The inflation rate for the month of November has increased compared to last months.
Central Statistics Office acting director Goodson Sinyenga said the inflation increase is from 6.8 percent last month to 6.9 percent this month. He said the 0.1 percent increase has been attributed to non food products.
The non food items contributed about 4.1 per cent while food products contributed about 2.8 percent to the October inflation. The Copperbelt Province contributed the largest inflation by 1.9 per cent while the lowest contributors were from North Western and Western Provinces.
Sinyenga said this means that prices for products increased by 6.9 per cent in November. He said the annual inflation rate based on the All Item Consumer Price Index has increased by 0.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, the leading export market in October was Switzerland with 36.8 per cent followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with 14.9 per cent then China at 13.5 percent while Malawi’s export was at 48 per cent.
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has said the double display of prices for the goods and service shall be mandatory from 1st January to 31st June 2013.
However, BoZ representative Fabian Hara says the business community should be free to start distributing the duo pricing following the rebasing of the kwacha.
Hara said the objective of the duo display was to enable members of the public to farmiliarise themselves with the new currency and adjust accordingly. He said failure to comply with the directive will attract punitive measures as the measure will be backed by the law.
He has encouraged the business community to begin the duo display of prices in the optional between beginning 1st to 31st December 2012.