By Revelation Editor
During his inauguration into his second and last term of office on September 01, 2026, President Hakainde Hichilema acknowledged the harsh high cost of living in the country.
“We know many of our families have issues with the cost of living and that the benefits of our stabilisation have not yet been felt at every level,” said President Hichilema.
However, barely one month from that statement, fuel prices have now steeply gone up.
The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) increased fuel pump prices for October 2026 by over six kwacha per litre due to higher global oil prices, kwacha depreciation, and the end of government tax relief.
Petrol increased by K6.17 to K31.46 per litre (from K25.29), Diesel increased by K6.41 to K33.27 per litre (from K26.86), Kerosene increased by K2.75 to K29.76 per litre (from K27.02) and Jet A-1 increased by K3.14 to K31.85 per litre (from K28.71).
In short, especially for petrol and diesel, the price hike is almost 25 percent.
On the very day the price hike was announced, the Bank of Zambia also announced a reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate (that usually acts as a determinant in terms of how much interest financial institutions charge on things like lending) by 250 basis points to 10.75 percent, owing to reduced inflation which is in the 6-8% target band.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that the figures announced by the two state institutions are diametrically opposed and in conflict with what they are trying to achieve. ERB said that the price hike was on account of the global oil prices. Indeed there has been instability in global oil prices after the United States of America’s war of choice against the people of Iran. However, this war has been ongoing for a long time and the global price at one point even went as higher as the obtaining price now. However, we never saw any corresponding steep hike in the price of the commodity locally.
As for the Kwacha, it was appreciating through most of 2026, and the stabililisation or some minimal reductions in the price were actually said to have been established upon that. But just over a month after the election, the Kwacha is again depreciating, with the same being used as a basis for the steep hikes now. Have the fundamentals that kept the Kwacha flying high during this whole period suddenly stopped working?
And then there is the end of the government tax relief. There are arguments that the same was done owing to the elections, and that there is no need for the same now that power has been secured again. We would hope for prices to reduce in response to improvements in the economic performance, as opposed to the same happening during election periods, where it begins to appear like the improvements are tied to electioneering to keep the ruling party in power. When things move in that manner the people are left with the feeling that the semblance of improvement was being done to induce them to vote. People under such circumstances actually feel used and cheated to say the least.
Even if those in government may have an argument that the increment is on account of the variables they have referred to, hiking fuel prices by an average K6 is just too much for the ordinary Zambian masses. And if you are a government that claims to have acknowledged the high cost of living in the country, why would you have to increase fuel prices this steeply such that you risk worsening the same cost of living you say you are working on reducing? Because with this steep hike in fuel prices, the expectation is that prices in the economically are going to generally increase. Bus fares will go up. The cost of production will also go up and the producers will pass on the cost to the consumers. The price of bread and even mealie-meal may also go up because those things have to be produced and be transported on expensive fuel.
Today, the Bank of Zambia may boast about having reduced inflation to the 6-8 percent target band, but tomorrow it will be a different story because the same hike in the prices will risk escalating the inflationary pressures and cost of living owing to the high prices of goods in the economy.
President Hichilema says his second and last term of office will be about growth. We just don’t know how he is going to achieve that same growth when his own nationals are buying fuel at K33 per litre. We don’t know about the kind of growth that is being referred to, whether it’s the growth on paper or the growth that leads to improvements in people’s welfare. We believe that growth must lead towards improvements in the people’s welfare and on the bread and butter issues, or indeed pocket issues.
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By Revelation Editor
During his inauguration into his second and last term of office on September 01, 2026, President Hakainde Hichilema acknowledged the harsh high cost of living in the country.
“We know many of our families have issues with the cost of living and that the benefits of our stabilisation have not yet been felt at every level,” said President Hichilema.
However, barely one month from that statement, fuel prices have now steeply gone up.
The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) increased fuel pump prices for October 2026 by over six kwacha per litre due to higher global oil prices, kwacha depreciation, and the end of government tax relief.
Petrol increased by K6.17 to K31.46 per litre (from K25.29), Diesel increased by K6.41 to K33.27 per litre (from K26.86), Kerosene increased by K2.75 to K29.76 per litre (from K27.02) and Jet A-1 increased by K3.14 to K31.85 per litre (from K28.71).
In short, especially for petrol and diesel, the price hike is almost 25 percent.
On the very day the price hike was announced, the Bank of Zambia also announced a reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate (that usually acts as a determinant in terms of how much interest financial institutions charge on things like lending) by 250 basis points to 10.75 percent, owing to reduced inflation which is in the 6-8% target band.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that the figures announced by the two state institutions are diametrically opposed and in conflict with what they are trying to achieve. ERB said that the price hike was on account of the global oil prices. Indeed there has been instability in global oil prices after the United States of America’s war of choice against the people of Iran. However, this war has been ongoing for a long time and the global price at one point even went as higher as the obtaining price now. However, we never saw any corresponding steep hike in the price of the commodity locally.
As for the Kwacha, it was appreciating through most of 2026, and the stabililisation or some minimal reductions in the price were actually said to have been established upon that. But just over a month after the election, the Kwacha is again depreciating, with the same being used as a basis for the steep hikes now. Have the fundamentals that kept the Kwacha flying high during this whole period suddenly stopped working?
And then there is the end of the government tax relief. There are arguments that the same was done owing to the elections, and that there is no need for the same now that power has been secured again. We would hope for prices to reduce in response to improvements in the economic performance, as opposed to the same happening during election periods, where it begins to appear like the improvements are tied to electioneering to keep the ruling party in power. When things move in that manner the people are left with the feeling that the semblance of improvement was being done to induce them to vote. People under such circumstances actually feel used and cheated to say the least.
Even if those in government may have an argument that the increment is on account of the variables they have referred to, hiking fuel prices by an average K6 is just too much for the ordinary Zambian masses. And if you are a government that claims to have acknowledged the high cost of living in the country, why would you have to increase fuel prices this steeply such that you risk worsening the same cost of living you say you are working on reducing? Because with this steep hike in fuel prices, the expectation is that prices in the economically are going to generally increase. Bus fares will go up. The cost of production will also go up and the producers will pass on the cost to the consumers. The price of bread and even mealie-meal may also go up because those things have to be produced and be transported on expensive fuel.
Today, the Bank of Zambia may boast about having reduced inflation to the 6-8 percent target band, but tomorrow it will be a different story because the same hike in the prices will risk escalating the inflationary pressures and cost of living owing to the high prices of goods in the economy.
President Hichilema says his second and last term of office will be about growth. We just don’t know how he is going to achieve that same growth when his own nationals are buying fuel at K33 per litre. We don’t know about the kind of growth that is being referred to, whether it’s the growth on paper or the growth that leads to improvements in people’s welfare. We believe that growth must lead towards improvements in the people’s welfare and on the bread and butter issues, or indeed pocket issues.
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