By Merlyn Mwanza
The Zambian Kwacha is racing speedily towards breaking the K20 psychological barrier to the United States Dollar, as well as showing weaknesses against other major convertible currencies.
The Kwacha is now selling at around K19.6 to US$1 and buying at around K19.30.
This trend is worrying for a country like Zambia which relies on imports as the weakened Kwacha drives up the prices of goods imported into the country including fuel, cars, food, retail goods, machinery, farming inputs and many other things too numerous to mention.
The accelerated prices in imported goods feeds into the local market in that businesses start hiking the prices of their goods in corresponding with the high cost on the goods brought into the country, thereby resulting in increased high cost of living and inflationary pressures.
However, for those living outside Zambia and engaged in various remittances into the country, this may be the time to cash in as for every Dollar they send to Zambia they are making K19, which some three months ago was only amounting to K16 when the Dollar was at US$1 = K16, but now for every US$1 they remit the value is K19.
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