Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Annual Inflation for June, 2022 as measured by Zambia Statistics Agency has decreased to 9.7% from 10.2% recorded in may 2022 with the slowdown being mainly attributed to price movements in both food and non-food items.
ZAMSTATS Statistician General Mulenga Musepa says june 2022 overall monthly inflation was recorded at 0.9% from 0.8% recorded in may 2022.
He adds that the monthly food inflation increased to 1.2% from 0.9% in may 2022 due to movement in prices of food items such as fish, milk, cheese cabbage and eggs; and cooking oil imported.
Meanwhile Mr. Musepa says Zambia’s economy grew by 2.4 percentage points from a 1.8 percentage growth in the quarter of 2022 representing a 0.6 percentage points increase compared to the corresponding period of 2021.
Mr. Musepa has attributed the growth to six industries which posted positive contributions to overall growth and these were from public administration, education, information and communication, electricity generation, transport and storage, accommodation and real estate.
Mr. Musepa however states that despite the positive growth six other (6) industries namely the mining and quarrying , construction , administrative and support services , manufacturing, and wholesale and retail trade , professional, scientific and technical activities posted negative contributions to growth.
And Mr. Musepa says the total trade in may 2022 decreased by 6.9% to k31.2 billion compared to k33.6 billion in may 2021 while a trade surplus of k3.4 billion was recorded in may 2022 indicating a 14.1% decrease from a surplus of k3.9 billion in April 2022.
He has attributed the reduction in the trade surplus was driven by an increase in imports.