Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Cash Crunch and Price Pressures Keep Zambia’s April PMI in Contraction
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The UK Economy Grew Only 0.1% in Q1
- Zambeef & Zanaco CEOs – Among Top 20 Corporate Female Leaders in Africa.
Story of the Day
Global agency BCW and South African firm Retroviral will take home four trophies each. Other multiple winners include Ogilvy South Africa, and Razor PR / M&C Saatchi Group (three trophies each) and Edelman, Hill+Knowlton, MSL, P&L Consulting and WE Communications (two each).
The winners will receive their trophies at the African SABRE Awards ceremony on May 18, which will take place as part of the Africa Public Relations Association’s annual conference in Lusaka, Zambia. “Agencies and clients from Africa performed extraordinarily well in our EMEA SABRE competition earlier this year,” said Paul Holmes, who chaired the SABRE judges in both competitions. “The quality of work from across the continent has never been higher. Robust data and smart cultural insights are informing the planning process, big bold creative ideas are driving the execution, and real business-related metrics are showing how successful these campaigns are.” Read more
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The gauge for measuring manufacturing pulse has revealed that currency induced price pressures and lack of money in Africa’s second largest copper producer kept factory activity in contraction. According to Markit Economics purchasing managers index report, Zambia’s April PMI headlined 48.9 from 46.9 in the previous month. This was attributed to the kwacha slide earlier recorded coupled with lack of liquidity, a persistent theme in the red metal producers markets over the last few months. Readings above 50 signal expansionary, while those below reveal contractionary business activity. Read more: The Business Telegraph
The Bank of Zambia (BOZ) is expected to hike interest rates by 25-50 basis points at its next monetary policy committee meeting on May 15, 2023. This is according to a poll of 15 economists conducted by The Kwacha Arbitrageur. The poll results show that 75% of economists expect the BOZ to raise rates, while 25% expect no change. The main reason cited for the expected rate hike is the need to tame rising inflation. Zambia’s inflation rate has been on the rise in recent months, reaching 11.1% in April 2023. This is above the BOZ’s target range of 6-8%. Read more: The Business Telegraph
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has pledged to work with the government in achieving its aspiration to increase the volume of copper production from 800,000 metric tonnes to three million metric tonnes by providing affordable banking services. Bank Chief Executive Officer, Obeta Chinedu, said such an ambitious aspiration by the government needs a robust banking sector for its full realisation. Speaking when he opened the bank’s seventh branch in Solwezi district of North-western Province yesterday, Mr Chinedu said UBA decided to register its presence in the area due to its strategic location. He said the location will enable UBA serve diverse communities in North-western Province. Read more: Lusaka Times
The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Invest Africa to scale up investment activities in other parts of the world such as Europe and the United States of America. ZDA Director General Albert Halwampa says the investment fora that will be organised by Invest Africa will bring investments that will create jobs and wealth for Zambians. Mr. Halwampa says ZDA working together with Invest Africa interacted with 162 companies in the United Kingdom during President Hakainde Hichilema’s visit to that country. He says the companies came from sectors such as Agriculture, Energy, Mining and Tourism. Read more: ZNBC
Bank of Zambia Exchange Rates
Currency | Buying | Selling |
---|---|---|
USD | 18.2998 | 18.3483 |
GBP | 22.8839 | 22.9501 |
EUR | 19.9212 | 19.9813 |
ZAR | 0.9508 | 0.9536 |
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The UK grew only weakly in the first three months of the year with the economy hit by strikes, cost of living pressures and wet weather. The economy grew by just 0.1% between January and March, figures showed, and it remains smaller than levels seen before the Covid pandemic. The UK is also lagging behind growth seen in other major economies. On Thursday, the Bank of England said it was more optimistic about prospects, and the UK would avoid a recession. Read more: BBC News
Ghana joined forces with China and France on Friday to form a committee which will help pave the way for a $3 billion dollar International Monetary Fund loan. In December Ghana agreed to a three-year credit programme with the IMF to strengthen the country’s finances and restore confidence as the country faced its worst economic crisis in decades. Since then, talks had focussed on assurances from a committee of Ghana’s creditors over whether a proposed debt exchange programme would be enough to secure the IMF agreement. The government has earmarked about $5.4 billion of debt to official creditors as well as $14.6 billion to private overseas creditors. Ghana is a major cocoa and gold producer but also has oil and gas reserves. Read more: Africa News
Despite the looming debt ceiling crisis that has taken center stage in Washington in recent weeks, lawmakers haven’t forgotten about the otherfinancial crisis this year: the March bank failures that set off turmoil in the regional banking sector. The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs is holding three hearings this coming week centered around the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March. The three hearings will take place from Tuesday through Thursday. Read more: CNN
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pushed for tighter monetary policy to reduce inflationary pressures in Rwanda’s economy, but the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) has maintained its central bank rate (CBR) at 7%. The country’s inflation has started to ease, and according to John Rwangombwa, governor of the central bank and chair of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), it will soon reach the NBR’s target range of two to eight percent. “Analysis indicates the inflationary pressures are on a declining trend, although still high. Based on the projected ease, the MPC decided to maintain the CBR at 7 percent,” he said. “Energy and fresh food inflation are projected to decline. The outlook assumes improved performance of the agriculture sector for the second half of the year,” the governor said noting that risks could arise from weather-related challenges. Read more: Business Insider
China is leaving behind pandemic lockdowns, and U.S. companies like Procter & Gamble, Starbucks and MGM Resorts International say the country’s recovery is boosting their overall sales as consumers in their home markets watch their wallets. With its large population and swelling middle class, China is a desirable market for many multinational companies that have seen their U.S. businesses mature. But its zero-Covid policy, which imposed harsh restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, hurt the country’s economy — and revenue for the many U.S. companies that sell their goods or services there. After rolling back the policy in December, China’s economy grew 4.5% in the first quarter. U.S. companies are reporting that demand in China is returning, boosting their sales at a time when many U.S. consumers are pulling back their spending. Read more: CNBC
The Africa Women CEO Network, has named Zambia’s CEOs for ZAMBEEF Faith Mukutu and ZANACO Mukwandi Chibesakunda among the Top 20 corporate female leaders in Africa. In a post by Dr Anino Emuwa, who is the founder,100 Women @Davos, named Africa’s top 20 most powerful corporate female leaders who collectively are responsible for over USD $ 60 billion dollars in annual revenue. The Africa Women CEO Network is a community of women in leadership, CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs. Among other roles for the network is driving forward the agenda for Leadership, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Read more
In 36 trades recorded yesterday, 748,069 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K3,370,270.22. Trading activity was recorded in CEC Zambia, Chilanga Cement, PUMA, Zambeef and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 8,150.79 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K76,410,598,978.90 including Shoprite Holdings and K41,627,913,538.90 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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