State of the media report Q1-2021 Overall, the legal environment in the quarter under review was repressive, mainly owing to the enactment of the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act No. 2 o 2002 which poses a threat to the freedom of expression and access to information. 3.3. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT The economic environment, much like the previous quarter, remained uncertain as shown by a number of economic variables considered in this section. For instance, the Kwacha continued to lose against major convertible currencies, opening at an average of K21 at the beginning of the quarter and closing at an average of K22 per dollar at the close of the quarter12, a considerable depreciation. This situation was further compounded by a steady increase in the annual inflation rate from 21.5 % in January to 22.8% in March, a development that was attributed to price increases in both food and non-food items13. KWACHA-DOLLAR PERFORMANCE-FIRST QUARTER14 12 According to the Bank of Zambia Historical Series of daily Kwacha-dollar exchange rates, available at https://www.boz.zm/historical-series-of-daily-zmw-usd-exchange-rates-zmw.htm 13 As reported in the Zambia Statistics Agency’s monthly bulletins (January-March), available at https://www.zamstats.gov.zm/index.php/publications/category/51-2021 14 SOURCE: Bank of Zambia historical series of daily Kwacha-Dollar exchange rates 23