Story of the Day
As Q3 2022 comes to an end, two big announcements in the financial and technology sectors indicate that collaborations are in vogue. Sonny Zulu was announced CEO of the Standard Chartered Bank Zambia location in Q2 2022 and his first order of business was to introduce himself to the local business community. What better way to announce that Zambia’s favorite banking son was back from Dubai with the announcement that he would be teaming up with Mark Townsend of Liquid Intelligent technologies in an agency banking venture that makes sense at every level! Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
A successful sovereign debt restructuring requires a host of creditors to agree to changes in the financial terms of a country’s debt. Yet as the recent debate on FTAV has shown, the “architecture” for getting creditors to agree on what changes are needed is currently unsettled. A surge in lending by Chinese state institutions has disrupted existing norms and institutions for co-operation. There is not full agreement on even basic questions like whether Chinese lenders are public or private. Moreover, the bond market also briefly opened up to a set of “frontier” markets that previously only borrowed from official institutions on concessional terms, adding another layer of complexity. Zambia’s slow restructuring is a direct consequence of the absence of functional agreement around the right process for working through debt problems in low income countries when concessional lenders, China policy banks and high coupon bonds all have overlapping financial claims. Read more: Financial Times
Zambia has not yet started negotiations with its creditors but is preparing for the first meeting, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Monday at a public meeting to discuss the country’s annual budget. The southern African nation became the continent’s first pandemic-era sovereign default nearly two years ago and according to the International Monetary Fund, is seeking $8.4 billion of debt relief from 2022 to 2025. Read more: Reuters
Expansion-minded Sibanye-Stillwater is interested in Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), as the mine and smelter complex looking for new investors after Glencore sold the asset to the state mining firm ZCCM-IH in January last year. Chief executive Neal Froneman, who has urged gold miners to consolidate, said on Wednesday the company had expressed its interest around a year ago. and while it remains interested, he thinks “the market is just not conducive at this stage to doing value-accretive transactions.” “It’s not a buyer’s market, which is why we’ve been quiet. There’s still too much froth,” Froneman said during an investor call in August. Read more: Mining
Zambia has lifted visa requirement for travellers from several major source markets such as Canada, China, European Union and the United States in a move aimed at injecting life into a tourism sector negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a notice on Sunday, the Zambia Tourism Authority (ZTA) said visitors from Australia, Canada, China, Gulf States, Norway, South Korea, UK and US no longer need to acquire visas before travelling to the southern African country. Read more: APA News
International Business and Finance
Ratings agency Fitch lowered the outlook for its credit rating for British government debt to “negative” from “stable” on Wednesday, days after a similar move from rival Standard & Poor’s following the government’s Sept. 23 fiscal statement. “The large and unfunded fiscal package announced as part of the new government’s growth plan could lead to a significant increase in fiscal deficits over the medium term,” Fitch said. Fitch maintained its “AA-” credit rating for Britain, which is one notch lower than S&P’s. Read more: CNN
Maybe that October market rally has some legs after all? Stocks were mostly unchanged Wednesday, even as a fresh batch of economic data revealed continued strength in the job market and America’s services sector. That’s led to new worries that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes, meant to curb inflation, will eventually lead to a recession. The Dow ended the day with a loss of a little more than 40 points, or 0.1%. The Dow had been down more than 400 points earlier and briefly slipped back below 30,000. Read more: CNN
Concerned about Kenya’s economic drift, the World Bank has lowered its expectation for the country’s growth projections for 2023. Albeit concerned, the World Bank’s current outlook on Kenya’s prospective growth for next year has only reduced slightly. The Bank estimates that Kenya, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, will have a growth projection of 5% as opposed to its prior projection of 5.5%. The Bank also predicted that there would be development in 2024. “Kenya is set to grow at 5 percent in 2023 –down from 5.5— and back up to 5.3 percent in 2024,” the World Bank said in the Kenya Economic Update. Read more: Business Insider
The second virtual Google for Africa 2022 event was held this morning as the global tech giant shared how it is delivering on its commitment to support various initiatives, from improved connectivity to investment in startups. The biggest announcement is Google’s intent to open Africa’s first Cloud Data Region (data centre) in South Africa, with interconnecting sites in Nigeria and Kenya). The news, which came at the second Google for Africa event, is the latest example of how Google delivers on the $1bn investment commitment made last year by the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai. Read more: Business Insider
Capital Markets Report
In 29 trades recorded yesterday, 5,487 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K50,180. Share price losses were recorded in Pamodzi, Zambeef and Zanaco of K0.01, K0.01 and K0.28 respectively. Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel, Bata, Standard Chartered Zambia, Zambia Sugar and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,229.31 points, 1.29% down from its previous close of 7,323.10 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,399,557,541 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,616,872,101 excluding Shoprite Holdings.