Story of the Day
In its quest to promote a safe and healthy working environment and lifestyle of its employees at its Kansanshi Mine Plc in Solwezi and FQM Trident Limited in Kalumbila, including the Ndola and Country offices, First Quantum Minerals has launched the My Reason to THINK (MRTT) programme. The Programme has been launched in line with First Quantum’s safety culture, which values the importance of the safety and health of employees to reduce the risk of work-related injuries and ensures there is consideration of the sustainability of the business. The MRTT programme is a build-up on the THINK programme, a safety campaign the mining firm has been running for the last seven years. Read more
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More than 100 economists and academics have urged international lenders to crisis-stricken Zambia to write off a significant slice of their loans during financial restructuring talks this month. Zambia is seeking up to $8.4bn in debt relief from major lenders, including private funds run by the world’s largest investment manager, BlackRock, to help put its public finances back in order. In the run-up to what are understood to be tense negotiations involving the Chinese, French and British governments, the anti-poverty charity Debt Justice said that only a major debt write-off could save the Zambian economy from complete collapse. Read more: The Guardian
President Hakainde Hichilema says Zambia will continue fostering bilateral relations in the region for enhanced business opportunities to grow the country’s economy. President Hichilema says Zambia will continue investing in mutually beneficial partnerships with countries in the SADC region and Africa as a whole. ZANIS reports that President Hichilema said this before departure for Lusaka shortly after attending the inauguration of Angola’s President, Joao Laurenco, in Luanda, Angola. Read more: ZNBC
The European Union -EU- will give additional 30-million Euro grant to towards works on the Kariba Dam plunge pool reshaping project. EU Head of Delegation to Zambia, Jacek Jankowski says the grant, which will be disbursed this December, is in addition to the 294 million Euros already released for the works. Mr Jankowski was speaking today in Siavonga District, after a tour of the Kariba Dam rehabilitation project, in the company of Zambian and Zimbabwean ministerial delegations. Read more: ZNBC
The Zambian economy which is anchored on copper exports is currently witnessing an emerging risk as global copper prices continue to slide. Despite the transition to clean energy which requires larger quantities of copper for wiring in electric vehicles (evs) and solar panels, the price of copper has continued falling on the London Metal Exchange – LME. As of mid September 2022, a check by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT on London Metal Exchange indicated that copper prices have fallen to $7, 984 per ton. This is against global analysts projections that copper prices will rise to over $10,000 per ton in the second half of 2022, alongside a prediction that China copper demand will rise by 5% year-on-year. Read more: Zambian Business Times
he Zambian government on Thursday called for closer collaboration among African countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in advancing mutual interests ahead of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) slated for Egypt in November this year. The Minister of Green Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu said as chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), Zambia was committed to ensuring Africa and the LDC Group work closely and advance their interests at the UNFCCC (COP 27). Read more: Xinhua
International Business and Finance
There are new signs of strain in the Russian economy as energy prices fall and nearly seven months of war in Ukraine prove increasingly costly. Russia’s budget surplus all but disappeared over the summer, according to data published by the Russian finance ministry this week. At the end of June, the surplus stood at 1.37 trillion rubles ($23 billion); by the end of August it had fallen to just 137 billion ($2.3 billion.) Revenues are under pressure. Oil is traditionally a bigger component of the Russian budget than natural gas, and Brent crude prices — the European benchmark — have fallen about 25% since their peak in early June. Read more: CNN
The IMF has called on governments in sub-Saharan Africa to be cautious about macroeconomic reforms, as famine spreads in a region badly affected by the aftermath of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine. “Addressing the lack of resilience to climate change and the resulting chronic food insecurity will require careful prioritisation of policies, given financial and capacity constraints,” the Fund says in a new report. According to its estimates, at least 123 million people, or about 12% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, “may be acutely food insecure, severely malnourished or unable to meet their basic food needs,” the IMF writes. Read more: Africa News
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has unveiled a legislative proposal to impose windfall levies worth $140bn on energy companies, in a bid to lessen the effects of surging gas and electricity prices that threaten economies and households this winter. In her State of the European Union speech addressing the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen outlined a structural reform of the European energy market that has been under serious strain following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Read more: Al Jazeera
Argentina’s central bank hiked the country’s benchmark interest rate 550 basis points to 75% on Thursday, a day after inflation overshot forecasts to near 80% on an annual basis. The hike followed a 950 basis points-raise in August of the 28-day Leliq benchmark rate, as the government tries to bring down spiraling prices that are hurting Argentines’ savings and salaries and denting the popularity of the Peronist government. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 49 trades recorded yesterday, 155,254 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K388,183. A share price gain was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation of K0.30. A share price loss of K0.07 was recorded in Standard Chartered Zambia. Trading activity was also recorded in PUMA, Zambia Breweries, Zambeef, ZAMEFA, Zanaco and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,144.03 points, 1.19% up from its previous close of 7,058.84 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,028,369,623 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,245,684,183 excluding Shoprite Holdings.