BY NCHIMUNYA MIYOBA.
Green Party president Peter Sinkamba says the upward adjustment of monetary policy rate by the Bank of Zambia from 8 to 8.50 percent is good for the country which is battling with double digit inflation rate.
Mr Sinkamba said the move by the Bank of Zambia BOZ yesterday will help contain spiraling inflation rate that has been at a five year high.
Mr Sinkamba said the current surging Inflation is not good for Zambian economy which has a huge debt potfolio and is required to be serviced in dollar.
” This is good for the country’s economic recovery. This move has been made to reduce inflation rate which has been high in the past years,” he said.
And Mr Sinkamba said despite the move having good intentions for the country, it will also affect the cost of borrowing by individuals hence affecting disposable income at household level.
Zambia becomes the second county in the world from Mozambique to increase interest rate in a bid to bring down inflation rate which a record 21.5 percent at the beginning of 2021.
Yesterday Bank of Zambia Governor Christopher Mvunga announced in a statement that the Monetary Policy Committee MPC decided to raise the monetary policy rate by 50 basis points to 8.50 percent due to the need to contain rising inflation and anchor inflation expectations against the efforts made to support financial system stability and growth.
