K129.6 billion recorded in April, 2012 more than doubled. Trade surpluses increase reserves, increased reserves, increased reserves make the local currency stronger, a stronger currency brings about local prosperity. I am used to seeing a prosperous Zambia, I want the street lights back and every street tarred, I want my Zambia back.
#7, our Zambia will be back sooner than expected. Let the dark minded continue to complain while the Govt is busy rectifying the corrupt processes and leading the country back on track to real prosperity.
You got that right
Ba Chungu: “… #7, our Zambia will be back sooner than expected”. I can’t wait for that, what a sweet life it will be. Let’s get our Zambia back.
Interesting to note Zambia has a trade surplus…Are we manufacturing something?
Not yet, but exporting our metals. Manufacturing will follow soon. Do you know hitachi has opened a plat in zed?
Don’t be lazy, check the CSO report for yourself …. we are mining more and exporting more
Ba Economics, that will even increase some more as tax reforms kick in.
Zuma
That Hitachi plant is not manufacturing plant that’s an assembly plant, no skills needed just putting parts together like IKEA flat packed furniture.
# 9: Don’t be lazy, check the CSO report for yourself …. we are mining more and exporting more
Ba Chungu said: “… #7, our Zambia will be back sooner than expected”. I can’t wait for that, what a sweet life it will be. Let’s get our Zambia back.
I Hope you are correct Sr!
Well, its good to learn that there has been a trade surplus :) it looks like we are finally headed in the right direction.I hope this surplus is not fleeting.
coming to the issue of inflation, i would say a 1% rise is not something to cry about, a rise in average price is good every now and then as it is a way of stimulating the economy, but lets hope and pray that it wont exceed 2 %.
We are not producing more. What it means is that there is little activity that necessitates importing materials for manufacturing. We don’t make anything local in Zambia that is used in manufacturing. If there is low industrial activity it means you are exporting more than you are importing and it does not necessarily mean the economy is improving. K350Billion Kwacha is only about $50Million dollars pewr month, which is tiny for an economy that is having the biggest copper mine in Africa. The economy is sick and it is no wonder the $2billion dolars in reserve left by MMD is now below a Billion in less than 10 months. I’m not saying MMD were perfect in everything but they were excellent economic managers. Look now even the youth are rioting for army jobs!
I agree with you my friend. The economy is very sick because the positive news is not coming from active real economic drivers but artificial foreign activity. The MMD where bad economic managers and please do not be fooled to think they ever did any managing.All they did was spend money raised from the little taxes we collected from metal exports. Have you seen any real industry being created with a significant job intake.They day dreamed with such numbers and the fooled themselves like MMD CHIEF BOOTLICKER here has done. It’s like a country being excited at GDP growth figures which are significantly propped up by foreign multi nationals using that country for low tax codes. The real economy is not benefitting at all and these numbers mean nothing.
I’m more interested to know what the other major exports…….. i feel the metals overshadows the other exports don’t get me wrong I’m happy about these figures but would be excited if sectors like Agriculture and Manufacturing were making gains.
A trade surplus resultant from an increase in copper prices on the LME is nothing to rejoice about. After all, all the profits are externalised. No wonder there is lack of forex despite a surge in trade surplus, the kwacha is sliding further against the dollar and inflationery exulberance in the economy is building up. We are in shit, nothing to celebrate about.
MMD policies are still working ignoring this reality will be at PFs own peril because PF have no economic plan as Guy Scott adimitted it. Fair enough that is acceptable to rely on opposition workable ideas. Keep it up PF for development to Zambia.
MMD is a failed party and it’s a pity that they are still hanging around instead of folding their tent and vanishing forever from the Zambian political scene.
It is obvious that when your currency is weak, you earn more from exports. Who are you kidding?
The economy is very sick because the positive news is not coming from active real economic drivers but artificial foreign activity. The MMD where bad economic managers and please do not be fooled to think they ever did any managing.All they did was spend money raised from the little taxes we collected from metal exports. Have you seen any real industry being created with a significant job intake.They day dreamed with such numbers and the fooled themselves like MMD CHIEF BOOTLICKER here has done. It’s like a country being excited at GDP growth figures which are significantly propped up by foreign multi nationals using that country for low tax codes. The real economy is not benefitting at all and these numbers mean nothing.
But if there was a dip and then a rise isn’t that good. Anyway, this economy needs to diversify. Agriculture production should be upped and agroprocessing should follow. Textiles are dead thanx to salaula and cheap chinese Nakonde. What about fruit canning? In the Luapula valley mangoes go to waste! There is a terrible and horrible low voltage and loadsheding. Can ZESCO get its act together? MMD legacy tefyo bane?
The MMD legacy is a mixed of good and bad. On the balance scale the bad outweigh good. Let’s start with the good part. Democracy, freedoms of speech/expression, movement, association. Liberal economy, exposure. Individual entreprenuership spirit or enterprise. That is all. Feeble achievement in 20 years.
The bad: mmm. Closure of many companies like Zed Airways, Mansa Spark, Mwinilunga Fruits, Mongu Cashew nuts, failure to build new university infrastructure, leading to congestion and corruption, unemployment for the growing youth, CORRUPTION, failure to put in place measures to diversify the economy, LACK OF INVESTMENT IN ENERGY GENERATION, DESTRUCTION OF COUNCILS(lack of civic services), poor land allocation…
I don’t know how some bloggers conclude MMD policies are still intact from inflation and trade balance only. Zambia has long enjoyed a trade surplus from copper and a more informative indicator is to look at the current account balance, which has long been negative (even under MMD, but with PF spending on new districts etc guess this has now gone up!). Similarly on inflation, this is heavily weighted to food so the data mainly show the FRA has been putting cheap maize on the market (…to joy of consumers but at the cost of the current account). Meanwhile, the price of imports (and value of exports) have increased by about 10% in ZMK terms due to the exchange rate.
I’m not saying the macros are bad or PF has gone off the deep end, but these data only tell a small part of the story.
You can work out the cause and effect. But surely, Kaunda used to say Go Back To The Land. He created the resettlement scheme. Now we are all residents of the cities with poor housing, sanitation, vending, potholed roads, no street lights, haphazard- unserviced-cadre-allocated-plots with no house numbers, no play packs and green areas for relaxing in the cities, no zoos and botanical gardens. THIS IS MMD!
So what I am saying is, even if PF does not perform in one year as opposed to 90 days, getting rid of you ba MMD was the right thing to do! It is the best thing that ever happened to Zambia! No going back. Take note that PF has to continue the little good that you left and struggle to deal with the filth you built. In your case ba MMD YOU KILLED THE GOOD THAT UNIP LEFT.
Bo Mundia busholi bumwamali,mwan’a lisholi ki lisholi ni yena.PF is full of former MMD membership even the president himself who was the chief campaigner for Chiluba’s bid for a third term was implicated in some form of corruption.
You can choose to zoom in to individual legacies. My concern here is corporate legacies. Individuals can be traced back to pre independence times and their roles have been varied, depending upon corporate policy.
The good thing is we have figures, you can critices all you want but you will swalow your own pride. PF is rectifying the mess and that’s a fact as the statistics show.
Sorry, I meant criticise…….
“Mr Kalumbi disclosed that the country’s major exports in May were mainly metals…”
Stupid economy based on a single commodity up to now! When are they going to wake up and realise that it’s manufacturing and services that’s key to a robust economy?