Zambia’s central bank has raised the benchmark lending rate to 10.25 per cent from 9.75 per cent to counter inflationary pressure and support macroeconomic stability, its central bank governor Denny Kalyalya said on Wednesday.

Kalyalya told journalists in Lusuka that the annual inflation was expected to remain above the upper band of the 6-8 per cent target over the next eight quarters.

He said that developments in the mining sector had a bearing on the economy and he hoped an amicable solution would be found with mining companies so as to focus on production.

(Reuters/NAN)