• The Kwacha has performed badly against the dollar.
• Its performance has been against what was expected.
• This could be attributed to the fact that the country needed a lot of US dollars to procure agriculture inputs.

An Economist has attributed the poor performance of the Kwacha this year to low copper production which could not support the country’s export base.
Speaking to Money FM News, Partner Siabutuba said another factor that has contributed to the depreciation of the currency this year is the persisted high US dollar demand to facilitate importation of agriculture inputs and other essential commodities.
Mr. Siabutuba noted that the Kwacha has performed badly against the dollar as its inability to stay in one place for a longer time has been an issue of concern.
“The Kwacha has performed badly against the dollar, its performance has been against what we had expected it would perform, but I think that its inability to stay in one place for a longer time was an issue of concern.”
“This could be attributed to the fact that we were in the farming season and we needed a lot of US dollars to procure agriculture inputs. But I think that our export base which should have been supported heavily by copper production could not help matters,” Mr. Siabutuba stated.
He further observed that the temporal measures that Bank of Zambia has put in place, such as tightening its benchmark lending rate and raising the Statutory Reserve Ratio for Banks have not been able to sustain the pressure being exerted on the local unit.
“So I think the temporal measures that Bank of Zambia will have put in place were not able to sustain the pressure that was being exerted on the currency,” he noted.
The local currency has continued losing value against the green back, trading at K25 to a US dollar, as the interbank market continues to face serious supply imbalances amidst strong standing demands.