ZAMBIA RECORDS K421M TRADE SURPLUS

ZAMBIA has recorded a trade surplus of K421 million in November from the K885 million trade deficit the country recorded in the previous month of October.

And the annual inflation rate for the month of December has decreased to 6.1 percent from the 6.3 percent recorded in November 2017.

Central Statistics Office (CSO), director of census and statistics, John Kalumbi said the trade surplus could mainly be explained by an increase in the volume of copper exported from about 76, 000 tonnes in October to over 100, 000 tonnes in November.

Mr. Kalumbi also said the corresponding price increase on the London Metal Exchange of copper from $6, 797 per metric tonne in October to $6, 825 was another major contributor to the trade surplus.

Speaking during the CSO monthly bulletin yesterday, Mr Kalumbi said metal earnings for Zambia have increased by 32.1 percent from K5,168 million in October to about K6, 829m in November 2017.

“The overall contribution of metals and their products to the total export earning between November and October 2017 averaged 76.6 percent while the share for non-traditional exports was at 23.4 percent,” he said.

Mr. Kalumbi disclosed that the volume of copper exported in November increased by 31.9 percent from over 76, 000 metric tonnes recorded in October to over 100, 000 metric tonnes recorded in November.

He added that since copper ac- counts for the largest proportion of traditional exports, the change in volume had an impact on the performance of traditional exports.

And on the rate of inflation, Mr. Kalumbi disclosed that the average annual rate of inflation for 2017 is at 6.6 percent.

He however said there has been a decrease in the annual inflation rates over the same period from the 7.5 percent recorded in December last year to the current 6.1 percent.

He explained that of the total 6.1 percent annual inflation rate recorded in this month food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 2.6 percent while non-food items accounted for a total of 3.5 percentage points.

“Provincial changes in annual inflation rate shows that between December 2016 and December 2017 North-Western Province had the highest annual inflation rate of 9.5 percent while luapula recorded the lowest inflation rate contribution of 2.8 percent,” Mr Kalumbi said.