Story of the Day:
In the last year, Enygma Ventures funded 10 businesses across the SADC region and deployed almost $4m. As an industry agnostic player, their investments ranged across various industries including fintech, edtech, recruitment, food, e-commerce and many more, making them one of the most active investors on the continent. Read more
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The Lusaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zambia Association of Junior Researchers aimed at refining small scale business through research. And LCCI President, Alexander Lawrence, has also stressed the need to include academia in the business industry if the sector is to achieve supplementary benefits. Read more: Lusaka Times
Global property consultancy group Knight Frank has published its 2021 Wealth Report, showing that Zambia and South Africa will lead the biggest rise in wealthy individuals in Africa over the next five years. Knight Frank’s model predicts that the global population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) – someone with a net worth of over $30 million will grow by 27% over the next five years. Read more: Lusaka Times
The National Traders of Edible Oils Association has praised government for accepting the proposal to import refined cooking oil, so as to mitigate the escalating prices of cooking oil on the market. National Traders of Edible Oils Association President Silvester Kaluwa says government’s decision to allow the importation of refined cooking oil will complement the efforts by the local producers of cooking oil to meet the demand of the commodity. Read more: ZNBC
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has so far collected a cumulative 7 billion Kwacha above the set target since the beginning of the year. ZRA Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda revealed this when he met staff in Ndola this morning. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
The 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc has agreed to open accession talks with the UK. The British government, which asked to join the TPP in February, said membership was a huge opportunity in a post-Brexit world. A working group is now expected to be set up to discuss tariffs and rules governing trade and investment. Read more: BBC News
The US has announced and immediately suspended tariffs on about $2bn of imports in retaliation for taxes on its tech firms. The 25% tariffs apply to certain goods from the UK, as well as Austria, India, Italy, Spain, and Turkey. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the delay would allow more time for discussions on tax. Read more: BBC News
The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will begin winding down a program that purchased tens of billions of dollars of corporate assets to shore up the economy during the pandemic. In a statement, the central bank said the facility was crucial to businesses during the depth of the recession. But as the economy rapidly recovers, the time to start winding it down has begun. Read more: CNN
Hong Kong’s economy has rebounded sharply after being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic — but it’s not out of the woods yet and some sectors are still reeling, said the city’s top trade official. “The distribution of this rebound is rather uneven,” Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday. Read more: CNBC
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In 15 trades recorded yesterday, 32,732 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K86,591. A share price gain was recorded in Zambia Sugar of K0.64. Trading activity was also recorded in BATA, First Quantum Minerals, Investrust, Zambia Breweries, ZAMEFA and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share index (LASI) closed at 4,292.98 points, 1.08% up from its previous close of 4,246.55 points.
Chart of the Day:
