Consumers must brace for rough year ahead – CUTS

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes CONSUMERS should brace themselves for a difficult year as Zambia’s reduced economic performance will likely have the most negative effect on them. The unprecedented arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic a few months after the beginning of the year worsened that outlook for consumers, says the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) Director, Chenai Mukumba. Ms Mukumba regretted that Zambia’s economic situation had since become even worse leaving, consumers in an even more precarious position. “Often, most low-consumers are already buying the lowest-cost food available therefore higher food prices often leave them with no food alternatives resulting in households reducing the number of meals they consume a day,” she said in a statement. This, Ms Mukumba said, called for Government to take immediate steps to cushion low-income consumers in the face of the rising inflation which now stood at 16.6 percent.  She said it was imperative that the Government took concerted steps to support, particularly low-income consumers during this time. “We encourage the government to seek out support from various cooperating partners as the pandemic has caused a slow-down in economic growth resulting in reduced revenues.  “Further, in light of the increased cost of living we urge the government to consider increasing the support provided to low-income households to enable them to still purchase the same necessities they did before the pandemic,” Ms Mukumba said. She also observed the need for Government to consider expanding the number of recipients of social protection to include those who find themselves jobless as a result of the pandemic. Ms Zulu explained that this was in light of the closure of businesses during the peak of the pandemic, a significant number of enterprises were forced to release their employees or reduce their hours of employment. The Sun