Economist Yusuf Dodia says Zambia’s economy is under stress as seen with the depreciation of the local currency that has breached the K11 mark against a single US dollar.

The Kwacha yesterday touched a new intra-day low as mismatch in demand and supply continued to affect the movement of US Dollar against Zambian currency pair.

Mr. Dodia says the second half of the year sees the economy to be under stress as this is the critical period to finance the national budget.

Mr. Dodia says export companies tend to bring in on the market foreign currency just to pay local commitments.

“Everyone is chasing the US dollar currency which is not enough on the market. This may see the cost of doing business to go up thereby resulting in services becoming expensive,” he notes.
He adds that this also may result in inflation.

The Lusaka based Economist says Zambia still has an opportunity to turn this around by monitoring exports so as not to put pressure on the local currency.