LUSAKA, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's annual inflation rate increased by 0.6 percentage points in March compared to the previous month, the country's statistics agency said on Thursday.
The annual inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased to 22.8 percent in March from 22.2 percent in February, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency.
This was mainly driven by increases in food and non-food items, with food inflation rising to 27.8 percent in March from 27.3 percent in February while non-food inflation rose to 17.0 percent in March from 16.2 percent the previous month.
Mulenga Musepa, the agency's Interim Statistician-General said the country saw increases in food items such as meats, fruits, eggs, sugar and cooking oil while non-food items such as garments, household rentals, charcoal and gas were also on an upswing.
However, the month-on-month inflation declined to 1.7 percent in March from 2.5 percent in February due to general price moderation of selected food and non-food items. Enditem
