Story of the Day
14 African startups have secured a spot to pitch live on stage at the Africa Fintech Summit Cape Town, which takes place from November 2-4, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The AlphaExpo micro-accelerator is a sector-agnostic program that enables early-stage startups from across Africa to pitch at the Africa Fintech Summit Stage, demo their products to a wide variety of stakeholders, meet a wide network of prospective investors, partners, and customers, and also increase their chances of being accepted several have been accepted to top accelerator programs! Read more
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Year-on-year inflation in Zambia stood at 9.7 percent in October, down from 9.9 percent in September, according to consumer price data released by the country’s statistics agency on Thursday. The decrease was mainly attributed to movements in prices of non-food items, the Zambia Statistics Agency said in its monthly release. According to the release, the annual non-food inflation for October decreased to 6.5 percent from 7.2 percent the previous month due to decreases in prices of non-food items such as shoes, furniture, and motor vehicles. Read more: Xinhua
Rating agency Moody’s says it expects Zambia to remain subject to elevated risk of redefault in future. In a ratings update, Moody’s affirmed the Government of Zambia’s Ca foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer ratings with a stable outlook. The decision to affirm the Ca ratings balances Zambia’s limited external financing sources, very weak governance, exposure to environmental and social risks, and ongoing debt default against recent improvements to the economic outlook and efforts to improve fiscal management in the context of the IMF programme approved earlier this year. Read more: Lusaka Times
The Lusaka South Multi Facility Economic Zone -LS MFEZ has attracted 1.3 billion United States dollars of investments in the last two years. LS MFEZ Managing Director Kennedy Mwila says the investments grew exponentially from 340 million dollars to 1.3 billion dollars in the last two years despite the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies. Mr. Mwila however points out that the economic zone lost 40 million dollars of investments due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Zambian economy. Read more: ZNBC
Bank Of Zambia Governor, Denny Kalyalya, says the central bank will continue engaging stakeholders in order to enhance accountability and transparency. Dr. Kalyalya said this in Livingstone when he officially opened the Bank of Zambia Seminar for Members of Parliament in Livingstone today. Dr. Kalyalya says being lawmakers, it is important that MPs to fully understand the mandate of the BOZ and are alerted to upcoming legislative changes such as the National Payments Act. He says the current Act, which was enacted in 2007, has been overtaken by a number of changes in the payment systems space, hence the need to replace it with a forward looking law. Read more: ZNBC
Minister of Energy Peter Kapala has revealed that the country will next month start a pilot project of blending petrol with locally produced ethanol at 10 percent. In an interview, Kapala assured that the move would ensure cheaper fuel on the market as well as job creation, especially among those that would be suppliers of raw materials for the production of ethanol. Read more: News Diggers
Government through the Mines Safety Department (MSD) has suspended exploration activities for Lumwana mine in Lubwe area following complaints of water and air pollution by the host community. In a letter dated 19th October addressed to the company’s chief executive officer, MSD AG director of mines Malfred Moolela said the suspension was with immediate effect. “Following the complaints by Lubwe community with regard to water and air pollution arising from exploration activities by Lumwana mine and in accordance with the provisions of section 75 of the Mines and Minerals Development Act number 11 of 2015, I wish to direct that you cease with immediate effect all exploration activities around Lubwe area and any other equally affected community,” said Moolela. Read more: News Diggers
International Business and Finance
In a half-hour address broadcasted on Sunday, Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo, addressed the nation to explain the raft of measures his government will be taking to see its way out of financial turmoil, including measures to support domestic production. Among these measures, Nana Akufo-Addo announced a 30% cut in budgeted discretionary expenditures and salaries of the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and political office holders. “We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many evil forces have come together at the same time. Read more: Africa News
Nigeria must become a predominantly cashless society, and can act as a knowledge hub for the world on central bank digital currencies, says Godwin Emefiele. “We have provided all the necessary infrastructure that should enable us to make a cashless nationwide journey,” Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), told the audience at a workshop on 25 October celebrating a year since the launch of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira. Emfiele also said that with the experience that it is gaining, Nigeria could become a knowledge source for the world on CBDCs as central banks develop their plans to launch digital currencies. Read more: African Business
At least 50 companies are expected to list on the Ethiopian Stock Exchange (ESX), set to launch in two years, which will provide a platform for the privatization of the country’s state-owned enterprises. Read more: North Africa Post
The African Development Bank -AfDB has announced plans to increase its climate finance commitments through two new agreements ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference -COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in November. The first, which will formally be announced at COP27, will see the bank raise 1.5 billion dollars by 2025 to invest in Africa clean energy and climate-resistant infrastructure. An initial 100 million dollars will be raised by the end of 2023, partly provided by the multi-donor Climate Investment Funds; the rest will be raised from private and government sources. The second agreement will see the AfDB share risk tied to a portfolio of current and future non-concessional sovereign loans given to 11 of its country borrowers, worth 2 billion dollars, for a period of 15 years. Read more: ZNBC
Australian inflation raced to a 32-year high last quarter as the cost of home building and gas surged, a shock result that stoked pressure for a return to more aggressive rate hikes by the country’s central bank. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday showed the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.8 percent in the September quarter, topping market forecasts of 1.6 percent. Read more: Al Jazeera
The European Parliament and EU member countries have reached a deal to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035. European Union negotiators sealed on Thursday night the first agreement of the bloc’s “Fit for 55” package set up by the Commission to achieve the EU’s climate goals of cutting emissions of the gases that cause global warming by 55 percent over this decade. Read more: Al Jazeera
China’s factory activity fell in October due to frequent Covid outbreaks, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The official purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing fell to 49.2 this month, down from 50.1 in September, the data showed. Economists had expected a print of 50, according to analysts polled by Reuters. Readings below 50 indicate a contraction in business activity, while figures 50 above reflect expansion. The index surveys businesses on operating conditions. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 69 trades recorded yesterday, 37,436 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K117, 678.13. A share price loss of 0.01 was recorded in Bata.Trading activity was also recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation Zambia, Investrust, Chilanga Cement, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Zambeef and Zanaco as well as CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,233.54 points, 0.18 points down from it’s previous close of 7,233.72. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,417,985,446 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,635,300,006 excluding Shoprite Holdings.