Story of the Day:
The Zambian government through the Ministry of Finance has inked a debt restructuring deal with Lazard Freres; one of the most prestigious investment banks in the world. However, there was no local firm that applied, with Lazard beating ‘big timers’ in high finance such as Barclays, Deutsche Bank AG, Rothschild and Co, and ABSA among others. Read more
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Economist Chibamba Kanyama has projected that the country’s inflation might drop to as low as 12% by August, following the expected stability of food prices as the produce of this year’s harvest hits the market. And Kanyama has also projected that the kwacha is not likely to depreciate any further due to an expected reduced demand for dollars once the country puts in place a moratorium on debt service. Read more: News Diggers
With K2.73billion of liquidity into Friday 29 May fixed income sale, the Bank of Zambia sold K202.44million ($11.06million equivalent) worth of government bonds, a deep undersubscription from the K1.10billion assets on offer. Read more: The Business Telegraph
KCM General Manager Corporate Affairs Shapi Shachinda says the 20-year Power Supply Agreement between CEC and KCM expired on 31st March 2020, and was extended by mutual agreement to 31st May 2020. Mr Shachinda said the KCM has entered into a binding Term Sheet Agreement for a new Power Supply Agreement between ZESCO Limited and KCM, effective 1st June 2020. Read more: Lusaka Times
The preliminary report of the gold quantities (or reserves) available at the much talked about Kasenseli mine site has not yet been finalized. Mines permanent secretary Barnaby Mulenga said that detailed exploration has not yet been completed and that detailed reports on the availability of huge quantities of gold are tied to drilling which is still on-going. Read more: Zambian Business Times
The Zambia National Commercial Bank – ZANACO acting Chief Executive Officer Lishala Situmbeko has confirmed that the Bank’s clients has started tapping into the K10 billion facility and is giving relief packages to its customers that have been negatively hit by the Covid – 19 outbreak. Read more: Zambian Business Times
Zambia has recorded a 22% decline in Revenue collection in April 2020. This is due to Coronavirus, which has affected the Global economy. Foreign Affairs Minister, Joseph Malanji says foreign currency denominated payments such as debt and other payments have increased resulting in the Government recording a shortfall in expenditure of 32.1% in April 2020. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
The drag on the US economy from the virus pandemic will last almost a decade, according to projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It forecasts the outbreak will cut US economic output by 3% between this year and 2030, a loss of $7.9trillion. Read more: BBC News
A draft rescue plan for South African Airways (SAA) contains about 4.6 billion rand ($263.4 million) of new bailouts as part of a restructuring aimed at saving the airline from collapse, a copy of the plan showed on Monday. Read more: Reuters
Bank of America analysts on Friday increased their price forecast for copper in 2020 by 5.4% to $5,621/t, while keeping the 2021 projection unchanged at $6,250/t. Read more: CNBC
Shares of MoneyGram International Inc. soared in after-hours trading Monday after a report that Western Union Co. was looking to acquire it. Read more: Market Watch
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In 18 trades recorded yesterday, 19,560 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K21,807. Trading activity was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Lafarge, Standard Chartered Zambia and Zambeef. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 4,024.34 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K56,336,993,780 including Shoprite Holdings and K22,097,787,800 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: