Story of the Day:
For the half year ended 30 June 2021 Puma Energy Zambia, recorded a profit after tax of K4.235 million compared to K80.064 million recorded in the previous financial year. Volumes were 4% lower than those achieved for the same period last year. Read more
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Zambian inflation slowed to an eight-month low in September after food-price growth decelerated from a record high and the currency’s two-month world beating streak helped curb import costs. Consumer prices rose 22.1% from a year earlier, compared with 24.4% in August, Zambia’s interim statistician-general, Mulenga Musepa, told reporters Thursday in Lusaka, the capital. Read more: Bloomberg
The report of the Auditor General on accounts of the Republic for the financial year ended December 31, 2020 has revealed evident financial irregularities in Ministries, Provinces and Agencies. Auditor General Dick Sichembe says the largest irregularity amount in the report is wasteful expenditure which increased from 3.7 million Kwacha in 2019 to 1.4 billion Kwacha in 2020. Read more: ZNBC
President Hakainde Hichilema has said the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a huge market for Zambian products. President Hichilema said Zambian farmers and manufacturers should therefore increase their production in readiness to export to the DRC. Read more: Lusaka Times
Zambian authorities said Wednesday they have arrested the liquidator of a major copper firm for embezzling $9 million, the latest twist in the African nation’s feud with India’s Vedanta Resources. Read more: NDTV
International Business and Finance
President Joe Biden has signed into law a temporary measure to keep the government funded until early December and avoid yet another federal shutdown. Congress narrowly passed the bill hours before funding lapsed, which would have forced federal museums, national parks and safety programmes to close. Read more: BBC News
The hugely indebted Chinese property giant Evergrande has missed interest payments to overseas investors for the second time in a week, reports say. Evergrande was due to pay foreign bond holders $47.5m by Wednesday. But bondholders told Reuters news agency and Bloomberg that they were yet to receive any payment. Read more: BBC News
The East African regional business and private sector watchdog said on Thursday the East African Community (EAC) intra-trade dropped by 5.5 percent to 5.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more: CGTN
Kenya’s economy is projected to grow by 6.1 percent in 2021 after a 0.3 percent contraction in 2020, the central bank said on Wednesday. Patrick Njoroge, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said that some dynamism is beginning to come back especially in the service sectors such as hospitality that were negatively affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Read more: CGTN
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In 36 trades recorded yesterday, 51,146 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K70,934.70. Trading activity was recorded in Bata, British American Tobacco Zambia, CEC Africa, Puma, Standard Chartered and Copperbelt Energy Corporation. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 4,932.59 points, with a negative percentage change of 0.38.