The Bank of Zambia has maintained the monetary policy rate at 9.0 percent.
BOZ governor Danny Kalyalya said the decision was necessitated by the sharp deceleration in inflation rate in the first quarter of 2022 and a further projected decline in the 6-8 percent target range during the first quarter of 2024.
Dr. Kalyalya noted that the economic growth picked up in the second quarter but has still remained weak hence unable to address challenges of high poverty and unemployment rates in the country.
Dr. Kalyalya noted that the slow economic growth is due to recession in the global economy caused by contradicting monetary policy rates of major economies among other factors.
And Dr. Kalyalya stated that commodity prices rose up on the international market in the last quarter except for copper prices.
He added that the kwacha appreciated by 3.4 percent against the US dollar to an average of k17.15 per USD due to increased supply of foreign exchange.
“The monetary policy committee ( MPC) at its August 15-16, 2022 meting decided to maintain the monetary policy rate at 9.0 percent,” he said.
