By BUSINESS REPORTER –

THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has raised its monetary policy rate from 12.5 per cent to 15.5 per cent to forestall the rising inflation pressure in the copper-rich country.
BoZ governor, Denny Kalyalya, said that the benchmark lending rate was raised by 300 basis points to 15.5 per cent, the first change since
November 2014.
“In arriving at our decision the committee took into account the inflationary outturn. Keeping inflation expectations anchored in single digits is critical.
“We feel it’s really important that we have inflation anchored so that it doesn’t get unhinged,” Dr Kalyalya said.
He said this during the monetary policy committee media briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
Obviously, the drastic change in the policy rate has been triggered by the sharp rise in the rate of inflation in the country for October
2015, which the Central Statistics Office (CSO) announced at 14.3 per cent last week.
The falling prices of copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and other international market platforms have had telling effects on the value of the local currency for Africa’s second largest copper producer.
Consequently the value for the Zambian Kwacha has this year been reduced by about 50 per cent against the global currency, the United States dollar.
The situation has been compounded by the effects of the on-going power load-shedding as the result of the low water levels in the relevant water bodies.
Last month a  drastic fall in the value of the Kwacha to double-digit per dollar, triggered sharp increase in the prices of the commodities in the country, further resulting in almost doubling of the inflation rate, recording a six-year high.
BoZ last changed its benchmark rate 12 months ago by 50 basis points and will hold its next rate meeting in February 2016.