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Zambia closed 2025 with annual inflation rising to 11.2 percent, Acting Statistician General Sheila Mudenda has announced, citing increased price pressures from non-food items.
Mudenda said the December, 2025 annual inflation rate rose from 10.9 percent recorded in November to 11.2 percent.
She said this meant that on average, prices of goods and services increased by 11.2 percent between December 2024 and December, 2025.
Read more: Inflation drops to 10.9%, as Zambia posts K1.1 billion trade surplus
“This development was mainly attributed to price movements in non-food items,” Mudenda said during a media briefing in Lusaka on Wednesday.
She said annual food inflation declined to 12.9 percent in December 2025, down from 13.9 percent in November, reflecting a moderation in food price increases over the year.
“On average, prices of food items increased by 12.9 percent between December 2024 and December 2025,” Mudenda said, attributing the movement to price changes in cereals, meats and frozen fish.
She cited cereals such as breakfast mealie meal, roller mealie meal, maize grain, locally produced and imported rice, and wheat household flour, as well as meats including rump steak, T-bone, pork chops and chicken.
However, Mudenda said non-food inflation accelerated sharply, rising to 8.7 percent in December, 2025 from 6.6 percent in November.
“This outturn was mainly driven by price movements in garments and passenger transport by air,” she said, pointing to higher prices for imported clothing and domestic, regional and international air fares, including the Lusaka–London route via Dubai.
Mudenda said of the overall 11.2 percent annual inflation, the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages group contributed 7.6 percentage points, while the non-food group accounted for 3.6 percentage points.
She said the largest contribution within the non-food category came from housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which accounted for 1.1 percentage points, followed by transport at 0.7 percentage points, clothing and footwear at 0.5 percentage points, and furnishings and miscellaneous goods and services at 0.4 percentage points each.
On provincial inflation trends, Mudenda said annual inflation declined in Central, Copperbelt, Luapula, Northern, North-Western and Western provinces, but increased in Eastern, Lusaka and Southern provinces.
“Lusaka Province contributed the highest share to overall annual inflation at 4.2 percentage points,” she said, followed by Copperbelt at 2.0 percentage points, while Luapula recorded the lowest contribution at 0.3 percentage points.
On a month-on-month basis, Mudenda said food inflation slowed to 0.6 percent in December, from 0.8 percent in November, largely due to price movements in meat, fruits and vegetables.
In contrast, she said monthly non-food inflation rose to 3.0 percent, compared to 0.6 percent the previous month.
“This was mainly attributed to increases in fuel prices, air passenger transport, accommodation services, as well as cement, charcoal and car batteries,” Mudenda said.
Turning to trade statistics, Mudenda said cumulative total trade between January and November 2025 rose to K606.3 billion, from K530.3 billion during the same period in 2024, representing a 14.3 percent increase.
She said total exports for the period stood at K304.2 billion, with road transport accounting for 94.2 percent, while imports amounted to K302.1 billion, largely transported by road.
Mudenda said Zambia recorded a trade surplus of K0.6 billion in November 2025, down from K1.1 billion in October, as both exports and imports declined during the month.
“The decrease was mainly due to reduced trade in intermediate goods, raw materials, capital goods and consumer goods,” she said.
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