High prices of bread, mealie meal trigger 16.7pc inflation hike
as the country closes 2024 with a high inflation rate from 13.2 percent it opened the year with in January.
By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
INCREASED prices of bread and cereals such as maize grain and rice have led to the country closing the year with a high annual inflation rate of 16.7 percent.
The country opened this year with an annual inflation rate of 13.2 percent from 13.1 percent recorded in December 2023.
The Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) acting Statistician-General, Ms Sheila Mudenda attributed the increase in annual inflation rate for December 2024 to price movements of both food and non-food items.
Ms Mudenda pointed out bread and cereal, meat and fish as among some the commodities whose high prices led to the increased in the annual inflation rate. Bread is fetching above K25 a loaf.
“Annual inflation for December 2024 increased to 16.7 percent from 16.5 percent recorded in November, 2024. This means that on average, prices of goods and services increased by 16.7 percent between December 2023 and December 2024.
“This development was mainly attributed to price movements of both Food and Non-food items,” she said at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
Meanwhile, Ms Mudenda announced that Gross Domestic Product estimates for the third quarter of 2024 showed that the economy grew by 2.5 percent from 5.7 percent in the third quarter of 2023.
This, she explained, represented a slowdown in growth of 3.2 percent decrease in growth compared to the same quarter in 2023.
“The Gross Domestic Product at current prices in the third quarter of 2024 was estimated at K182.78 billion compared to K146.00 billion recorded in the same quarter of 2023.
“Analysis at industry level shows that out of K182, 780.3 million, the industry with the highest share were, wholesale & retail trade (19.3 percent), mining & quarrying (16.7 percent), transportation and storage (11.9 percent), construction (11.0 percent) and manufacturing (9.6 percent) accounting for more than 50 percent of national GDP,” she said.
