Story of the Day
Pursuant to Section 3.59 of the Listing Requirements the Board of Directors of Zanaco Plc (“the Board”) wishes to announce the appointment of Professor Oliver Saasa as director of the board effective 18th May 2022. Prof. Oliver Saasa is Professor of International Economic Relations and Managing Consultant/Proprietor of Premier Consult Limited in Lusaka. Prior to 2000, Prof. Saasa served for 12 years as the Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at the University of Zambia. A Rhodes Scholar, Prof. Saasa obtained his doctorate in 1983 from Southampton University in the UK. Read more
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Mining and commodity trading giant Glencore has helped to fund Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines as the company has been unable to pay its bills on time and the state has yet to find a new investor more than a year after it took over the complex. Glencore, which sold Mopani to state mining investment firm ZCCM-IH, has since helped cover some of Mopani’s running costs, including power bills and purchases of copper concentrate from third parties, two sources with direct knowledge said. Read more: Reuters
Zambia’s decision three years ago to take control of a copper mine in the country’s north will be subject to an arbitration hearing in January, in London, the country’s mines minister said on Wednesday, after a lengthy dispute over the mine’s ownership. Zambia in May 2019 handed control of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) to a state-appointed provisional liquidator, triggering a legal battle with its previous owner, India-listed Vedanta, with arguments heard in Zambia and South Africa. Read more: Business Day
Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga says Zambia has the potential to increase its exports to Israel to at least 1 billion United States dollars. Speaking in Lusaka yesterday when he officially opened the first ever Israel-Zambia economic conference, Mr. Mulenga observed that Zambia currently imports 163 million United States dollars from Israel and exports to that country 3 million dollars’ worth of trade and investment. He however, said this represents a trade imbalance between the two countries. Mr. Mulenga stated that the two countries have potential to resolve the trade imbalance. Read more: Lusaka Times
Minister of Transport and Logistics Frank Tayali says citizens might not immediately appreciate the changes being made, but Zambia will be a paradise in the sub-region and on the continent owing to the new dawn government’s programmes. Read more: News Diggers
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The Africa Finance Corporation’s infrastructure summit in May saw the launch of a white paper calling for a pragmatic approach to achieving net zero in Africa. Africa accounts for less than 4% of current global greenhouse gas emissions. The white paper, entitled “Roadmap to Africa’s COP: A Pragmatic Path to Net Zero”, argues that there are limited benefits to be gained from reducing the region’s already far lower emissions. As the report points out, “Africans must balance the need to combat climate change with an urgency to develop the continent’s economies in order to alleviate hunger and poverty, among other UN sustainable development goals.” Read more: African Business
For the first time since 2016, shareholders of Ecobank, the leading pan-African bank with operations across 33 African countries, will receive a dividend. The payment of 0.16 cents per share was approved at the 34th Annual General Meeting of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (“ETI”), the parent company of the Ecobank Group, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on 26 May. Read more: African Business
Beijing is turning to state-owned policy banks once again to help rescue an economy under strain, ordering them to provide 800 billion yuan ($120 billion) in funding for infrastructure projects. The stimulus, announced at a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, could help finance a significant chunk of infrastructure costs this year and give some relief to local governments grappling with plunging revenues. Read more: Al Jazeera
India’s economic growth slowed to the lowest in a year in the first three months of 2022, hit by weakening consumer demand amid soaring prices that could make the central bank’s task of taming inflation without harming growth more difficult. Gross domestic product grew 4.1 percent year-on-year in January-March, government data released on Tuesday showed, in line with a 4 percent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and below 5.4 percent growth in Oct-December and growth of 8.4 percent in July-Sept. Read more: Al Jazeera
Oil prices dropped following a report that Saudi Arabia is prepared to raise crude production if Russia’s output significantly falls following European Union sanctions. The Financial Times reported, citing sources, Saudi Arabia is aware of the risks of a supply shortage and that it is “not in their interests to lose control of oil prices.” Oil prices fell in the morning of Asia trading hours. International benchmark Brent crude futures were last down 1.68% at $114.34 per barrel. U.S. crude futures dropped 1.87% to $113.10 per barrel. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report Sponsored By WWF Zambia
In 40 trades recorded yesterday, 50,821 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K110,245. A share price gain was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation of K0.01. Trading activity was also recorded in British American Tobacco Zambia, Real Estate Investments Zambia, Zanaco and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,802.76 points, 0.05% up from its previous close of 6,799.03 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,542,889,811 including Shoprite Holdings and K35,760,204,371 excluding Shoprite Holdings.