September 2011 Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket: Peace and Stability Cardinal to Meeting Basic Needs, Says JCTR

The Basic Needs Basket (BNB), a tool that tracks the cost of living for an average family of six in Lusaka and other towns across Zambia, acts as a proxy measure of levels of household vulnerability as it can be used to compare the average cost of living to the average household income levels in the country. As expected, levels of vulnerability in urban areas such as Lusaka is highly influenced by the cost of living.Taking a one month period, from July to August 2011, the Lusaka BNB depicted an upward trend. For instance,the price of food commodities increased by an average of K7,750 from K806,100 to K813,850 at the end of July and August respectively. The upward adjustment was a result of increases in the price of Mealie Meal,Beans, Kapenta, Dry Fish, Eggs, Vegetables and Onion. “Clearly”, says the JCTR, “the food commodities that exhibited an upward cost adjustment are those mostly consumed by the poor who are usually disadvantaged by increases in such essential food items”. Although the average cost of a 25Kg of Mealie Meal increased marginally from K45,800 in July to K46,000 in August, JCTR is concerned that the cost of Mealie Meal has started exhibiting an upward trend too early. The expectation is that increases in the price of Mealie Meal should begin to be visible in the last quarter of the year.