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Yes, Zambia’s inflation has decreased to single digit

Misleading

Bloomberg and Zamstats reports have confirmed the inflation rate dropped below 10 percent in June.

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Verified Aug, 12 2022

Claim

On August 3 2022, The Candidates Facebook page published a post where former Commerce minister Bob Sichinga claimed that the reported single digit inflation rate is fake because fuel under the previous government was cheaper compared to the current prices under the UPND Government. He said the claim by the UPND government that inflation had dropped to 9.7 percent from 10.2 percent was a lie.

Rating Justification

iVerify Zambia has determined the claim by Mr Sichinga as misleading. We verified this through the Bloomberg and Zamstats reports. Bloomberg which is the global leader in business and
financial data, news and insight, reported that Zambia’s inflation rate had dropped below 10 percent for the first time in almost three years in June, bucking a global trend of record consumer-price growth. And according to Zambia Statistics Agency (Zamstats) Inflation Report for June 2022, inflation decreased to 9.7 percent from 10.2 percent recorded in May 2022. Bloomberg attributes the drop in the inflation rate to among other things, the potential debt restructuring and a $1.4 billion
dollars bailout package that has helped contain prices that are increasing due to supply chain disruptions stemming from the war in Ukraine and intermittent Covid-19 lockdowns.

Following the recorded decrease in the inflation rate, citizens debated what it actually meant. In response, the Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) published an article on June 13, 2022, to provide clarity on what it means in relation to the cost of living. According to the article, inflation should not be confused with the cost of living. While the two notions are linked and occasionally used interchangeably by the general public, they are not the same. Inflation is an important element impacting the cost of living, but it is not the only factor influencing it.
Therefore, Mr. Sichinga’s claim that the reported single digit
inflation rate was a lie is baseless and misleading.

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