Kwacha depreciation pushes dollar to K19

According to the StockBrokers Zambia Weekly Equity […]

According to the StockBrokers Zambia Weekly Equity and Economic Report for the market period ending 3rd September 2026, the kwacha depreciated against the US dollar by 0.88%.

Economic expert Salwindi Notulu has described the 0.88% depreciation of the kwacha as a two-edged sword, noting that exporters will tend to gain from the depreciation and the expense of importers.

Speaking in an interview with Zambia Business Times (ZBT), Notulu noted that the gain simply means that importers will need more kwacha for the same value of the US dollar.

“What this basically means for importers is that the amount of kwacha that they need for the same value of the dollar has increased,” said Notulu.

He added that exporters, on the other hand, means that their commodities will become relatively attractive to foreigners in terms of purchases, which basically means that exporters will expect an increase in terms of volumes that they will be able to sell.

“For the exporter, on the other hand, they will be gaining because now they will be selling their same product but at a relatively higher foreign price compared to what they would get, because once they exchange the dollar into Kwacha, they will have more money in Kwacha terms,” said Notulu.

He further mentioned that the swings in the Kwacha in terms of appreciation and depreciation affect business in planning, and importers are the ones who are on the adverse side of feeling the major impact.

 “Obviously importers are the ones who stand to be adversely impacted, and the expectation is that importers will have serious issues with the fluctuation in the exchange rate because it makes it very difficult to plan and estimate the cost of the product that you are making because you wouldn’t love your customers to be finding different prices with changes in the exchange rate, which will create some uncertainties in the market,” said Notulu.

Article by Justine Phiri