Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Government releases K10.9 billion in February 2023 for budget execution
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China’s Xi gains unprecedented third term as president
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Lower Earnings Per Share for Standard Chartered shareholders and the Bank posts a 31% decline in profit after tax
Story of the Day
Thursday 22 February 2023 will see the inaugural publication of Standard Bank’s Africa Trade Barometer. The Barometer is expected to become Africa’s leading trade index. Present in 20 African markets and supporting trade activities in many more, Standard Bank of which Stanbic Bank is a member, enjoys a uniquely privileged view of Africa, “especially its rapidly emerging enterprises heavily focused on domestic, cross-border and global trade,” said Edward Kara Banda, Head of Business & Commercial Banking Stanbic Bank. Trade is deeply rooted in Africa’s DNA and integral to its history and future development. As such, MrBanda believes Africa’s largest bank by assets and so single-mindedly committed to Africa’s growth has a duty to “leverage its privileged position, presence and insight to intelligently inform and grow the continent’s trade ecosystem.” Read more
In Local Business News Sponsored by
Fitch Ratings has revised Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank’s (TDB) Long-Term Outlook to Stable from Positive, while affirming its Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BB+’. The revision of the Outlook to Stable from Positive reflects downside risk to Fitch’s assessment of TDB’s Standalone Credit Profile (SCP) stemming from heightened credit risk, primarily due to its exposure to the Zambian sovereign (accounting for 7% of total loans). To facilitate the IMF-led debt restructuring, TDB approved a rollover of Zambian debt maturities in 2022. However, delays in the debt restructuring discussions mean Zambia was unable to resume payments to TDB following the expiry of the accommodation period in 2022. Read more: Fitch Ratings
Zambia’s anti-graft agency arrested and charged the country’s auditor general, accusing him of engaging in corrupt practices involving more than 1.1 million kwacha ($54,475). The charges filed against Dick Sichembe include obtaining goods under false pretenses, conspiring to defraud the government and theft, the Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement Thursday. Read more: Bloomberg
Zambia’s Ministry of Finance and National Planning has announced that K10.9 billion was released in February 2023 to fund various public service delivery programs. The funds were disbursed as follows: K3.6 billion was released for public service wage bills, K3.5 billion was spent on debt service and other liabilities, K1.5 billion was released for transfers, subsidies and social benefits, K1.7 billion was released for general operations and program implementation, and K573.5 million was spent on capital expenditure for road infrastructure. Read more: Lusaka Times
African governments and Zambia’s new dawn government in particular may have a lesson to learn from Central American negotiation skills after the confirmation that the Panama government has secured a minimum of $375 million per annum from First Quantum Minerals – FQM. Read more: Zambian Business Times
Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have commenced high-level, bilateral discussions about the Kasomeno-Mwenda Toll Road Project (KMTR) and one-stop border posts (OSBP) being developed by GED Africa Ltd. The inaugural Kasomeno-Mwenda Border Discussions were held in Livingstone, Zambia, from 2nd to 4th March 2023, and were led by the Republic of Zambia’s Minister of Infrastructure, Housing, and Urban Development, the Hon. Charles Milupi, and Nico Nzau Nzau, the Director-General of the ACGT in the DRC. The three-day workshop focused on the structured layers of the joint steering committees and how to harmonize legal frameworks for the One Stop Border Post Agreement (OSBPA). The steering committees are composed of senior representatives from various ministries, the Road Development Agency (RDA), and Agence Congolaise des Grand Travaux (ACGT), Zambia and DRC’s road works agencies, respectively. The workshop was hailed as a significant milestone in efforts to actualize the project. Read more: Lusaka Times
About 11 million Zambians are now using mobile money transactions for their businesses and daily transactions. Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority -ZICTA Corporate Communications Manager Hanford Chaaba says the 11 point 2 million people using mobile money at end of 2022 is a 13 percent increase from 9 point 8 million in 2021. Mr. Chaaba has told ZNBC News that even the amount of money transferred through mobile money has increased from 1-hundred and 69 billion kwacha in 2021 to 2-hundred and 95 billion kwacha last year. This is according to the 2022 ZICTA Annual Market Performance Report for the Information and Communication Technologies Sector. Read more: ZNBC
Five agribusiness companies have been identified to be supported under the Zambia Agriculture Value Chain Facility meant to trigger sustainable growth and job creation in the industry. These companies are Galaunia Farm Limited, Southern Cattle Company, Damust FARMS Limited, Waka Waka Estates and Matuka agri. These companies will receive support through the Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) PLC, which will on-lend a portion of €6.5 million. This is part of the €30 million-EUR facility set up by ZANACO in 2016 in partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB) aimed at providing support to farmers across the entire agricultural value chain. Read more: Zambia Monitor
In International Business News
The U.K. economy grew by 0.3% in January, official figures showed on Friday, exceeding expectations as it continues to fend off what economists see as an inevitable recession. Economists polled by Reuters had projected a 0.1% monthly increase in GDP. GDP was flat over the three months to the end of January, the Office for National Statistics said. “The services sector grew by 0.5% in January 2023, after falling by 0.8% in December 2022, with the largest contributions to growth in January 2023 coming from education, transport and storage, human health activities, and arts, entertainment and recreation activities, all of which have rebounded after falls in December 2022,” the ONS found. Production output fell by 0.3% in January after growing 0.3% in December, while the construction sector dropped 1.7% in January after flatlining the previous month. Read more: CNBC
Chinese leader Xi Jinping gained an unprecedented third term as president of the country on Friday. Xi was widely expected to stay on as president in this month’s largely ceremonial parliamentary meeting, known as the “Two Sessions.” The annual gathering marks the meetings of an advisory group and a legislature, the National People’s Congress. Delegates to the congress on Friday also formally reappointed Xi as chairman of the Central Military Commission. Xi rose through China’s political ranks, becoming president in 2013 and abolishing term limits in 2018. Read more: CNBC
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the United States and the European Union were in talks about a free trade-style deal around clean technology, the Financial Times reported on Friday. “We don’t want to see any trade rivalry. And we’re in discussion with our EU counterparts about how to make sure we can do this in a way that lifts all,” Granholm told FT in an interview. The U.S. was seeking to build a “backbone” of manufacturing to reverse decades of deindustrialization and break dependence on China, the FT reported Granholm as saying. Read more: Reuters
The United States’ candidate to head the World Bank, Ajay Banga, on Wednesday called for a revamp of the development model to better meet the challenge of climate change. Banga, who is on trip to Kenya, said the world cannot continue to “pursue the prior model of (an) emission heavy growth system,” and rallied for adaptation. “We cannot afford it, our children cannot afford it,” he told reporters in Nairobi. The 63-year-old Indian American was last month nominated by US President Joe Biden to head the global lender after its current chief David Malpass announced plans to step down early. Read more: Africa News
Finally, Capital Markets News
In accordance with the Lusaka Securities Exchange (“LuSE”) Listings Requirements, the Board of Directors of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia PLC (“the Bank”) hereby advises the Shareholders of the Company that the Earnings per Share for the year ended 31st December 2022 is K0.15 compared to earnings per share of K0.21 for the year ended 31 December 2021. The 2022 profit after tax decreased by 31% year on year primarily attributed to a decrease in revenue on account of a drop in interest income from investment securities which were impacted by declining Treasury bill rates. This was negated by a 79% growth on net fee and commission income driven by financial markets products coupled with increased custody business activities. The Bank further recorded an impairment release of ZMW 10m compared to a release of ZMW 202m in 2021. Read more
In 32 trades recorded yesterday, 257,682 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K964,859.08. Trading activity was recorded in CEC Zambia, Madison Financial Services, Zambeef, and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 7,227.17 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,390,239,909.89 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,607,554,469.89 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Picture of the Day
