By Daily Star Reporter
As it anticipates Zambians to be hit hard by commodity price increment following fuel price upward adjustments, the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has disclosed that the cost of living at household level in Lusaka has skyrocketed to K9, 049.25 for the month of January.
JCTR’s Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket (BNNB) survey has indicated that there has been K689.45 increase in comparison to the December, 2021 basket that stood at K8, 359.80.
In a statement issued to the media today, JCTR Executive Director Alex Muyebe said the BNNB for Lusaka has continued to rise since January 2022.
Muyebe attributed the rise to the recent trend in the national inflation which has been on the decline.
“According to the Zambia Statistics Agency Zambia’s inflation rate for March has declined to 13.1 percent from 14.2 percent recorded in February driven by the base effect, which compares inflation in the corresponding period of the previous year,” he said.
“The Zambia Statistics Agency reports that the food inflation decreased to 15.3% in February 2022 as compared to 16.0 percent in February 2021. The non-food inflation decreased to 10.3% in February 2022 from 11.8% in February 2021.”
And Muyebe said the fuel pump price adjustment by almost K10 between December 2021 and April 2022 and the resultant adjustment in the commodity prices is inevitably going to hit hard on the majority of the Zambian people whose incomes are already very low.
“In the midst of this, Government has urged citizens to be extra resilient because it is aggressively working towards stabilizing and ultimately lowering fuel pump prices and improve the general economic welfare of Zambians,” he said.
“It is yet to be seen if what Government is pointing to as its key commitments such as delivery on Constituency Development Fund, rolling-out of social cash transfer programme, implementation of free education programme, payment of salary arrears for local government employees, recruitment of health and education workers will be enough to cushion Zambian households from the pangs of the rising cost of living when the fuel pump prices still remain very high in the short term. What does Government say to a poor household in Chibolya compound which is not a beneficiary of any of the above listed programmes and yet it now has to pay more for food and other basic necessities?”