Story of the Day:
Emirates reveals that is has returned over AED 5 billion (US$ 1.4 billion) in COVID-19 related travel refunds to date, making strong and steady progress on its commitment to customers to complete pending refunds. Read more
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Demand for copper is expected to remain high, which is a big incentive for mining companies so they should take advantage of this, says Zambia Chamber of Mines deputy CEO Talent Ng’andwe. Read more: Mining Weekly
Copper mines, remain the most substantial contributor to growth and development in Zambia, says law firm Beech Veltman CEO Warren Beech. However, he highlights that the primary concerns for investors in Zambia are the complexities surrounding mining law, constrained infrastructure, as well as unreliable electricity supply. Read more: Mining Weekly
Zambia recorded an increase in active mobile network subscriptions during the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. The number of subscriptions increased to 17.9 million subscriptions at the end of June 2020 from 16.3 million during the same period in 2019. Read more: Xinhua
Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya has urged Information Communication Technology companies to be innovative and help stimulate the economic environment which has been negatively affected by covid 19. Mr Kafwaya says companies such as Infratel which are innnovative can greatly help government to have the economy stimulated by making other businesses thrive again. Read more: ZNBC
Proflight Zambia has expanded its cargo capacity by designating some of its fleet to operate dedicated freight flights between Lusaka and Johannesburg. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
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The boss of Rio Tinto, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, will step down following criticism of the mining giant’s destruction of sacred Aboriginal sites. In May, the world’s biggest iron ore miner destroyed two ancient caves in Pilbara, Western Australia. It has sparked widespread condemnation from shareholders and the public. Read more: BBC News
Post-Brexit trade deal talks are set to continue, despite the UK rejecting the EU’s ultimatum to scrap plans to override the withdrawal agreement. The EU has threatened the UK government with legal action if it does not ditch its controversial Internal Market Bill by the end of the month. Angered Tory backbench MPs have launched a bid to amend the new law. Read more: BBC News
Citigroup made history Thursday by naming Jane Fraser as its next CEO. She will become the first woman to lead a major US bank. Fraser, currently in charge of Citi’s consumer bank, is set to take over in February for Michael Corbat, who plans to retire after 37 years at the bank. Read more: CNN
South Africa’s current account balance swung to a deficit in the second quarter of this year from the previous three months as the trade surplus more than halved due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Africa’s most industrialised economy had a deficit of 2.4% of GDP on its current account balance in April-June, from a revised surplus of 1.2% of GDP in the prior quarter. Read more: Reuters
South Africa will struggle to bring down its soaring levels of public debt, set to reach 80% of gross domestic product this year, due to the impact of the record economic contraction on tax revenues, ratings firm Moody’s said on Thursday. Read more: Reuters
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There were no trades recorded yesterday. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 3,830.62 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K55,494,286,349 including Shoprite Holdings and K21,255,080,369 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: