The Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats), indicates that the Year-on-Year Inflation Rate for January 2021 increased to 21.5% from 19.2% recorded in December 2020.
The increase in the annual rate of inflation was mainly attributed to price increases in food items.
Annual Food Inflation Rate
The annual food inflation rate for January 2021 was 25.6% compared to 20.2% recorded in December 2020, an increase of 5.4%.
This was mainly attributed to increases in prices of food items such as bread and cereals (breakfast, roller meal, maize grain); meats (fillet, rump steak, brisket, mixed cut, t-bone, chicken); fish (frozen fish, buka buka, dried bream, dried kapenta); vegetables (cabbage, tomatoes, dried beans, fresh maize ); fats & oils (margarine, butter, cooking oil) and eggs.
Annual Non-Food Inflation Rate
The annual non-food inflation rate for January 2021 was 16.7%, down from 18.1% in December 2020.
The slowdown in inflation rate was mainly attributed to the base effect in household appliances (refrigerator, electric Stove, electric iron, electric fan) and gas (propane).
Monthly Inflation Rate
The monthly inflation rate for January 2021 was 3.7%, an increase of 0.5% from 3.2% in December 2020.
The increase in the monthly inflation rate was attributed to general price movements of both food and non-food items.
