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Zambia rejects China’s call for World Bank to join its debt restructuring
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Along with experiencing a short-term supply shortage, copper is set to undergo a “generational shift” in demand as decarbonization ramps up
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In the final week of January and beginning of February 2023, there were fourteen company securities that recorded trades of which Airtel Networks was the highest priced security.
Story of the Day
Malawi Government has hailed Standard Bank of Malawi Plc for partnering with it towards improvement of Lilongwe’s transport network after signing a K34.5 billion investment towards rehabilitation of Kenyatta and Mzimba road network. This is the largest local-currency financed arrangement with government to turn the Kenyatta-Mzimba road into Malawi’s first ever 6-lane highway. The deal was signed on Thursday in Lilongwe by Standard Bank and Minister of Finance, Sosten Gwengwe, who hailed Standard Bank for leading the private sector to facilitate economic transformation through financing of Malawi’s transport and infrastructure. Read more
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Zambia’s finance minister has rejected a call by China for the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to join a restructuring of the country’s debt and warned that delays to the relief are holding back economic recovery in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer. Situmbeko Musokotwane said in an interview that “time is of the essence” to finish a restructuring of about $13bn of external debt this year, three years after the southern African nation defaulted on it. He signalled that Beijing’s demand was a distraction from talks on specific terms for reducing the loans. “Discussions at higher levels like those just make our situation worse, because what we are looking for is urgent solutions, not discussions that may drag out the matter,” Musokotwane said. “We should all just focus on and get the debt [relief] delivered.” China is Zambia’s single biggest creditor, with about $6bn of infrastructure loans spread among several Chinese banks. About $3bn is owed to holders of all the country’s US dollar bonds. Read more: Financial Times
Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) president Sampa Kalungu has called for the suspension of all officials involved in the abuse of public funds at the Ministry of Finance. Secretary to Cabinet Patrick Kangwa recently refuted social media reports that some senior government officials had been fired following investigations of abuse of office at the Ministry of Finance. Kangwa said affected Permanent Secretaries have only been transferred to the Cabinet Office while the Directors have been transferred to the Public Service Management Division to pave the way for investigations into irregular payments. In an interview, Kalungu said the suspects should be suspended, and further called for the investigations to be extended to all Ministries. Read more: News Diggers
The state owned power utility Company and Zambia’s energy giant ZESCO has disclosed that it has progressed procurement for the development of its first 150 megawatts solar power station out of the planned three that will be situated in three different provinces. ZESCO’s Managing Director Victor Mapani the country’s hydropower generating portfolio which makes up 86% of the country’s installed power generating capacity, and despite its installed capacity being in excess of the of demand, all being equal, it has seasonally failed to yield adequate capacity to meet demand, hence the perennial deficit which occasions load shedding as has been the case. He said in medium term, the power utility company is focused on expanding its power generation mix by investing in other renewable energy sources. No plans for development of nuclear power plant was announced, though most industrialized countries in the world have them. Read more: Zambia Business Times
Blue Carbon, a Dubai based company incepted under the vision of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum to support carbon removal projects across the world, and the Government of Zambia, represented by the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment, have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement carbon removal projects in forest sector under Article 6 of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Read more: Gulf News
In International Business News
The World Bank predicts that Senegal will grow by 8% in 2023, the most out of any sub-Saharan African country. The growth is largely attributed to huge oil and gas finds in the Atlantic Ocean, with one of the projects due to come online later this year, according to Aissatou Sophie Gladima, minister of petroleum and energies of Senegal. The eventual production of oil and gas – after its discovery in 2014 – will turbocharge Senegal’s economy for the next few years. “After slowing to 4.8% in 2022, growth in Senegal is projected to jump to 8.0% in 2023 and then to 10.5% in 2024,” the World Bank states. Read more: African Business
Along with experiencing a short-term supply shortage, copper is set to undergo a “generational shift” in demand as decarbonization ramps up, according to BNY Mellon Lead Portfolio Manager Al Chu. Copper is a leading barometer of global economic health due to its wide-ranging usage, including in electrical equipment and industrial machinery — it had a strong start to the year, given a weakening dollar and investor expectations to see a surge in demand after the reopening of the Chinese economy. Short-term supply issues have also emerged alongside a rebound in demand, such as an eruption of protests in Peru, which accounts for 10% of the world’s copper supply. Copper futures for March delivery settled at $4.1055 per pound on Thursday, after tailing off in recent weeks from the January rally. Read more: CNBC
The World Trade Organization’s director general said on Monday that reforming the body’s dispute settlement system is a “priority.” When asked whether reforming the process would be a focus of the remainder of her term, which ends in 2025, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said “Absolutely. And I hope we can deliver that.” She was speaking on stage at the World Government Summit. The WTO’s trade dispute arbitration system, which rules on top disputes, has been stalled for more than two years due to Trump-era blockages of adjudicator appointments. Under President Joe Biden, Washington has resisted calls by WTO members to approve appointments and has instead been leading negotiations on how to reboot the WTO’s dispute system. Yahoo Finance
The Biden administration plans to outright ban investments in some Chinese technology companies and increase scrutiny of others, three sources said, part of its plan to crack down on the billions that American firms have poured into sensitive Chinese sectors. The ban is expected to apply to some investments tied to chip production, two of the sources said. The upcoming rules are likely to track sweeping new restrictions the U.S. placed on exports of American artificial intelligence (AI) chips, chipmaking tools, and supercomputers, among other technologies, to China in October, sources also said. Read more: Reuters
Finally, Capital Markets News
In the final week of January and beginning of February 2023, there were fourteen company securities that recorded trades of which Airtel Networks was the highest priced security. Friday’s equity trading was the best performance of the week. Trading activity was recorded in British American Tobacco Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation Zambia, Chilanga Cement, National Breweries, Taj Pamdozi Hotels, Puma Energy, Real Estate Investment Zambia, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Zambian Breweries, Zambia Forestry And Forest Corporation, Zambeef, Zanaco and Zambia Sugar as well as CEC Africa Investments on the quoted tier. Read more
In 125 trades recorded on Friday, 2,300,047 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K7,659,623.14 A share price gain of K0.09 was recorded in Standard Chartered Bank Limited and a share price loss of K0.01 was recorded in Zambeef. Trading activity was also recorded in AECI, CEC Zambia, Chilanga Cement, Zambia Breweries, ZAMEFA, Zanaco and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,200.43 points up by 0.47% from its previous close at 7,166.65 points . The market closed on a capitalization of K72,273,845,689.76 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,491,160,249.76 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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