Story of the Day
There were 5 Stock Exchange News Services (SENS) announcements in week 48 on the LuSE; 1 from Zambeef Plc (ZAMBEEF); 1 from Real Estate Investments Zambia Plc (REIZ); 1 from ZANACO(ZANACO);1 from Copperbelt Energy (CEC) and 1 from ZCCM Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH). Read more
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday urged default-stricken Zambia to strike a debt restructuring deal with its international creditors as soon as possible and will make a formal assessment of its predicament in spring next year. Zambia defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020. In August, it won IMF approval for a $1.3 billion, three-year loan programme to help it restructure debts that the government said were $14.87 billion at the end of June 2022. “We discussed progress on debt restructuring talks, noting the ongoing discussions with creditors on resolving technical issues,” the IMF’s Zambia mission chief Allison Holland said after concluding a week-long trip to the country on Wednesday. Read more: Reuters
The Chamber of Mines says the 3.1 percent revenue-based royalty that ZCCM-IH has secured with First Quantum Minerals on Kansanshi Mine is a top of the range deal compared to similar agreements internationally. Chamber of Mines Chief Executive Officer Sokwani Chilembo says the deal is good because it guarantees a consistent source of income for ZCCM-IH to deliver on their strategy of becoming a real player in Zambia’s mining industry. Mr. Chilembo says people criticizing the deal should not misrepresent facts especially that the agreement puts a stop to legal disputes that have caused reputational damage to the country. ZNBC
President Hakainde Hichilema has left for the United States of America to attend the US- Africa Leaders Summit. The summit will deliberate access to capital, food insecurity, and promoting sustainable economic growth and development. Read more: ZNBC
An Economist says the Kwacha is expected to gain strength against major convertible currencies between January and February, 2023. Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Dr. Lubinda Habazooka said the depreciation of the currency may stop as mining companies bring back the foreign exchange (FOREX) to start mining activities for the rain season. Dr. Habazooka attributed the poor performance of the Kwacha to the importation of fuel, fertilizer, and also businesses and households who are spending towards the festive season. Read more: Money FM
International Business and Finance
Last week, the Ghanaian Cedi was recorded as the best performing currency in the world. This short burst of positive momentum is as a result of Ghana’s plan to reorganize its local debts. This report revealed that the rise in currency value is coming alongside optimism of realizing the $3 billion bailout the country has been requesting from the International Monetary Funds for months. The report reads in part; “The cedi has rallied 10% in the past five days, the biggest advance among about 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. That’s a turnaround for an exchange rate that had lost half of its value this year and occupied the bottom slot in the charts.” Read more: Business Insider
Nigeria’s public debt has reached an all time high of N44.06tn in the third quarter of 2022. This is according to a report by the Punch Newspaper, which also noted that the rise in debt is coming amidst the country’s struggle to repay its already substantial debt. According to the report, ,the total public debt stock rose from N42.84tn recorded in the second quarter to N44.06tn in Q3, 2022. This shows that Nigeria amassed a debt of N1.22tn in the last three months. The new rise in debt service is a result of the new funds the Nigerian government had borrowed to part-finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation Act, alongside new borrowings by sub-nationals. Also, it is important to note that the total public debt stock consists of domestic debt of N26.92tn and external debt of N17.15tn. Read more: Business Insider
U.S. tech giant Microsoft on Monday announced a 10-year partnership with the London Stock Exchange Group and took a near 4% stake in the U.K. bourse operator. The partnership involves next-generation data and analytics, as well as cloud computing products, according to a statement by the LSEG. It includes a new data infrastructure for the London exchange and analytics and modelling solutions with Microsoft Azure, AI, and Microsoft Teams. LSEG’s shares were up 4% in Europe on Monday. Read more: CNBC
Inflation has already peaked, but it will remain above pre-Covid levels in 2023, said David Mann, chief economist for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the Mastercard Economics Institute. “Inflation has seen its peak this year, but it will still be above what we had been used to pre-pandemic next year,” Mann told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday. It’ll take a few years to return to 2019 levels, he said. “We do expect that we go back down in the direction of where we were back in 2019 where we were still debating how many countries needed negative interest rates.” Read more: CNBC
The UK economy shrank between August and October as the country heads into an expected recession. The economy contracted by 0.3% during the three months as soaring prices hit businesses and households. A country is in recession when its economy shrinks for two three-month periods in a row,Over the three months, economic activity in the UK slowed across all the main sectors including production, construction and services. Read more: BBC News
Capital Markets Report
In 77 trades recorded on Friday, 408,311 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K7,142,033.84. Trading activity was recorded in Bata, CEC Zambia, Investrust, Chilanga Cement, PUMA, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Zanaco and Zambia Sugar . The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained it’s close at 7,336.59 points. The market closed on a capitalization of 72,866,533,168.565 including Shoprite Holdings and K38,083,847,728.65 excluding Shoprite Holdings.