YEAR-to-DATE INFLATION, Jan 2020 and Sep 2020

The Total trade for the period January 2020 to August 2020 increased by 14.4 percent to K139,629.6 million from K122,041.1 million recorded in the same period of 2019. Zambia recorded a 15.7 percent increase in the trade surplus from K 4,595.6 million recorded in July 2020 to K5,318.1 million in August 2020. This trade surplus means that the country exported more than it imported in nominal terms.

Exports which mainly comprise of domestically produced goods, increased by 13.6 percent from K12,293.6 million in July 2020 to K13,968.6 million in August 2020. This increase was mainly on account of a 17.3 percent increase in export earnings from Intermediate goods.

Imports increased by 12.4 percent from K7,698.0 million in July 2020 to K 8,650.6 million in August 2020 (see Table 8). This increase in imports was mainly as a result of a 55.8 percent and 7.1 percent increase in imports of Consumer goods and Raw materials, respectively.