Daily Revelation Reporter
Claims by the UPND government that inflation has come down to 9.7 percent is a lie, says former Commerce minister Bob Sichinga.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Sichinga, who is an accountant, said both economically and using simple and logical common sense, it is not possible that the rate of inflation would come down when the prices of all the goods in the country are going up.
He said the figure was being cooked up to show that things have improved when in actual fact not.
“That’s why the whole thing is a mockery. Indeed it is a mockery. It’s a mockery because to say while prices are going up you say inflation is coming down. How can that be possible? It’s not mathematically possible,” Sichinga argued.
He said since the UPND came into office, the increase in fuel, in the case of petrol has risen from around K17 to K26, with diesel increasing from around K16 to K28.
“How is it possible that there can be a reduction in inflation? Because the biggest cost on most of these across the board, fuel is among the biggest cost numbers,” Sichinga said.
He said just the mere fact that fuel has increased, and with it the corresponding increases in prices of other goods “that’s why it is a mockery to say that inflation is coming down.”
“How does it come down? The only time the inflation will come down is when prices go down. Now when rates of fares are going up, it has to increase the inflation definitely. As the word itself suggests, inflation is to increase. It’s not (9.7 percent inflation) realistic. What they are saying to us is a dichotomy. It’s not real,” Sichinga said. “This is manipulated, so called statistical manipulation or engineering. That’s what it can be. There can be no lowering of inflation when prices are going up. It’s not possible. So when you increase the price fares, the only thing they have not done is to increase the rates for freight that the tankers, transporters of fuel in the same way they have given some increase to the passenger transport. They must give the same increase to the fuel transporters.”
Sichinga said the move would increase the price, but for the tankers to continue to operate, to make sure that the fuel is available, they would need to increase their rates otherwise they will be running at a loss forcing them to halt their activities.
He said this would mean that the only people that would be transporting the commodity are people from the neighboring countries whose prices are lower than those prevailing in Zambia.
“So what I am saying is that really, the inflation that they say is reducing is definitely a mockery. They are not being truthful,” insisted Sichinga.
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