Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Bank of Zambia moves to prevent further fall in Kwacha value, as poor run persists
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US Central Bank announces smaller rate rise as inflation cools
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SEC Boss Bullish on Secondary Bond Market in 2023
Story of the Day
First Quantum Minerals [FQM] is a mining and metals company whose principal activities include mineral exploration, development, and mining. FQM is Canada’s largest producer of metal and the world’s leading copper miners. Cobre Panama in South America and Kansanshi Mining Plc in Zambia have a large role to play in FQM, being the leading copper miners. This article will focus on the social impact of FQM concerning the Cobre Panama impasse with the Government. Secondly, the article will address the FQM and ZCCM-IH’s deal in respect of Kansanshi Mining Plc [KMP], the largest copper mine in Zambia. Read more
In Local Business News Sponsored by
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has acted to address Kwacha volatility by adjusting the minimum statutory ratio on both local and foreign currency deposit effect from Monday, February 13, 2023. This will also apply to government deposits and Vostro account deposits to be increased by 2.5 percentage points to 11.5 percent from the current nine percent. This is contained in a memo dated February 1, 2023 addressed to all heads of commercial banks signed by BoZ Deputy Governor Francis Chipimo. Read more: Zambia Monitor
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has called for increased private sector participation in the implementation of Special Economic Zone for Southern African countries to achieve sustained growth. UNECA Sub Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) Economic Affairs Officer Oliver Maponga said private sector participation was critical in accelerating the development of the Special Economic Zones. He said this during a webinar organised by UNECA SRO-SA to promote the implementation of regional and national industrialisation policies for accelerated inclusive and sustainable development in Southern Africa on Wednesday. Zambia Monitor
President Hakainde Hichilema says he will engage some countries in the world to ensure Zambia has access to fairly priced capital. President Hichilema says it is unfair that most African countries pay more to access capital. He says countries must work together to ensure this is changed. The President says Zambia is fed up of talking about endowments and potential and now wants to work with other countries to actualize development. President Hichilema said this at State House when he received letters of credence from 8- High Commissioners and Ambassadors accredited to Zambia. Read more: ZNBC
ZESCO Limited says it plans a US$6 billion expansion of its generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure over the next decade.
The power utility, which has been dogged by generation challenges, mainly caused by effects of climate change, said it has identified the public private partnership model as a means of expanding and diversifying its power generation portfolio, with targeted investments in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. Last month, Zesco signed a US$2 billion solar deal with the Gulf’s MASDAR, which is one of the world’s leading companies in renewable energy. The deal was clinched by President Hakainde Hichilema, who also oversaw its signing in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati has announced the Government’s plan to review the Postal Services Act to ensure that emerging issues in the postal and courier services sector are incorporated. Mr. Mutati said the Minister of Technology and Science will soon commence the review of the postal services act to ensure that rising issues in the postal and courier services sector are integrated. Speaking on the occasion of the signing of Postal Services (General) Regulations, 2023 Statutory Instrument in Lusaka, Mr. Mutati said the New Dawn government is making policy decisions to enhance the growth of the postal services sector. Read more: Lusaka Times
British High Commissioner to Zambia Nicholas Woolley says his country will continue to provide political and practical support to the Zambian government in its discussions with the IMF and its creditors. High Commissioner Woolley says this is in order to help the country implement the necessary reforms to put Zambia on a path to debt sustainability and long-term prosperity. Read more: News Diggers
In International Business News
The US central bank has raised interest rates again as it continues its fight to stabilise prices in the world’s largest economy. The Federal Reserve said it was raising its key rate by 0.25 percentage points. That marks the smallest increase since last March, after a series of aggressive rate hikes last year. But officials warned that they did not think they were finished raising rates, despite signs that price increases in the US are slowing. Read more: BBC News
Facebook-parent Meta on Wednesday posted its third straight quarterly decline in revenue and a sharp drop in profit for the final three months of 2022, as it confronted broader economic uncertainty, heightened competition in the social media market and incurred significant charges from a recent round of layoffs. But the company nonetheless outperformed Wall Street analysts’ expectations for sales. Moreover, it pledged to focus on “efficiency,” lowered its forecast for capital expenditures in the year ahead and announced plans to boost its share repurchase plan by $40 billion. All of that helped send shares of Meta up nearly 20% in after hours trading Wednesday. “Our management theme for 2023 is the ‘Year of Efficiency’ and we’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization,” Zuckerberg said in a statement with the earnings results. Read more: CNN
A technical committee of the influential OPEC+ oil producers’ coalition has made no recommendation to change the group’s existing oil production policy in its latest meeting, according to three delegates. Three OPEC delegates had signaled to CNBC that the group would likely echo a ministerial December decision to roll over the production policy agreed in October. Read more: CNBC
U.S. investors including the investment arms of Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc accounted for nearly a fifth of investments in Chinese artificial intelligence companies from 2015 to 2021, a report showed on Wednesday. The document, released by CSET, a tech policy group at Georgetown University, comes amid growing scrutiny of U.S. investments in AI, Quantum and semiconductors, as the Biden administration prepares to unveil new restrictions on U.S. funding of Chinese tech companies. Read more: Reuters
Finally, Capital Markets News
Zambia’s Securities and Exchange Commission CEO Philip Chitalu has indicated that he is optimistic about the prospects of the Secondary Bond Market which his agency provides oversight. Speaking to the press on 31st January 2023, the Philip gave an account of the 2022 performance of Zambia’s Capital Markets. He indicated that during the year, the equities market total savings grew by 8.05%. Furthermore, the Market Capitalization of the Lusaka Securities and Exchange Commission grew by 8% with Assets under management growing by 28.13%. “Having launched the Capital Markets Plan in the latter part of 2022, we are optimistic that we can develop our capital markets”, said Philip during a press briefing held at the SEC offices in Lusaka. Read more
In 24 trades recorded yesterday, 8,274 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K31,448.14. A share price gain of K0.01 and K0.10 was recorded in Airtel and Standard Chartered Bank Limited respectively. Trading activity was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Zambeef and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,256.29, points 0.53% points up from it’s previous close at 7,217.75 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,517,008,544.24 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,734,323,104.24 excluding Shoprite Holdings.