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.
Its not excuses.
Manufacturers in general keep upto 3 months of raw material stock.
Dollar tumbled from 23 to 16 in a period of less than 3 weeks. How can Manufacturers just reduce prices like that.
That which was bought at 23 lasts for 3 months so until that doesn’t finish they can’t just adjust to rate of 16.
That will be a massive loss.
We need exchange rate stability. Not today 23 and tomorrow 16. And vice versa.
Prices won’t reduce until mid to end of October and kwacha has already started depreciating again.
We need stability and these fake economists with paper degrees and no experience on the ground should keep their opinions to themselves.
They have no idea what business means. Their opinions do not hold any merit, they don’t understand what…
Agree
Wait until k65m goes on the market
We want the Kwacha @ K10 to the dollar. Then fuel K5/litre, Fertilser K250/litre. Bread K7 A loaf, Mealie meal K35/25KG, Cooking oil K35/2.5litrs.
No school fees.
@1 your points are correct but you don’t trash another persons views. He is also right in some sense. For example, this country is now almost consuming 60pc of locally manufactured household goods made by Trade Kings and yes they could have raw materials they imported some months ago, but the daily consumption of their goods by the country is so massive that they could even be using newly imported materials. Someone has to come out and say something about it, and that is what he trying to do. By the way kwacha started to appreciate somewhere around 1st July and accelerated thereafter. Its just unfortunate that soon after elections, it halted and has depreciated over the couple of days. I just hope the new dawn admn will find a formula to keep the appreciation trend, at K12 would not be…
The Zambia We want September
We want the Kwacha @ K10 to the dollar. Then fuel K5/litre, Fertilser K250/litre. Bread K7 A loaf, Mealie meal K35/25KG, Cooking oil K35/2.5litrs.
No school fees.
CHACHINE
Not yet stabilized. Still creeping up daily by few ngwees. Stability is when it creeps up one day then down again another day and so forth not just one way for the past one month.
@ Phiri
You explanation is correct when it comes to price reduction, so what about price increase? because I saw where commodity prices were increased threefold or higher within a month the time the kwacha was in depreciating mode, and the reason dealers where giving was depreciating kwacha. So in business since you know business models more than our economists, please explain to me a layman in business models and in economics. does it mean these dealers where running out of stock within a few weeks and imported expensive stock within a month. example is prices of rebars, brickforce wire, wire and steel nails, anti termite etc. or does it mean they opted to sell new imported stock which was bought at an expansive price every week than selling the old stock which they had bought when the…
Problem is people have become too greedy. This is why even GRZ officials earning a lot of money still indulge in corruption. We must learn to live honest lives.