By Merlyn Mwanza
The depreciation streak of the Kwacha is showing no signs of stopping against major convertible currencies, with the local currency steadily racing towards the K19 to US$1 psychological barrier.
The Kwacha is now selling at K18.7 in several financial exchange outlets, a far cry from the steep appreciation it recorded barely five months ago when it was trading below K16 to the US Dollar.
During this period the Kwacha has experienced some shortlived appreciations which have been followed by steady depreciations.
With the trend continuing, the people can expect further increments in the prices of goods and services, posing further risks on the inflation rate (general prices of goods and services), which has showed improvements over recent months, now at 15.1 percent as at January 2022, from as high as 22 percent five months ago.
The depreciation will in turn be used as an excuse by most businesses who seem to hope for more depreciations, to increase the prices of goods, a phenomenon that rarely happens during the local currency’s appreciations.
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