The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI), reduced to 7.1 percent in November, from 7.3 percent in October. The 0.2 percentage point decrease is attributed to the "reductions in the cost of some food items". More detail via the CSO Monthly Bulletin.
Interesting article on why lending rates are so high in Zambia. It certainly drives a stake through the hart of anyone who believes in the existence of 'free markets' (which is clearly getting to be shown to be a Utopian concept):
ReplyDeleteLow inflation doesn’t mean low prices - BoZ
"The financial sector is unfortunately dominated by commercial banks, meaning that the sector is still in its infancy with just 18 banks," Mushimba said.
"We are, however, concerned that lending rates have not responded to the low inflation rate. Treasury bills have also fallen steeply from 19 per cent to five per cent and commercial banks are leaning heavily on treasury bills and government bonds so they have a lot of money to spare and one wonders why high rates?"
He said Zambia had a history of high loan delinquencies, limited competition among banks and high costs of doing business as contributing factors to the high cost of lending rates.
He also described as unfortunate that only five banks controlled the trends in the financial sector.
Eu sou brasileira e amo meu país, mas tenho a Africa em meu coração, meu sonho é um dia estar e conhecer a Zambia, lugar encantado do nosso planeta terra.
ReplyDeleteParabéns pelo seu blog
Um abraço