TRYNESS TEMBO
Lusaka
ZAMBIA’S inflation rate has declined to a single digit, falling to 9.4 percent from 11.2 percent recorded last month. The decrease brings inflation closer to Government’s target range of between six and eight percent.
Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) acting statistician general Sheila Mudenda has attributed the drop to the slowdown in prices of both food and non-food items.
Speaking during a media briefing yesterday, Ms Mudenda said the annual food inflation for January 2026 was recorded at 10.9 percent, down from 12.9 percent in December 2025.
“This was mainly due to price movements in cereals, fruits, vegetables and cooking oil, including breakfast and roller mealie meal, maize grain, rice, wheat flour, oranges, lemons, pumpkin leaves, tomatoes and cooking oil,” she said.
Similarly, Ms Mudenda said non-food inflation declined to 7.3 percent from 8.7 percent in December 2025, primarily due to movements in fuel, passenger air transport, and motor vehicle prices.
Of the overall 9.4 percent inflation, she noted that the food and non-alcoholic beverages category contributed 6.5 percentage points, while non-food items contributed 2.9 percentage points.
Within the non-food group, Ms Mudenda said housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed the largest share at 1.1 percentage points.
A check on provincial disaggregation showed inflation declining across all provinces.
She said Lusaka and Western provinces recorded the highest annual rates at 12.2 percent, while Luapula had the lowest at 4.4 percent.
Lusaka Province contributed the most to the national inflation at 3.5 percentage points, followed by Copperbelt at 1.7 percentage points.
On a monthly basis, food prices rose 0.9 percent in January 2026, up from 0.6 percent in December 2025, driven mainly by cereals, meat, and eggs.
Non-food prices decreased by 0.3 percent, largely due to fuel, passenger air transport, and vehicle purchases.
Ms Mudenda gave examples of retail price movements: the national average price of a 25kg bag of breakfast mealie meal increased by 4.69 percent, from K286.70 to K300.15, while roller mealie meal rose by 6.05 percent, from K225.97 to K239.64. She said a 20-litre tin of maize grain increased by 5.12 percent from K138.85 to K145.96….https://enews.daily-mail.co.zm/welcome/home
