Story of the Day:
Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank Limited (ZICB) has partnered with Smart Zambia to facilitate the collection of deposits from small-scale farmers as their contributions for the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). Read more
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Lubambe Copper Mine, majority-owned by Australia’s EMR Capital, is talking to the Zambian government to seek concessions, including a tax break, to develop a new $1 billion copper mine, the company said on Friday. Read more: Reuters
Zambia is the largest recipient of Chinese loans for military procurement in Africa, according to a new study. Of the US$1.5 billion worth of such financing advanced by Beijing to African nations between 2000 and 2017, US$600 million went to Zambia, Jyhjong Hwang, a China-Africa researcher at Ohio State University in the US, said in a report. Read more: MSN
First Quantum Minerals (FQM) Ltd’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B-‘, which has a Stable Outlook, is not affected by the recent sovereign downgrade of Zambia to ‘C’ from ‘CC’. This is because FQM’s applicable Country Ceiling is that of Panama (A) and FQM is not constrained by Zambian Country Ceiling (B-), Fitch Ratings says. Read more: Fitch Ratings
Government has issued out twenty gold panning licenses to small scale miners in Mwinilunga district of North Western Province. Mines Minister Richard Musukwa has urged residents of Mwinilunga to formalize their operations by forming Mining Cooperatives if they are to benefit from the resource at Kasenseli Gold Mine. He says government wants to put a stop to illegal mining by formalizing mining activities at Kasenseli Gold Mine. Read more: ZNBC
Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc has posted huge losses of over K225 million after tax during its half-year period ending June 30, 2020, mainly induced by the kwacha’s massive devaluation and the bank’s impairments on financial instruments. Read more: News Diggers
Cavmont Bank, which has been acquired by Access Bank, has applied to the central bank to access K138 million under the K10 billion coronavirus stimulus package to mitigate the effects among customers. Cavmont Bank board chairperson Guy Phiri said K138 million worth of loans from various customers needs restructuring, hence the bank’s decision to request the central bank to provide capital under the medium-term facility. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
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After nearly a decade in the works, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda are speeding up plans to merge their stock markets electronically in a bid to ease the cost and time difficulties of cross-border trading. When completed, local investors will be able to buy and sell stocks across those three countries without the currently existing hurdles, such as needing different stockbrokers in each country. Read more: African Business Central
There’s mounting evidence that the pandemic is dealing a lasting blow to the American economy, with millions of jobs vanishing forever. The number of unemployed people classified as permanently losing their old jobs climbed by 345,000 in September to a seven-year high of 3.8 million, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read more: CNN
President Donald Trump pressured Congress to pass a coronavirus stimulus plan Saturday as his administration and congressional Democrats struggle to forge a relief deal. Read more: CNBC
Tesla Inc. stock fell more than 5% Friday after the Silicon Valley car maker reported quarterly sales that were above Wall Street consensus and hit a record but failed to dispel concerns about the company’s longer-term goals. Read more: Market Watch
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In 49 trades recorded on Friday, 45,311 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K28,394. A share price loss of K0.01 was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation. Trading activity was also recorded in FQM Zambia, Standard Chartered Zambia and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 3,811.81 points, 0.10% down from its previous close of 3,815.54 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K55,412,419,062 including Shoprite Holdings and K21,173,213,082 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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