By Daily Revelation Editor
Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive director Juba Sakala is urging consumers to budget properly and prioritise essential spending in what appears like a tough 2025.
Sakala is also urging consumers to avoid credits that attract high interest rates and reduce wastage.
The urge from Sakala is on point. It is true that often times people find themselves in problems due to lack of proper budgeting and priotisation terms of what they spend their money on for an optimum outcome. They say that failing to plan is actually one of the safest guarantees to failure. It is very important to plan always, especially in times when the resource muscle is too tight that there won’t even have room for a surplus. Usually our wants are endless, but we can always prioritise and focus on achieving what is needed and essential at any particular time.
For those who have the privilege of remaining with a surplus after meeting all their budgetary needs, it’s advisable also to use the surplus wisely. Some may save the surplus, while others may even go beyond that by investing in a business for some extra income. Others might as well spend the surplus on leisure in the knowledge that they are assured of more income coming through. But there are others who venture on an unwise path of actually failing to plan. They go about recklessly spending money, and after they have spent it all also resort to acquiring and drawing themselves deeper into the debt trap.
However, those who are wise will listen and heed Sakala’s appeal. Certainly, the signals the government has sent for the start of the year are not positive. One can just point to the decision to hike the fuel prices. The K1 increment in the price of petrol may seem insignificant for some. However, that price is coming on top of the already high price which was going at almost K34 per liter and now trading at close to K35. It is on the basis of this one key economic fundamental, plus many others, that ZACA had warned about the challenges that lie in wait as we proceed on this 2025 path. It was one of the most unwise decisions taken by the government actually to announce an increment in the price of fuel on new year’s eve.
We can safely say that even with the wisest of plannings and prioritisation, many will still encounter challenges this year on account that while the wages remain the same, with a slight increment for civil servants here and there, the same is hugely offset by the ever escalating inflation and high cost of living, thereby driving many into poverty. The cost of living and low wages is such that many cannot afford to live without getting themselves into credit. We are increasingly becoming a country where people cannot do without debt to get through the month. Not only are many living on credit but they have become prisoners of the debt trap on account of the very high interest rates being slapped on the money they borrow, what with increased lending rates from the banking sector occasioned by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ)’s move to constantly hike the monetary policy rate.
For many who were hoping for a reprieve in 2025, ZACA is warning that the year already looks challenging. Countrymen are being urged that regardless the challenges, they must try to live with what they have in terms of proper budgeting and prioritising essential spending.
Related
By Daily Revelation Editor
Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive director Juba Sakala is urging consumers to budget properly and prioritise essential spending in what appears like a tough 2025.
Sakala is also urging consumers to avoid credits that attract high interest rates and reduce wastage.
The urge from Sakala is on point. It is true that often times people find themselves in problems due to lack of proper budgeting and priotisation terms of what they spend their money on for an optimum outcome. They say that failing to plan is actually one of the safest guarantees to failure. It is very important to plan always, especially in times when the resource muscle is too tight that there won’t even have room for a surplus. Usually our wants are endless, but we can always prioritise and focus on achieving what is needed and essential at any particular time.
For those who have the privilege of remaining with a surplus after meeting all their budgetary needs, it’s advisable also to use the surplus wisely. Some may save the surplus, while others may even go beyond that by investing in a business for some extra income. Others might as well spend the surplus on leisure in the knowledge that they are assured of more income coming through. But there are others who venture on an unwise path of actually failing to plan. They go about recklessly spending money, and after they have spent it all also resort to acquiring and drawing themselves deeper into the debt trap.
However, those who are wise will listen and heed Sakala’s appeal. Certainly, the signals the government has sent for the start of the year are not positive. One can just point to the decision to hike the fuel prices. The K1 increment in the price of petrol may seem insignificant for some. However, that price is coming on top of the already high price which was going at almost K34 per liter and now trading at close to K35. It is on the basis of this one key economic fundamental, plus many others, that ZACA had warned about the challenges that lie in wait as we proceed on this 2025 path. It was one of the most unwise decisions taken by the government actually to announce an increment in the price of fuel on new year’s eve.
We can safely say that even with the wisest of plannings and prioritisation, many will still encounter challenges this year on account that while the wages remain the same, with a slight increment for civil servants here and there, the same is hugely offset by the ever escalating inflation and high cost of living, thereby driving many into poverty. The cost of living and low wages is such that many cannot afford to live without getting themselves into credit. We are increasingly becoming a country where people cannot do without debt to get through the month. Not only are many living on credit but they have become prisoners of the debt trap on account of the very high interest rates being slapped on the money they borrow, what with increased lending rates from the banking sector occasioned by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ)’s move to constantly hike the monetary policy rate.
For many who were hoping for a reprieve in 2025, ZACA is warning that the year already looks challenging. Countrymen are being urged that regardless the challenges, they must try to live with what they have in terms of proper budgeting and prioritising essential spending.
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