MEALIE MEAL PRICES MAY GO AS HIGH AS K250 PER 25KG BAG BY END OF THIS YEAR

By Michael Kaluba

Leader of the Green Party Peter Sinkamba has predicted that mealie meal prices may go as high as K250 per 25kg bag by the end of this year owing to various factors including the increase in the cost of energy leading to an escalated cost of production.

Mr Sinkamba says the removal of subsidies from energy is gradually manifesting the impact it has on citizens with the recent increase on fuel and the impending upward adjustment of electricity tariffs already escalating commodity prices.

And Mr Sinkamba says it is wrong for government to assume that

it has cushioned the impact of the removal of subsidies on energy by awarding a salary increment to civil servants who are just about 400, 000 out of over 1.2 million combination of public and private workers and against the total population believed to be around 20 million.

In an interview, Mr. Sinkamba however says he is not against the export of both maize and mealie meal to neighboring countries provided zambia does not run below the designated food security minimum especially that reports indicate losses of up to 40 percent of maize in storage.

PHOENIX NEWS