Zambia's Inflation Is Slowing. But the Cost-of-Living Story Is More Complicated
Zambia's Inflation Is Slowing. But the Cost-of-Living Story Is More Complicated
KSJ Analytics
Zambia by the numbers
Every series on this page is monthly and read live from the KSJ economic database — macro data back to 2011, household prices from ZamStats back to 2018 — not retyped into a picture. Latest reading: Oct 2026.
Explore Zambia in 3D →Budget analysis →Inflation6.3%+0.20 ppon the month−5.60 ppon the year
Households
What people pay and earn: prices month by month; pay through NAPSA’s average earnings and PAYE, combined in KSJ’s wage tracker (Zambia publishes no regular wage series); and what the tax schedule takes from a salary. Households in the 2027 Budget →
KSJ wage tracker, 2025+15.4%Formal-sector pay; +1.2% after inflation
Average earnings (NAPSA), 2026K9,309 a month+9.0% on the year; 1,103,643 active NAPSA members
PAYE on K10,000 a monthK1,326 (13.3%)2027 schedule; no PAYE in 2017 on the same real pay
PAYE tax-free thresholdK5,100 a month2017’s was worth K10,000 at today’s prices
Business
What companies pay: corporate tax by sector, statutory and effective (KSJ’s model, with and without borrowing), and what credit costs and who gets it. Business in the 2027 Budget →
Company tax, standard rate30%Effective 31.3%; 16.1% with borrowing (KSJ model)
Sector rates range15% to 35%Farming to Telecoms, 2027
Sector rate changes, 20275Copper cathode value addition 20%→25%; Farming 10%→15%; Agro-processing 10%→15%; Fertiliser manufacturing 15%→20%; Non-traditional exports 20%→25%
Policy Rate13.25%0.00 ppm/m−1.25 ppy/ySep 2026Average Lending Rate27.70%+0.41 ppm/m−0.90 ppy/ySep 2026Lending Margin14.45 pp+0.41 ppm/m+0.35 ppy/ySep 2026Credit to the Private SectorK106.0bn+2.5%m/m+9.7%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to AgricultureK13.5bn+29.1%m/m+35.9%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to MiningK6.4bn+14.8%m/m+5.8%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to ManufacturingK23.2bn+1.9%m/m−2.9%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to EnergyK13.7bn+9.9%m/m+40.5%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to TradeK8.2bn−3.9%m/m−18.5%y/yAug 2026Diesel (1 L)K33.25+23.8%m/m+26.9%y/yOct 2026US DollarK19.42+2.8%m/m−18.3%y/ySep 2026
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npm run import:indicators to load the series.Charts here use one axis only. To compare series on different scales — copper in dollars a tonne against inflation in percent — tick Index to 100, which rebases both to the first month in the range.
The yield curve
What the government pays to borrow, by tenor — the latest auction round against the same month a year earlier.
Oct 2026A year earlier
Household Prices · ZamStats
What a bag of mealie meal, a bag of cement or a litre of fuel costs across Zambia: national average retail prices from the Zambia Statistics Agency's monthly bulletin. Each series runs from where its unbroken monthly record begins. Prices as of Oct 2026.
The price of a bag
Mealie meal and cement, national average retail price per bag (ZMW)
Breakfast Mealie Meal (25 kg)Roller Mealie Meal (25 kg)Cement (50 kg)
Source: Zambia Statistics Agency. Data to Oct 2026.
Breakfast Mealie Meal (25 kg)K235.86−0.2%m/m−10.2%y/yOct 2026Roller Mealie Meal (25 kg)K181.99−0.1%m/m−11.8%y/yOct 2026Maize Grain (20 L tin)K106.98+5.2%m/m−11.9%y/yOct 2026Hammer Milling ChargeK14.11+0.6%m/m+10.6%y/yOct 2026Sugar (2 kg)K68.29−0.5%m/m−5.9%y/yOct 2026Cabbage (1 kg)K7.95−2.8%m/m+1.8%y/yOct 2026Tomatoes (1 kg)K14.83+1.7%m/m−14.2%y/yOct 2026Onion (1 kg)K33.35−5.6%m/m+1.5%y/yAug 2026 · not updated this monthChicken, Live (1 kg)K65.27+2.3%m/m+2.5%y/yOct 2026Beef, Mixed Cut (1 kg)K107.72−0.4%m/m+7.6%y/yOct 2026Buka Buka Fish (1 kg)K136.74−0.8%m/m+21.9%y/yAug 2026 · not updated this monthCharcoal (50 kg)K155.42−0.5%m/m+4.2%y/yOct 2026Petrol (1 L)K31.46+24.4%m/m+2.9%y/yOct 2026Diesel (1 L)K33.25+23.8%m/m+26.9%y/yOct 2026Cement (50 kg)K197.27+3.0%m/m+6.9%y/yOct 2026
Prices & Inflation
Consumer prices, measured year-on-year and month-on-month.
Inflation6.3%+0.20 ppm/m−5.60 ppy/yOct 2026Food Inflation5.7%−0.10 ppm/m−8.40 ppy/yOct 2026Non-Food Inflation7.4%+0.80 ppm/m−1.30 ppy/yOct 2026Monthly Inflation0.7%+0.30 ppm/m+0.30 ppy/yOct 2026Monthly Food Inflation0.3%+0.10 ppm/m−0.10 ppy/yOct 2026Monthly Non-Food Inflation1.2%+0.70 ppm/m+0.70 ppy/yOct 2026
Currencies
Kwacha mid-rates against Zambia’s main trading currencies.
Commodities
The export earners and the imported costs that set the terms of trade.
Interest Rates
What banks charge, what they pay each other, and the margin between.
Government Securities
The yield curve: Treasury bills and government bonds at auction.
91-Day Treasury Bill9.75%−0.75 ppm/m−1.75 ppy/ySep 2026182-Day Treasury Bill10.45%−0.50 ppm/m−2.30 ppy/ySep 2026273-Day Treasury Bill10.75%−0.30 ppm/m−2.75 ppy/ySep 2026364-Day Treasury Bill11.90%−0.20 ppm/m−2.60 ppy/ySep 20262-Year Bond12.00%−1.00 ppm/m−3.50 ppy/ySep 20263-Year Bond12.59%−1.50 ppm/m−3.66 ppy/ySep 20265-Year Bond14.98%−1.12 ppm/m−5.27 ppy/yFeb 2026 · not updated this month7-Year Bond13.75%−1.04 ppm/m−4.75 ppy/ySep 202610-Year Bond14.50%−1.00 ppm/m−4.50 ppy/ySep 202615-Year Bond15.54%−0.96 ppm/m−4.66 ppy/ySep 2026
Money & Credit
How much money is circulating, and how much of it banks are lending, and to whom.
Narrow Money (M1)K96.4bn+5.8%m/m+34.5%y/yAug 2026Broad Money (M2)K208.6bn+1.0%m/m+6.8%y/yAug 2026Broad Money (M3)K225.5bn+1.7%m/m+3.9%y/yAug 2026Broad Money Growth3.9%−3.75 ppm/m−12.02 ppy/yAug 2026Reserve MoneyK82.1bn−8.9%m/m+20.9%y/ySep 2026Currency in CirculationK24.9bn−3.5%m/m+8.8%y/ySep 2026Credit to the Private SectorK106.0bn+2.5%m/m+9.7%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans (Kwacha)K108.6bn+5.2%m/m+17.0%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans (Dollar)$2,401.3m+4.7%m/m+45.9%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to AgricultureK13.5bn+29.1%m/m+35.9%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to MiningK6.4bn+14.8%m/m+5.8%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to ManufacturingK23.2bn+1.9%m/m−2.9%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to EnergyK13.7bn+9.9%m/m+40.5%y/yAug 2026Bank Loans to TradeK8.2bn−3.9%m/m−18.5%y/yAug 2026
Banking & Liquidity
How much cash the banks hold against what they owe, and how much they lend the government.
Liquid Assets Ratio59.07%−7.86 ppm/m−51.70 ppy/ySep 2026Required Liquid Assets Ratio6.00%0.00 ppm/m0.00 ppy/ySep 2026Statutory Reserve Ratio22.20%−0.15 ppm/m−4.37 ppy/ySep 2026Required Reserve Ratio21.00%0.00 ppm/m−5.00 ppy/ySep 2026Banks’ Current Account BalancesK7.0bn−8.9%m/m+35.7%y/ySep 2026Bank Deposits (Kwacha)K130.3bn+1.1%m/m+24.9%y/ySep 2026Bank Deposits (Foreign Currency)$4,624.1m+0.9%m/m+9.4%y/ySep 2026Banking System Claims on GovernmentK74.8bn−8.0%m/m+25.2%y/ySep 2026
Reserves & FX Market
The central bank’s dollar reserves, where its dollars come from and go, and what the kwacha costs off the official rate.
Gross International Reserves$5,802m−10.6%m/m+23.4%y/yJun 2026BoZ Forex Inflows from Mines$0.0m—m/m—y/yJun 2026BoZ Forex Inflows from Mining Taxes$241.1m+144.1%m/m+113.1%y/yJun 2026BoZ Net Forex Sales$34.5m+$19.5mm/m+$23.5my/yJun 2026Government Debt Service from Reserves$1,496.7m+2449.4%m/m+601.9%y/yJun 2026Bureau De Change Rate (USD)K21.60+14.9%m/m−8.1%y/ySep 2026Interbank Rate (USD)K19.42+2.8%m/m−18.4%y/ySep 2026Real Effective Exchange Rate76.5+1.6%m/m−22.9%y/yJul 2026Exports$1,606.4m−8.1%m/m+33.9%y/ySep 2026Imports$1,792.8m+5.4%m/m+51.6%y/ySep 2026Trade Balance−$186.4m−$234.4mm/m−$203.1my/ySep 2026
Government Debt
The domestic debt the government owes in Treasury bills and bonds, and what it pays to borrow.
Analysis
View allThe Kwacha's Year: Five Charts on a Currency Under Pressure
The exchange rate is the single price that touches every other price in Zambia. Here is where it has been.
Reading the Yield Curve: What Zambia's Borrowing Costs Are Signalling
Treasury bill yields, bond yields and the spread between them — a plain-English guide to the most quoted numbers in Lusaka finance.
The monthly data brief
Zambia's numbers, explained, in your inbox.
About this data
KSJ keeps a monthly database of Zambian macroeconomic series running from January 2011. Figures are compiled from the Bank of Zambia, the Zambia Statistics Agency and the London Metal Exchange, loaded into our own store, and re-read on every page view — so a chart published in an article last year shows this month's numbers today.
Household prices are the national average retail prices published in the Zambia Statistics Agency's monthly bulletin. ZamStats drops products from its tables for months at a time, so we carry only the products with an unbroken monthly record up to the latest bulletin, and each one only from the start of that run.
Where a series has a gap, we leave a gap rather than interpolating. Where a month's figure has not yet been released, the tile says so.
InflationFood InflationNon-Food InflationMonthly InflationMonthly Food InflationMonthly Non-Food InflationUS DollarBritish Pound