Cost of living

€ 1 = K 6450 (Damn Greeks!)

Prices:
K 300 SMS
K 500 Tomato
K 500 Banana
K 500 Frita
K 800 Egg
K 1 000 Apple
K 1 000 Orange
K 1 500 Avocado
K 2 000 Cabbage
K 2 500 0,33 l bottle of lemonade
K 3 000 Local newspaper
K 3 000 Minibus ride in Lusaka
K 3 000 0,5 l of milk
K 3 000 0,33 l of coke
K 3 800 Loaf of bread
K 7 500 90 g chocolate bar
K 8 000 Packet of good biscuits
K 8 000 2 yards of chitenge fabric
K 9 000 Hourly rate in an internet cafe
K 9 000 0,5 l of yoghurt
K 10 000 Second-hand dress
K 10 500 Cappuccino
K 12 000 250 g of real butter
K 12 000 6-inch sandwich at Subway
K 13 000 400 g of beef mince
K 20 000 Live chicken
K 26 000 2 l of cooking oil
K 32 500 The Economist
K 35 000 Medium sized pizza
K 35 000 Taxi to Kamwala South
K 35 000 Pair of second hand jeans
K 50 000 Chicken tikka with rice in an Indian restaurant
K 50 000 90 g of parma ham
K 60 000 10 kg of rice
K 60 000 Pair of new jeans (Made in China)
K 60 000 Dorm bed at a backpackers in Lusaka
K 65 000 25 kg of mealie meal (the ingredient of nsima)
K 150 000 Fixed rate water bill for a month (cheaper if there is a meter).
K 150 000 One-way bus ticket to Lilongwe, Malawi
K 150 000 Night in a lodge
K 400 000 Monthly rent for two rooms in Chawama
K 450 000 45 kg bale of second-hand dresses
K 1 200 000 Monthly rent for two rooms in Roma
K 4 000 000 Semester in UNZA without government bursary
K 10 000 000 Monthly rent for a three bedroom house in Kabulonga.
(The prices obviously vary a lot depending on the quality of the goods and where you buy them, so these are just examples.)

Monthly wages are harder to find. The following are according to JCTR but they seem a bit high compared to what I've heard. They get the data from unions and organizations. (They also publish a basic needs basket monthly.)
Guard: 250 000 – 850 000
Secretary: 1 390 500 – 1 900 000
Teacher: 1 300 300 – 2 200 600
Nurse: 1 300 000 – 3 450 000

If you take a good look at the prices, you'll notice that quite a few things are actually more expensive here than in Europe. Dairy products are particularly expensive as are many imported things: computers can cost double the amount they cost elsewhere. I was told that the reason is a monopoly / oligopoly in many products. So while many things are cheap, to have a “western” lifestyle, you need to pay western prices.

A minibus ride for 2000-3000 kwachas doesn't perhaps sound expensive. But if you stop to think of it for a while, it's about K 100 000 in a month. If you need to take two minibuses to get to work, the price doubles as there are no monthly tickets. In practice, you might end up paying more for public transport here than what you'd pay in Helsinki, where you can buy a monthly ticket. Based on means of transport, you can divide people into three income classes: those who walk to work, those who can afford to take a minibus, and those who have their own cars.

When looking at the wages, you might start wondering how do the poorest even manage to pay the rent (I still do). That's why there can be easily ten people living in two rooms. Extended families live together to keep the fixed costs smaller. This is common especially in Lusaka where housing is more expensive than elsewhere in Zambia.