Story of the Day:
The reinsurance business in Zambia is a bespoke investment opportunity that less than 10 Zambian firms have taken on in the pursuit of creating value. The reason for this minimal participation is due to several factors, however, hope has been here for a while through ZEP-RE whose COMESA mandate is to foster the development of the region’s insurance and reinsurance industry. Read more
Local Business and Finance
Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya says Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in flows fell by almost 50 percent to about US$560m in 2018. Read more: ZNBC
The Bank of Zambia says it is not true that the Constitutional Amendment Bill number 10 of 2019 will take away its powers to print the currency and supervise the financial sector. Read more: ZNBC
Danies Chisenda, Ministry of National Development Planning Permanent Secretary, called for an integrated approach and coordination of all government institutions, the private sector and civil society organizations for Zambia to fully benefit from southern African regional integration efforts. Read more: News Ghana
Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) Plc’s electricity supply to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has drastically dropped to an average 160 megawatts by the end of 2019, from a peak of around 210 megawatts one year ago, company data reveals. Read more: News Diggers
Zambia’s private sector activity is still in the woods having headlined 48.7 from 48.3 in October. November data reflected power woes that are compounding the copper producers energy bottlenecks. Read more: The Business Telegraph
Lafarge Zambia has invested over K15 million to develop Geocycle, an innovative solution for sustainable waste management. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Over US$10 million has been underwritten from the Zambian market by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region reinsurance company, ZE-PRE, making the country the fifth largest premium contributor. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
International Business and Finance
South Africa’s government will place the national airline under a local form of bankruptcy protection as a last-ditch measure to try and prevent its total collapse. Read more: Bloomberg
The pound reached a seven month high against the dollar and its highest level against the euro since May 2017. Read more: BBC News
US companies are realizing that they need to diversify away from China and have already begun to take action. Middle-market companies have started to shift their supply chains to other parts of Asia and are selling more to other countries to make up what they can’t sell to China. Read more: CNN
Japan unveiled a $120 billion fiscal package on Thursday to support stalling growth in the world’s third-largest economy amid offshore risks and as policymakers look to sustain activity beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Read more: CNBC
The air cargo industry braces for worst year since the financial crisis as holidays fail to perk up demand, according to IATA data. Read more: CNBC
The rise of technology giants such as Amazon and Facebook, like the rise of Chinese state capitalism, is disrupting national economies in ways that international tax and trade rules were never designed to handle. Read more: Wall Street Journal
Capital Markets Report
In 2 trades recorded yesterday, 800 shares were transacted, resulting in a market turnover of K1,008. Trading activity was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close of 4,272.91 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K56,590,475,629 including Shoprite Holdings and K22,351,269,649 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day:
