Story of the Day
Despite mobile financial services being relatively new, they have become a key driver of financial inclusion in Zambia, particularly among women and the underserved populations. In the recent past, we have seen an increasing number of mobile money users growing at a very fast pace, demonstrating that it is a platform that can transform the entire economy. Thus, it has been adopted across commerce, trade, industry, health care, agriculture, and other sectors of the economy. Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Zambia’s reorganization of as much as $17.3 billion of external debt is being delayed by a single foreign creditor, according to U.K. Minister for Africa Vicky Ford. “We’ve got one creditor that seems to be — one international creditor — that seems to be taking a bit more time to make a decision,” Ford, who is visiting Zambia, said in comments broadcast on Hot FM radio Thursday in the capital, Lusaka. “I discussed that with the foreign minister as well last night, and I know that he has been working incredibly hard to try and speed up that process.” Read more: Bloomberg
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Zambia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘RD’. Fitch has also affirmed the Long-Term Local-Currency (LTLC) IDR at ‘CCC’. “The ‘RD’ rating reflects that Zambia has not serviced the bulk of its outstanding external debt since failing to make a Eurobond interest payment in October 2020.” Read more: Fitch Ratings
UK-based mining company Moxico Resources is planning to expand its majority-owned Mimbula copper mine in Zambia with a $100m investment, reported Reuters citing UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford. Ford, in a statement released by the British High Commission in Zambia during her visit to the country, said that the investment in the mine would create new jobs while increasing tax revenues for the Zambian Government. Read more: Mining Technology
China’s telecommunication giant Huawei on Thursday expressed optimism that Zambia was destined for greater heights in its digital transformation agenda. While acknowledging that there was still more space to support the digital environment in Zambia, Phil Li, the Huawei Vice-President for the Southern African Region, said the current situation was encouraging compared to the past. Big News Network
Government will soon start issuance of timber concession licences which was suspended in 2017. And Minister of Green Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu says punitive measures are being undertaken against concessionaires who have not been complying with the Forestry Act. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Zambia woke up on Monday to a social media frenzy over the knowledge of its president having gone the entire eight months since his election without pay. The ministry responsible for paying presidential wages and allowances had claimed that Hakainde Hichilema has forgone wages “in his interest to serve the public”. Read more: Al-Jazeera
International Business and Finance Sponsored By Agricultural and Commercial Society of Zambia
564 African tech start-ups raised more than $2 billion in funding in 2021, up 206% from the previous year. This start-up growth is being enabled by greater digital interconnectivity and internet speeds with the installation of undersea cables linking more than 20 African countries with Europe and the Middle East by Facebook and Google, and a fiber optic network from West to East already underway. Internet provision will ultimately be made easier by the formation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which started trading in January 2021. Once it has achieved full scale, it will replace the EU as the world’s largest trading bloc. Read more: Business Insider
The International Monetary Fund recently published a report detailing food inflation trends in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to findings by the multilateral lender, food prices are increasingly driving inflation across the region and the situation is proving to be ‘hopeless’. As you may well know, food items make up around 40% of the consumption basket in sub-Saharan Africa. This explains why high food prices directly impact inflation rates in the region. Using available data obtained from some countries in SSA, the IMF found that between 2019 and late 2021, there was a significant increase in inflation linked directly to higher food prices. Read more: Business Insider
HP Inc’s stock soared to a record high on Thursday after billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it had taken an 11.4% stake valued at about $4.2 billion in the maker of personal computers and printers. Berkshire revealed in a Wednesday night regulatory filing that it owned nearly 121 million HP shares, including 11.1 million purchased this week. Shares of HP closed up $5.15, or 14.8%, at $40.06, after earlier rising to $41.46. Read more: Reuters
The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee kept the bank’s key lending rate at a record low on Friday, as expected, as it sought to support economic growth even as inflation edged higher in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war. The monetary policy committee held the lending rate, or the repo rate, at 4%. The reverse repo rate, or the key borrowing rate, was also kept unchanged at 3.35%. Read more: CNBC
The Biden administration has approved more than $1.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in late February, according to the White House. The U.S. has provided a total of $2.4 billion to Ukraine since the beginning of Biden’s presidency. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report Sponsored By WWF
In 23 trades recorded yesterday, 11,097 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K35,323. Trading activity was recorded in Airtel, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Real Estate Investments Zambia and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 6,932.87 points as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,993,005,220 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,210,319,780 excluding Shoprite Holdings.