Story of the Day:
Access to credit in Zambia has become increasingly important as people seek out ways of getting money at a cheap cost. The biggest problem we have under or local credit markets is not that there isn’t enough money for everyone to access. Far from it. It is the plethora and complexity of credit options available. Read more
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The Bankers Association of Zambia has clarified that the COVID-19 stimulus package from the Bank of Zambia will still be subjected to interest rates or collateral for one to access from the banks. BAZ CEO Leonard Mwanza however says SMEs are expected to access the funds at around 26% interest rate and not the market rate. Read more: ZNBC
The Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB), National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA)and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) will jointly be investing about K100 million (about US$5.6 million) to revamp the Mwinilunga fruit processing plant, which will be commissioned in October this year. Read more: Zambian Business Times
Zambia’s power utility company ZESCO Limited has disclosed that it is currently assessing additional load shedding hours for all its customers owing to the loss of 130MW of power from the national grid. Read more: Zambian Business Times
The ZCCM-IH has denied signing a memorandum of understanding Global Human Benefit Zambia Limited for the sale of a 65% stake and the takeover of Ndola Lime Company Ltd by GHBZ at the end of August 2020. Read more: Lusaka Times
Cobalt has recorded a significant demand on the London Metal Exchange (LME) trading at US$33,100 per tonne, representing 14.14 percent spike from US$29,000 recorded two weeks ago. Zambia’s annual cobalt production stands between 30 and 33 tonnes per annum. Cobalt is produced by Konkola Copper Mines. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
International Business and Finance
Saudi Aramco is moving ahead with plans to boost crude output capacity by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to 13 million bpd despite cuts in capital expenditure this year and next year, the state oil group’s CEO said on Monday. Read more: Reuters
Barclays Plc is being probed by the United Kingdom’s privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), over allegations that the British bank spied on its staff, the agency said on Sunday. Read more: Reuters
Twitter shares rose as much as 5% Monday after it reportedly held preliminary talks with TikTok, the troubled Chinese-owned social media app that the Trump administration wants to ban. The stock was up just 1.5% by midday, but the broader Nasdaq stock index had fallen by nearly 1%. Read more: CNN
The hottest debate in Nigeria over the past week has been the over possibility of “losing” its sovereignty to China over bad debts. It has come amid a wave of claims by federal lawmakers who are pushing for a probe into China’s lending practices to Nigeria. Read more: Quartz
Singapore’s economy suffered a bigger contraction in the second quarter than previously estimated, signaling a long recovery ahead for the trade-reliant nation. GDP plunged a record 42.9% on an annualized basis in the second quarter from the previous three months. Read more: Bloomberg
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In 5 trades recorded yesterday, 325,008,101 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K42,264,663. A share price loss of K0.16 was recorded in PUMA, and a share price gain of K0.01 was recorded in Zambia Sugar. Trading activity was also recorded in CCAF on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 3,847.75 points, 0.46% down from its previous close of 3,865.40 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K55.568,374,947 including Shoprite Holdings and K21,329,168,967 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: