• The total food cost dropped by a larger margin compared to the non-food cost.
• Downward movement in the basket is attributed to reduced prices of items.
• The April basket also recorded price increases in items such as 25kg bags of roller mealie meal.

Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection has disclosed that the cost of living for a family of five in Lusaka as measured by the Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket Lusaka reduced to K9, 326 in April 2022.
JCTR Social and Economic Development Programmes Manager Chama Bowa Mundia said this represents a decrease of K85 compared to the March basket which stood at K9, 411.
Mrs. Mundia stated that the total food cost dropped by a larger margin compared to the non-food cost, as the food costs stood at K3, 659 from K3, 738.04 in March 2022, representing a decrease of K78.85.
“The downward movement in the basket is attributed to reduced prices of items such as 16kg of bananas which reduced by K138.62 from K256.00 (16.00/kg) to K177.38 (11.09/kg), 14kg of other fruits which reduced by K42.00 from K364.00 (26.00/kg) to K322.00 (23.00/kg) and 1Kg soya pieces which reduced by K3.27 from K56.60 to K53.33.”
“However, the April basket also recorded price increases in items such as 2 25kg bags of roller mealie meal which went up by K2.00 from K276.00 (K138.00/per bag) to K280 (K140.00/per bag), 1kg of Kapenta which went down by K2.10 from K290.01 to K292.11,” Mrs. Mundia noted.
Mrs. Mundia further observed that a decline in the basket as seasonality continues to affect the price movements in selected items such as the price of other fruits which has reduced as a result of the abundant availability of fruits like apples and oranges.
She commended government for the appreciation of the Kwacha which was under immense pressure in 2020, given a weakening macroeconomic environment worsened by the COVID 19 pandemic but has broadly stabilized in 2022.
“Nonetheless, it has been noted that majority of prices of items on the BNNB continue to increase partly due to rises in the price of fuel albeit at a much slower pace as seen by the reduced magnitude in price changes. Generally, the cost of living does remain out of the reach of many households that continue to compromise their standards of living given this state of affairs.”
“Other key contributing factors to the reduction include the slowdown in the annual inflation rate for the ninth month straight to 11.5 percent in April, from 13.1 percent in March of 2022. This has been the lowest recording since November 2019,” she stated.