Production costs vault up as input costs surge

FACTORY gate prices are set to rise sharply in the coming weeks and months for many goods, in response to soaring production costs — including the recent whopping 50 percent power tariff hike.
Experts who spoke to The Financial Gazette this week said Zesa’s new electricity charges, among other rising input costs, would disrupt the economy again — at a time that businesses and the country were beginning to recover from the devastating effects of the global coronavirus pandemic.

While a new Zesa pricing model was always on the cards, as the power utility battles to overcome its perennial viability challenges, the experts said the parastatal’s sharp price increase was worrying, as it would have an immediate adverse impact on all sectors of the e