Bank of Zambia Deputy Governor Operations, Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu has said that the inflation rate is projected to reduce to a single digit by the end of this year.
Dr. Ng’andu said that the Central Bank has managed to slow down the rate of inflation through a number of interventions over the past months.
Dr. Ng’andu said that the 12.5 percent inflation recorded in the month of October is therefore not fictional but due to base factors.
Dr. Ng’andu has also urged Zambians to develop a habit of saving money with Commercial Banks, adding that saving will eventually culminate in reduction of interest rates charged by Banks on loans.
Dr. Ng’andu was speaking in an interview with ZNBC news in Lusaka during the Commemorations of World Savings Day.
Really laughable..based on what? Spreadsheet projections.
@lazy bum bum Jay Gay ..these are the projections and predictions some of us made 2 to 3 months ago when you UPND blood thirsty animals were predicting economic chaos!
I’m on record of saying inflation would get back to a single digit figure! My Govt at work!!!!
Next move we expect the banning of Luxury Vehicles by top govt officials!!!! PF is trully the people’s party and ECL the man of the people!!!
@ 2020 you shock me with fuel price increase and expected electricity tarrif increase I truly wonder what projections this is based on also that we have an element of imported inflation mostly from RSA is Ngandu saying he is quite confident and sure how things will go that end in terms of inflation ??what if the Rand strengthens ?? Also there is little in the way of fiscal measure implementation instead we are seeing alot of monetary measures in mopping liquidity of the market to the point of even limiting bank withdrawals…. Caderism has never solved economic issues
It’s the inflation in lungu and his ministers pockets that has reduced.
With the fuel price increase every zambian is seeing the cost of living shoot up.
The las report based this reduction among other things on car sales. Even a village idio.t will tell you that with fuel price increase car sales will of lower value in prices.
Hahaha..@ 2020vision, PF banning luxury vehicles? It’s like telling African American to stop Bling-Bling. It’s never gonna happen. How else are they gonna show-off that they are important??
Another lie by the BOZ, we only have 60 days before the end of the year. With the hit of fuel prices still to be felt, how will the inflation reduce from over 12 to less that 10. We will see on Dec 31 and see that they will say.
How has ECL & PF managed to turn sane people into madmen. Dr Ng’andu is one of the best banking brains in the country I don’t believe he can spew such political bull.
Bank of Zambia is supposed to be an independent entity.
And now they are telling PF lies?
Sad times for mother Zambia when the rotteness has sunk so deep!
@Itizi Turu, Ng’andu is not a proper banker, never was and never will be. He has always skirted on the edges of banking in HR support functions. That’s why he should not have been a DG Operations in the first place. But being Bemba is everything with PF.
VERY DULL PF CADRES. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT HIGH PRICES ARE THE NEW NORMAL.
The Doc is working from theoretical and fictitious premise. How do Zambians save money when they cannot pay their bills? He should instead urge his collegues in government to close their swiss, UK and South African accounts and save local. Inflation will be 30% soon.
Yhe economy is like human health sickness. You can hide it, but it will comeout in ths open.
@Joseph, very good points you raise there about the fact that people are earning whatever little money and it goes straight to paying off their bills. And yes this ‘savings’ statement should be targeted to his elite government who steal and externalise the loot.
I doubt that this government has a capacity and resources to really know what is happening with the economy, let alone predict future trends. Obviously the country is very big with the majority of people being poor and are disconnected from official reporting. These guys just use Lusaka and the C/belt to give us these misinformed statements. What about the kaponyas, subsistence farmers and fishermen in villages, etc? Above all, how is this going to benefit ordinary people who are struggling paying for a meal?
Comment: tell the people of zambia who banking outside country retreive their money from outside banks ,to banK within the country’s banks. Especially government workers
But then these looters will be providing evidence of their theft of public resources! They will keep the money where ACC and ZRA cannot check on them.
It will never happen!
The folly in the article is mind boggling to say the least. Just the near 40% fuel prices hikes spells disaster for rate of inflation. Even Kalumbi said so, expect the impact of fuel increment next months and its spillover effects to a lot other things.
Who said that when fuel prices go up so does inflation? High inflation was created when civil servants” salaries were increased astronomically.
Of course that’s what happens to inflation when the economy enters a deflationary state, it declines! We all know that further borrowing is no longer an option because of the prohibitive interest rates on the Euro bonds, nobody in their right sense of mind will lend money to you. Thus to claim this decline is good omens and to encourage us to save on the pretext that this will eventually culminate in reduction of interest rates charged by Banks on loans is tantamount to voodoo economics ba sangoma Bwalya Ng’andu
And further, quantum easing is no longer an option too given the massive amounts Sata printed for his tribal universities in Mchinga and completely useless districts! The monies Chagwa also printed for electioneering are all still wrecking havoc on your economy. There is no excuse here guys, you’re fooling yourselves because we all know the bottom has fallen from the Zambian economy, mwanya manje ba sakalanyongo imwe mwabe itole pamisana yenu! Linja za litungulu no mutanganyo tuni mina?
Dr Ng’andu Bwalya is an economist not a banker. And he is by no means the best in the country, he is actually a very average one. I mean, there is no economist worth his salt who would confuse the current decline in our inflation to anything other than the deflationary state the economy has entered. With the recent fuel hike in a moribund economy, inflationary exuberance is bound to be the resultant effect with prices and interest rates taking an upward trajectory, whether people save or not!
No he is not an economist at all. Dr Ng’andu is an HR specialist and his PhD is HR related. That’s how he was HR Director at Barclays. He may hang out with economists every day at BOZ but it is not rubbing off on him.
What parameters are in place to minimize inflation figure? Please release this man, his governor, other deputy governor, and many more fossils at this central bank
The question must be “what measures are in place to minimize inflation rate?” various polices are in place this includes, Tight monetary policy or contractionary money demand policy, Increased Central bank Policy rate, etc, the ‘parameters’ is a vague insinuation of ‘trying’ to understand the economic fundamentals that affect the inflation rate. please dont use the word ‘figure’ its not a static measure, its a time-series variable that continuously change hence ‘rate’
Actually BWALYA is not an economist nor a banker he did public administration a certificate in banking and his PhD is in labor relations…he is a general worker and not a technical job like DG Operations…they are just troubling him…so maybe send him to IDC or something and find a monetary economist with people management skills to take over from him…so Denny now works overtime
Nonsense Bwalya has a PHD in economics. HH does not have one
Bwalya Ngandu got that job because of old Bemba Royal connections. He is a dumb technocrat.
You are just being petty and jealous. He is actually a prudent technocrat.
So According to BOZ there will be impact of fuel price increase on inflation? How can that be?
BOZ has not said that! those are your own words which are misplaced and not following any logic or thoughts of the topic at hand.
Comment:Correction Dr ngandu is a Psychologist by training and not an economist. Maybe he did economics later
He never did. Even becoming MD at DBZ and later DGO was part of Sata’s jobs for Bembas strategy. The IMF were not impressed with him then. That was the reason why he went to be PS for a Province. This dumb interview will just confirm their initial instincts were correct.
Correction, Dr ngandu is a Psychologist, at first Degree level and economist at Masters and PHD level. @Buck Teeth Lungu dot attache tribe to any issue at hand, it backfires, HH thought he could become president using tribe but it has always failed.
Bwalya was sent as PS to the province as part of the Kabimba/Cartels strategies of sidelining perceived threats to the advancement of their monopolistic plans/games/maneuvers.
IMF has no interest of Deputy Governors credentials/competencies. Unless the Governor to some extent only.
Besides it the technocrats that do all the job and give results to supervisors.
This economics being applied is bad. We can save but earn what interest? Especially where most banks charge you to hold a current account. Inflation cannot go down in 2 months without macro & microeconomic factors being implemented. We are still waiting for an IMF bailout for consumption!
Ignorance of economics is the biggest scandal of our century. Central bank and ministry of finance have being jointly implementing measures that the Republican President outlined last year. The decline of the inflation rate is the culmination of these measures. And according to the projections with the current relatively stable macro economic environment the rate is likely the drop to single digit. This is the research findings work of highly qualified technocrats at BOZ, where Ngandu Bwalya is one of the many technocrats.
EVERYTHING IS A JOKE IN ZAMBIA. VERY SOON ZIMBABWE SITUATION WILL COVER THE WHOLE COUNTRY, THE BANKS ARE TRYING TO HIDE THE REAL ECONOMIC SITUATION, BUT FOR HOW LONG?
Zambia is a rising star! only big jokes are Matokwani liking. The fundamental economic situation that prevailed in Zimbabwe substantially different to what is happening in Zambia. Banks are business entities that respond to economic situations in the country not hiding anything! The real economic situation is that the inflation rate is coming down, By December 31st when the inflation rate will plummet to a single digit. From 18.9% in Sep to 12.5% in Oct, is is projected to hit 9.98% by December. That Good news for the Zambian economy as the macro-economic fundamentals are holding up.
This is total nonsense. There’s no money in the economy and you expect people to save? Just because he earns thousands and thousands of kwacha which he’s able to save and thinks everybody can do so?Besides,the price of fuel has just been increased and you expect inflation to go down??What economics is this?
Indeed total nonsense for the pseudo, wanna be economist. saving is a culture, regardless of how much one earns. The increase in price of fuel is, but just one commodity in the whole economy! Inflation constitutes the general and sustained increase of prices in the economy over a defined period of time. the reality is that other prices increase while other prices decline. If the majority prices increase relative to declines than inflation rate increases. Its that simple ECN 1101, at introductory level.
Zambia is a big joke of a country! Inflation is still at 18.6% no matter what CSO says, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Zambia is a rising star! big jokes like Mentalist, will further be shocked come December 31st when the inflation rate will plummet to a single digit. mind you the inflation rate as measured by the CPI is not a direct reflection all price changes in the economy but a relative changes. Further the nature of time-series variables like inflation rate is the they tend to drag like ‘inertia’ in physical sciences. such that inflation dragged up to around 22% and when is fails the same inertia propels it downwards which is referred to as the full base effect. Hence a drop from 18.9% to 12.5%.