Zambia inflation rate (CPI)
Headline annual (year-on-year) consumer price inflation for the latest reference month, published by the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) in 'The Monthly' bulletin under section 7(2)(n) of the Statistics Act No. 13 of 2018. The bulletin is released on the LAST THURSDAY of the reference month itself, so Zambia's CPI is published within the month it measures.
| Current value | 6.5 percent (YoY) |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-06-01 |
| Official source | Zambia Statistics Agency — The Monthly, Volume 279, June 2026 (foreword signed Sheila S. Mudenda, Statistician General, 25th June 2026): 'Year-on-Year Inflation Rate for June 2026 at 6.5 percent — Annual inflation for June 2026 was recorded at 6.5 percent from 6.6 percent recorded in May 2026' |
| Last verified | 2026-07-24 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
Reference month June 2026; CPI base 2009=100. Monthly (MoM) inflation 0.1% (from 0.2% in May). Food inflation 6.7% (from 6.9%), non-food 6.0% (from 6.1%); food contributed 4.1pp of the 6.5% and non-food 2.4pp. Provincial spread is wide: Lusaka highest at 8.4%, Luapula lowest at 4.0%. This is the eighth consecutive monthly decline and the rate is inside the Bank of Zambia's 6-8 percent target band, where it has been since March 2026 — a collapse from 14.1% a year earlier (June 2025) and a peak of 16.8% in early 2025, driven by base effects in maize grain, breakfast and roller mealie meal, a 14.9% kwacha appreciation and lower fuel pump prices. The same bulletin reports Q1 2026 GDP growth of 7.7%. NEXT RELEASE: the July 2026 bulletin (Volume 280), due on the last Thursday of July 2026 = 30 July 2026 — this series will be one release stale within a week of confirmation. Trap for anyone cross-checking against the Bank of Zambia: BoZ quotes QUARTERLY AVERAGES and END-PERIOD figures (2026 Q1 average 8.0%, end-period 7.1%) which will not match ZamStats' monthly YoY prints.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-06-01 | 14.1 | ZamStats — annual inflation series (Table 4), The Monthly Vo |
| 2025-12-01 | 11.2 | ZamStats — annual inflation series (Table 4, 'Annual Inflati |
| 2026-01-01 | 9.4 | ZamStats — The Monthly, Volume 274, January 2026 (food 10.9% |
| 2026-02-01 | 7.5 | ZamStats — The Monthly, Volume 275, February 2026 (food 8.2% |
| 2026-03-01 | 7.1 | ZamStats — The Monthly, Volume 276, March 2026 (food 7.8%, n |
| 2026-04-01 | 6.8 | ZamStats — The Monthly, Volume 277, April 2026 (food 7.3%, n |
| 2026-05-01 | 6.6 | ZamStats — The Monthly, Volume 278, May 2026 (food 6.9%, non |
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/zm/cpi
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/zm/cpi/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/zm/cpiOther Zambia series: policy interest rate · VAT rate · minimum wage · public holidays · corporate tax rate · income tax rates