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Zambia’s annual inflation slowed for a second consecutive month in March, easing to 7.1 percent from 7.5 percent in February, driven by moderated price growth in both food and non-food items, the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) said on Thursday.
“We saw reduced pressure in key food and non-food categories during the month,” Sheila Mudenda, the country’s Statistician General, told reporters.
“On average, prices of goods and services increased by 7.1 percent between March 2025 and March 2026,” she said.
Read more: Read more: Zambia inflation eases to 7.5% in February, as trade surplus hits K4.7 billion
Mudenda said food inflation fell to 7.8 percent in March from 8.2 percent in February, helped by slower price increases in cereals, fruits, vegetables and cooking oil.
She said non-food inflation also eased, dropping to 5.9 percent from 6.5 percent, reflecting softer prices for construction materials, fuel and motor vehicles.
Of the overall 7.1 percent inflation rate, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 4.7 percentage points, while the non-food group accounted for 2.4 points.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed the most among non-food categories, at 0.8 percentage points.
She said Lusaka Province remained the largest driver of national inflation, contributing 2.6 percentage points, followed by Copperbelt at 1.3 points. Luapula and North-Western recorded the lowest contributions at 0.2 points each.
Monthly inflation held steady at 0.6 percent, unchanged from February.
Monthly food inflation slowed to 0.7 percent, while non-food inflation rose to 0.4 percent from zero the previous month, driven by increases in pharmaceutical products, motor vehicle prices and domestic and regional airfares.
Trade Performance Weakens
Zambia’s cumulative trade for January–February 2026 slipped 5.6 percent year-on-year to K99.3 billion, compared with K105.2 billion in the same period of 2025.
Mudenda said exports for the two-month period stood at K54.8 billion, with road transport accounting for 94.5 percent of the value.
She said import values totalled K44.4 billion, also dominated by road transport.
Mudenda said the country posted a K5.7 billion trade surplus in February, up from K4.7 billion in January.
However, exports dipped 1.4 percent month-on-month to K27.2 billion, while imports fell 5.9 percent to K21.5 billion, driven by declines across intermediate, consumer, capital goods and raw materials.
“Despite the surplus, we continue to monitor declines in both export earnings and import bills for key goods categories,” Mudenda said.
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