By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
THE continued appreciation of the Kwacha against major convertible currencies will push the country’s overall inflation down, the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) has observed.
EAC secretary general Webby Wake said the appreciation of the local currency would bring down inflation especially that the country was an import oriented economy.
“We are an import oriented country, so this pushes inflation for essential commodities down, as can be seen, the cost of motor vehicles has already come down,” he said.
Mr Wake was speaking during a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) National Watch television programme on Sunday.
He   stressed the need for more competition in the provision of goods and services to bring down inflation.
“We need competition in the industry for us to bring down the cost of essential commodities, we expect to see the prices of commodities coming down especially for large wholesalers and retailers due to the level of competition,” Mr Wake said.
He, however, said for small scale retailers it would take some time for them to adjust prices of items looking at the level of competition.
“When we allow more competitors in specific industries, prices tend to go down. For instance, when Dangote Cement Plc came on board we saw prices of cement dropping from K80 to about K50,” he said.
In March this year, the inflation rate as monitored by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) dropped from 22.9 per cent in February, to 22.2 per cent.