KAMBWILI’S CRAZY COMPARISON OF ZAMBIA TO SOUTH AFRICA – BUSH ECONOMIC THEORIES – EMMANUEL MALITE
In his latest rants and ignorance and a lack of understanding of economics, Mr Kambwili has been going round the country saying things are cheaper in Zambia than South Africa.
Kambwili is a shallow mind that has no basic understanding of economics.
In Economics there’s what’s known as the purchasing power parity, that looks at consumer spending power.
You don’t compare prices simply by applying the exchange rate, you compare prices in tandem with the buying power of citizens.
A big part of commodity prices is the labor wage, so countries with a higher minimum wage have higher food prices but that doesn’t make it more expensive because the consumers earn high wages.
Since Kambwili wants to compare food prices, let’s also compare salaries.
CIVIL SERVANTS
Zambia average salary is K6000, South Africa is K31,000
MINERS
Zambia average salary is K6000, South Africa is K35,000
DOCTORS
Zambia average salary is K14,000, South Africa is K75,000
MINIMUM WAGE
Zambia is K1,200, South Africa is K3800
Would you rather be on a South African salary and buy a bag of mealie meal at K180 or a Zambian salary and buy a bag of mealie meal at K140?
The answer for that is straightforward.
Kambwili himself when he goes to the UK buys a bag of mealie meal for over 20 Pounds which is over K700, does it mean the people of Zambia are better off than people in the U.K who on average earn monthly salaries of over K100,000 per month?
Ignore Mr Kambwili’s crazy economic theories, not even Lubinda Habaazoka is preaching these bush economics.
What we should be measuring are inflation rates, Zambia’s inflation rate is at 25% while South Africa’s inflation rate is 7% or less.