Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) Acting Statistician General, Sheila Mudenda, has reported that annual inflation for January 2026 fell to 9.4 percent, down from 11.2 percent in December, 2025. Addressing the media in Lusaka on Wednesday, Mudenda said the overall increase in prices was driven by both food and non-food items. “Annual food inflation for January 2026 was recorded at 10.9 percent, down from 12.9 percent in December 2025,” she said.
“This was mainly due to price movements in cereals, fruits, vegetables, and cooking oil, including breakfast and roller mealie meal, maize grain, rice, wheat flour, oranges, lemons, pumpkin leaves, tomatoes, and cooking oil,” Mudenda said. She said non-food inflation declined to 7.3 percent from 8.7 percent in December 2025, primarily due to movements in fuel, passenger air transport, and motor vehicle prices. Of the overall 9.4 percent inflation, Mudenda noted that the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages category contributed 6.5 percentage points, while non-food items contributed 2.9 percentage points.
Within the non-food group,she said the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels contributed the largest share at 1.1 percentage points. Provincial disaggregation showed inflation declining across all provinces. Lusaka and Western provinces recorded the highest annual rates at 12.2 percent, while Luapula had the lowest at 4.4 percent.
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Lusaka Province contributed most to the national inflation at 3.5 percentage points, followed by Copperbelt at 1.7 percentage points. On a monthly basis, food prices rose 0.9 percent in January 2026, up from 0.6 percent in December 2025, driven mainly by cereals, meat, and eggs. Non-food prices decreased by 0.3 percent, largely due to fuel, passenger air transport, and vehicle purchases.
Mudenda provided examples of retail price movements: the national average price of a 25kg bag of breakfast mealie meal increased by 4.69 percent from K286.70 to K300.15, while roller mealie meal rose by 6.05 percent from K225.97 to K239.64. She said a 20-litre tin of maize grain increased by 5.12 percent from K138.85 to K145.96. Comparing annual retail prices,Mudenda stated that the price of breakfast mealie meal fell 15.81 percent, roller mealie meal decreased 21.82 percent, and maize grain dropped 23.94 percent between January 2025 and January 2026.
Mudenda also highlighted Zambia’s trade performance in 2025. Total trade reached K663.7 billion, up 13 percent from K587.6 billion in 2024.
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