Story of the Day:
Zambia Sugar has posted a 12.5% increase in revenue from K 2.96 Billion in the year ended August, 2019 to K3.33B in the year ended August 2020. Operating profit rose by 27.9% to K775 million from K606 million in the year ended August 2019. Read more
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Zambia is doing everything possible to avoid a sovereign debt default later this week, including sharing information on its Chinese debt with holders of its dollar-denominated bonds, its finance minister told Reuters on Monday. Sources close to the main committee of bondholders, however, said little progress had been made in debt talks. Read more: Reuters
Last Thursday’s treasury bill auction was oversubscribed by over K300 million, a sign of investor confidence in the debt instrument market. In the recent past, treasury bill auctions were undersubscribed. The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) was on the market targeting to borrow K1.3 billion but instead raised K1.6 billion. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
The kwacha has depreciated to hit the K21.00 per dollar psychological barrier for the first time ever in Zambia’s history, owing to overwhelmingly high demand for the greenback on the local market, compounded with little supply. Read more: News Diggers
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has revealed that there has been positive response from the public regarding payment of withholding tax – WHT on rental income. ZRA Acting Corporate Communications Manager Robert Zawe said it is every landlord’s duty to pay tax through the tenant and has encouraged everyone to do so in order to ensure that they contribute to the main source of the country’s revenue. Read more: Zambian Business Times
International Business and Finance
It was a wild day on Wall Street with stocks surging on Monday after Pfizer (PFE) said its Covid-19 vaccine is 90% effective and Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of the presidential election over the weekend. The Dow finished up nearly 3%, or 835 points, after soaring as many as 1,610 points in the morning. It was the Dow’s best performance since June. Read more: CNN
The European Union is moving forward with a plan to hit $4 billion of American goods with tariffs as punishment for US subsidies for Boeing. The taxes, authorised by the World Trade Organization last month, go into effect on Tuesday and affect items such as tractors, ketchup and orange juice. Read more: BBC News
EU and UK officials have resumed trade talks in London at the start of another key week for the negotiations. They are trying to bridge what the two sides have said are still significant differences on fishing quotas and competition issues. Boris Johnson said on Sunday that the “outlines” of an agreement were clear and a deal was “there to be done”. Read more: BBC News
Fitch Solutions has indicated that Ghana will maintain its position as Africa’s largest gold producer in 2021 after overtaking South Africa in gold production in 2019. Read more: Business Insider
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In 11 trades recorded yesterday, 215,392 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K45,489. Trading activity was recorded in AEL Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Lafarge, Zambia Breweries and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 3,760.73 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K56,87ng Shoprite Holdings and K22,639,567,543 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: