Story of the Day
According to a report by IT News Africa, MTN Zambia and Huawei have signed an agreement in order to facilitate the 5G network pilot program. MTN Zambia, the largest telecom in the country based on mobile subscribers, will also be one of the first telecoms in the region to deploy a 5G network. It is stated that 5G networks improve internet speeds up to 20Gps (Gigabytes of information per second). Science and Technology Minister Felix Mutati was also present for the launch of the program. MTN’s current internet speed is stated at 21Mbps, around 10Mbps above the country’s average. Read more
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In a Bank of Zambia (BOZ) debut treasury bill sale of 2022 held on Thursday 14 January, the 6 month yield scaled 185 basis points higher to 11.5001%, the third rate hike in 6 weeks across heterogeneous tenors namely the 9 months and 1 year. Read more: The Business Telegraph
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission (CCC) has started the consideration of the merger between Access Bank Zambia Limited and Atlas Mara Bank following the application by the financial institutions. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
The price of copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has continued rising and getting closer to US$10,072 a metric tonne, the highest it reached since October last year. And the Investing News Network (INN) reports that analysts and market watchers have projected a positive outlook for copper with prices likely to remain high in 2022. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Small and Medium Enterprise Development Minister, Elias Mubanga says government is keen to ensure the growth of small medium enterprises across the country. Mr. Mubanga observes that empowering small and medium sized enterprises across all economic sectors is the core business of his ministry. He says small and medium enterprises have the potential to translate economic growth into actual improvement in people’s livelihoods if well nurtured. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
China has unexpectedly cut a key interest rate for the first time in almost two years as official figures showed its economic growth had slowed. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4% for the last three months of 2021 from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Read more: BBC News
Up to 44 million UK Facebook users could share £2.3bn in damages, according to a competition expert intending to sue parent company Meta. Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen alleges Meta “abused its market dominance” to set an “unfair price” for free use of Facebook – UK users’ personal data. She intends to bring the case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Read more: BBC News
The chairman of global banking giant Credit Suisse, Antonio Horta-Osorio, has resigned with immediate effect after an internal company probe. He was reportedly found to have broken the UK’s Covid-19 quarantine rules. The former boss of Lloyds Banking Group joined Credit Suisse after a series of scandals at the Swiss bank. Read more: Reuters
International brands including Coca Cola and PepsiCo called on Monday for a global pact to combat plastic pollution that includes cuts in plastic production, a key growth area for the oil industry. Read more: Reuters
Capital Markets Report Sponsored By ZCCM-IH
In 68 trades recorded today, 34,971 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K 78,558.Trading activity was recorded in AECI, Airtel, CEC Africa, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, CHIL, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, ZAMEFA and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintain its close at 6,264.98 points, as they were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K68,078,667,787 including Shoprite Holdings and K33,295,982,347 excluding Shoprite Holdings.