Story of the Day
FQM Trident Limited, a subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals, has signed a collective bargaining agreement with four unions: the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW), Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ), United Mine Workers Union of Zambia (UMUZ) and Miners and Allied Workers Union (MAWU). As part of the agreement, basic salaries for all eligible employees will be increased by 11% across the board effective May 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. Read more
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Zambia’s Finance Ministry expects the country’s 2022 budget deficit to be bigger than earlier estimated due to spending pressures in the second half of the year. The deficit is projected to widen to 9.9% of gross domestic product in 2022 from 6.7% targeted in the budget partly due to expenditure increasing to 183 billion kwacha ($11.1 billion) from a previous forecast of 173 billion kwacha, according to the Finance Ministry’s medium-term budget plan published Saturday. Read more: Bloomberg
Zambia is cancelling more than $2 billion worth of projects financed by commercial loans to reduce the risk of accumulating more non-concessional debt, the ministry of finance said. In 2020, Zambia became the first nation to default in the COVID-19 era. At the end of 2021, its external debt stood at $17.27 billion, of which China held $5.78 billion, and it is in negotiations with creditors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lift itself out of this debt hole. Read more: Reuters
The World Bank has re-classified Zambia to low income status from lower middle income, for the 2023 financial year. This is because of the deterioration of Gross National Income per capita estimates recorded in 2021. But Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane says the Government is working to reverse the situation. Read more: ZNBC
Zambia’s official creditors are expected to offer it financial assurances by the end of July, paving the way for the first debt restructuring under a G20 framework set up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, two sources briefed on the matter said. The creditor committees of Zambia, Chad and Ethiopia are all due to meet this month amid growing pressure to accelerate the debt restructuring process. Read more: CNBC
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From oil to metals to wheat, prices for natural resources have slumped from this year’s highs and the fast deceleration will likely lead what’s been a hot inflationary environment into a deflationary period in the coming months. That’s the view from Societe Generale’s co-head of global strategy Albert Edwards who in a note published Thursday looked at the “stunning collapse” in the commodities complex over the past two weeks. Copper, serving as a bellwether for economic health, tipped into a bear market in late June, highlighting fears that the global economy is heading into a recession. Read more: Business Insider
The price of airline tickets will go up “without doubt” as fuel costs rise, an air industry boss has warned. Oil prices have jumped as economies recover from the Covid pandemic and due to the war in Ukraine. These costs will be passed on to consumers, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said. Read more: BBC News
Elon Musk is seeking to end his $44bn bid to buy Twitter, alleging multiple breaches of the agreement. The announcement is the latest twist in a long-running saga after the world’s richest person decided to buy Twitter in April. Mr Musk said he had backed out because Twitter failed to provide enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts. Read more: BBC News
U.S. equities futures dipped early Monday morning as Wall Street looked ahead to big company earnings reports and key inflation data, on the heels of a strong employment report. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 139 points, or 0.44%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.89%. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 128 trades recorded yesterday, 145,179 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K442,802. A share price loss of K0.04 was recorded in Zambia Sugar. Trading activity was also recorded in AECI, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Puma, Standard Chartered Zambia, Zanaco and ZAFFICO. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,864.68 points, 0.04% down from its previous close of 6,867.59 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,812,431,370 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,029,745,930 excluding Shoprite Holdings.