Story of the Day:
Shareholders are referred to the cautionary announcement issued on 30 November 2021 wherein the Board of Chilanga Cement Zambia Plc (the “Board”) (“Chilanga” or the “Company”) informed the shareholders and the market that Huaxin (Hainan) Investment Co., Ltd. (“Huaxin”) had purchased 150,026,436 Chilanga Cement shares representing a 75.00% shareholding via trades conducted on the LuSE at a price of ZMW 13.16 per share, and that the purchase consideration was subject to a post-completion price adjustment exercise that commenced and was expected to be completed within eight (8) weeks. Read more
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Zambia expects to finalize a $1.4 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund by June, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said. Zambia became Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign defaulter in 2020. The southern African nation had previously targeted IMF board approval for the three-year extended-credit facility in the first quarter, having reached a staff-level agreement on Dec. 3. Read more: Bloomberg
For a meeting between a defaulting nation’s leader and a bunch of wealthy creditors, the five-star InterContinental hotel on London’s Park Lane seems an appropriate choice of venue. Smart enough without being absurdly expensive. It was here in November that Zambia’s president, Hakainde Hichilema, gathered together a group of investors to discuss restructuring his country’s up to $17 billion of external debt, according to people present. Read more: Bloomberg
Five of Africa’s heavily-indebted countries —Ghana, Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia and Zambia — are about to experience serious debt risks, according to Standard Bank Group. The five countries have already been red-flagged by the leading pan-African bank which described them as ‘the fragile five”. Read more: Business Insider
The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) says the country’s economy can survive without the mining industry provided a coherent transformation agenda is put in place to industrialise the nation. Acting director general Albert Halwampa said in 2020, revenue from non-mining sector was US$400 million and that there is huge potential to grow the sectors. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Technology and Science Minister Felix Mutati says Zambia will in the next two years transform from the use of Analogue Satellite to digital satellite. Mr. Mutati says Zambia’s first satellite launched in 1974 at Mwembeshi Earth centre has been surpassed with advancement in technology making the country lag behind. He explains that moving from analogue will enhance digital economic activities for Government to plan ahead in challenges such as climate change, flooding and in the health sector among others. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
Kenya’s central bank has called on the public to share their views, before May 20th, on the possibility of adopting a digitalis currency, just one day after it emerged that Zambia is also testing its viability too. Read more: Tech Crunch
Price rises in the US accelerated by more than expected last month, pushing annual inflation up to 7.5% – the highest rate since 1982. Food and energy costs helped to drive the increases, which left few spending categories untouched. The rising prices are squeezing household finances as wages fail to keep pace. Washington is under pressure to address the issue, with the US central bank expected to raise interest rates. Read more: BBC News
Stock futures were flat in overnight trading Thursday after a sharp sell-off on Wall Street spurred by the hottest inflation reading in four decades. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped just 30 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. Read more: CNBC
The worst of China’s regulatory crackdown is over as Beijing shifts its focus to supporting growth, economists said. That does not mean the end of regulation — which has swept across internet technology, real estate and other industries in the last year — but signals fewer major changes ahead, the analysts said. Read more: CNBC
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In 53 trades recorded yesterday, 40,423 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K110,682. A share price gain was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation of K0.02 and in Zanaco of 0.01. A share price loss of K1.70 was recorded in National Breweries. Trading activity was also recorded in Chilanga Cement, Standard Chartered Zambia, Zambeef, Zambia Sugar, ZAFFICO and CEC Africa in the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,434.39 points, 0.21% down from its previous close of 6,448.18 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K68,817,926,929 including Shoprite Holdings and K34,035,241,489 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
