KWACHA LIKELY TO BOUNCE BACK IF ZAMBIA REDUCES ON IMPORTS – CHISANGA
LUSAKA – Economist Kelvin Chisanga has projected that Kwacha is likely to bounce back but only on conditions that we reduce on imports.
In a statement made available to Falcon media, Thursday, Economist Kelvin Chisanga said although this is unlikely to happen now considering this period of time where the country is usually facing a strong dollar undertaking, something must seriously be done to address this.
Mr. Chisanga says the Kwacha has continued depreciating, owing to the fact that demands on import is still standing strong with the continuous upbeats in supply of Dollars on the local market leaving Bank of Zambia as the only primary source of supplies on the domestic market.
“As a matter of going concern, the local currency will however likely to bounce back but only on the conditions that import should start recording low levels overweighting firmly on the weak side which is unlikely to happen now considering this period of time where the country usually faces a strong dollar undertaking and I think something must seriously be done with and about this seeming to be a perennial factor now recurring each calendar year, “ he said.
“The Kwacha has continued trending on the path of trading southwards with a wide scope depreciating, owing to the fact that demands on import is still standing strong with the continuous upbeats in shadow supply of US Dollars on the local market leaving out to Bank of Zambia as the only primary source of supplies on the domestic market, “ said Mr. Chisanga.
And Mr. Chisanga says Zambia’s currency structural movement is highly attributed to the raised demand strongly pressed on the base currency, as it is seen gaining some special momentum to wind up the year with huge import purchases that the country is currently demanding now especially farming inputs, fuel, holiday packages and Christmas goodies among others.
He says the local forex market has also been largely characterized by some serious patterns of mismatch factors currently being observed in the supply and demand fundamentals, as supply looks to have been seriously subdued owing to the critical factors of hard currency supplies facing hardships in the domestic market where the country is presently experiencing a low export profile and low production of mineral outputs amidst global fluctuations in copper market prices.