THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has maintained the policy rate for the month of December 2013 at 9.75 per cent, head of public relations Kanguya Mayondi has announced.
He said this in a statement in Ndola last week that the committee noted that the recent developments in inflation have broadly been in line with expectations, as annual overall inflation was recorded at 7 per cent in November 2013.
Mr Mayondi said the committee anticipates inflationary pressures to emanate from lagged effects of the recent depreciation of the exchange rate coupled with higher seasonal demand for some consumer products as the festive season approaches.
“The seasonal increase in the prices of maize grain and mealie meal is also expected to exert additional inflationary pressures,” he said.
However, the committee observed that the inflationary pressures are likely to be moderated by the effect of relatively tight monetary policy stance that the central bank has taken.
“Hence, after weighing the inflationary risks, the committee decided to sustain the current relatively tight monetary policy stance and maintain the Bank Of Zambia Policy Rate,” he said.
The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee to review the BoZ Policy Rate will be held at the end of December 2013.
BOZ maintains monetary and policy rate for December
