ECONOMIST Trevor Hambayi is right. For most Zambians, 2025 was a hard year, and there is no point sugar-coating that reality. Yes, the macroeconomic scorecard carries some encouraging lines. Growth in GDP, relative exchange rate stability for much of the year, improved reserves, debt restructuring relief, and positive signals from rating agencies all suggest that the economy is, at least on paper, moving in the right direction. Mining, agriculture and tourism posted gains, and government has used the fiscal space created by debt restructuring to sustain programmes such as free education, FISP, social cash transfer and increased CDF allocations. But households do not live in spreadsheets, rating outlooks or policy briefs. They live in markets, buses, clinics and homes without...