By Daily Revelation Editor
The Zambian Kwacha yesterday breached the K23 to US$1, on its continued slippery slope against the United States Dollar and other major convertible currencies.
Basically, the Kwacha started this slippery slope around October 2022. Of course there have been temporal but short-lived appreciations here and there, mainly following some intervention by the government, but that has done very little in terms of changing the fundamentals.
This rapid depreciation of the currency has shown glaringly its impact on the local economy, feeding into the cost of fuel, cost of living and cost of production, and all those contributing towards sustained rises in the prices of local commodities and general high cost of living.
Just a few days ago, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) announced that the price for petroleum products had been maintained at the same high price of around K30 per liter because, despite the price of the commodity falling on the international market, that has been offset by the weakening Kwacha.
In trying to aid the depreciating currency and inflation, the Bank of Zambia announced that effective November 13, 2023, the reserve ratio for banks will be increased from 11.5 percent to 14.5 percent. However, the Kwacha has slid further following that announcement.
The effect of this depreciating Kwacha is that life will continue being unbearable for Zambians, for the mere fact that this is an import driven economy. Meaning that for every good that is purchased from the outside world and brought onto the market, if two weeks ago, K21 was needed for every Dollar to bring them onto the market, now K23 will be needed for every Dollar.
There is also therefore an expectation that with this trend continuing, a further upward adjustment of fuel into well over K30 is to be expected during the November month end fuel review.
With the Kwacha losing more value against other major convertible currencies, it won’t be able to buy as much as it has been able to buy. The moment a currency begins to buy just a portion of the goods it used to buy previously, it means that it has become severely infected with inflation, something that has now become a regular occurrence in this country, where countrymen are seeing general price increases in almost everything and thereby making life a living hell for millions of Zambians.
Zambians must therefore be worried when their local currency faces such headwinds, as the depreciation is not only a matter for economists, the government, business community and the banking sector, or indeed the learned people you watch wearing suits and speak good English on TV. This affects each and every citizen and in a very big way.
The status quo being what it is, expect the cost of living to worsen. Of course the government will try to do all they can to try and normalise the situation, but such solutions, like the others before them will remain temporal, simply because the key fundamentals of enhanced production in the economy and serious policy moves on the fiscal side, especially in the mining sector, which remains the country’s main forex earner, are not being addressed.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
The Zambian Kwacha yesterday breached the K23 to US$1, on its continued slippery slope against the United States Dollar and other major convertible currencies.
Basically, the Kwacha started this slippery slope around October 2022. Of course there have been temporal but short-lived appreciations here and there, mainly following some intervention by the government, but that has done very little in terms of changing the fundamentals.
This rapid depreciation of the currency has shown glaringly its impact on the local economy, feeding into the cost of fuel, cost of living and cost of production, and all those contributing towards sustained rises in the prices of local commodities and general high cost of living.
Just a few days ago, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) announced that the price for petroleum products had been maintained at the same high price of around K30 per liter because, despite the price of the commodity falling on the international market, that has been offset by the weakening Kwacha.
In trying to aid the depreciating currency and inflation, the Bank of Zambia announced that effective November 13, 2023, the reserve ratio for banks will be increased from 11.5 percent to 14.5 percent. However, the Kwacha has slid further following that announcement.
The effect of this depreciating Kwacha is that life will continue being unbearable for Zambians, for the mere fact that this is an import driven economy. Meaning that for every good that is purchased from the outside world and brought onto the market, if two weeks ago, K21 was needed for every Dollar to bring them onto the market, now K23 will be needed for every Dollar.
There is also therefore an expectation that with this trend continuing, a further upward adjustment of fuel into well over K30 is to be expected during the November month end fuel review.
With the Kwacha losing more value against other major convertible currencies, it won’t be able to buy as much as it has been able to buy. The moment a currency begins to buy just a portion of the goods it used to buy previously, it means that it has become severely infected with inflation, something that has now become a regular occurrence in this country, where countrymen are seeing general price increases in almost everything and thereby making life a living hell for millions of Zambians.
Zambians must therefore be worried when their local currency faces such headwinds, as the depreciation is not only a matter for economists, the government, business community and the banking sector, or indeed the learned people you watch wearing suits and speak good English on TV. This affects each and every citizen and in a very big way.
The status quo being what it is, expect the cost of living to worsen. Of course the government will try to do all they can to try and normalise the situation, but such solutions, like the others before them will remain temporal, simply because the key fundamentals of enhanced production in the economy and serious policy moves on the fiscal side, especially in the mining sector, which remains the country’s main forex earner, are not being addressed.
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