Story of the Day
In the New Dawn, financial literacy has become more important than ever. Recently there has been an emergence of social media personalities who leverage their experience and expertise in the markets to simplify the movements across the markets. Mulenga Chanda is currently the Assistant Manager for Treasury at the Bank of China. He is currently one the most prolific online personalities, with a lovable character and strong affinity for the markets. To his friends and work colleagues Mr Chanda seems like a man of many talents, with over 30,000 followers across social media platforms where he regularly shares news and ideas on business, politics, and never shying away from speaking his truth. Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Small and Medium Enterprise Development Minister, Elias Mubanga, says the government has prioritised the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because they drive the economic growth of the country. Mr Mubanga says SMEs represent about 97 percent of all businesses and contribute 70 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). He said SMEs also represent 88 percent of employment opportunities as they tend to employ a large share of the most vulnerable segments of the workforce. Read more: Lusaka Times
President Hakainde Hichilema challenged global leaders to roll out homogenous standards for carbon credits in the adaptation and mitigation of climate risks. “Let us work out a template of implementing carbon credits with a much easier format, including crafting regulations that effect this revenue based activity that helps us ameliorate the negative effects of climate change,” President Hakainde Hichilema said. The concept of carbon credits is gaining global traction and remains an area with immense asymmetries and will require regulators globally to harmonize and drive awareness so as to allow for cross border trading. It is evident that very few carbon trading markets exist. Read more: The Business Telegraph
Mines and Mineral Development Minister Paul Kabuswe says the ongoing negotiations with Chief Chibwika on the reopening of Kasenseli Gold Mine in Mwinilunga District have delayed the process of re-opening the mine. Mr. Kabuswe says the traditional leader has put up demands which government is still studying. He says once the negotiations are concluded, government will start the process of reopening Kasenseli Gold Mine. Read more: ZNBC
Labour Minister Brenda Tambatamba says government will not tolerate importation of non-skilled and semi-skilled labour by investors in the country. Ms. Tambatamba says the government will only take exceptions when there are compelling reasons for expertise which should be backed by a succession plan. She has explained that new entities that may need a quick takeoff are given the consideration to bring in experts for a period of time as they teach local people the skill. Read more: ZNBC
The Zambian Kwacha recorded minimal losses in October 2022, against the United States dollar and other convertible currencies.
According to Financial Analysts, the local currency kept on changing between gains and losses in the month under review.
And an Economist observed that the Kwacha lost value by about 2% in October 2022, from the average of K15.08 ngwee, and started trading around K16.03 ngwee against the US dollar. Read more: Money FM
Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) has disclosed that Pension uptake in the country remains very low with only 246 registered private occupation schemes out of thousands of employers countrywide. Speaking during the launch of the 2022 Pensions Awareness week, Authority Acting Registrar Namakau Ntini stated that the sector currently contributes around 5 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), yet there is potential to increase the ratio. Read more: Money FM
International Business and Finance
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $433 million loan disbursement to Kenya. Business Insider Africa understands that the loan is the fourth instalment for Kenya under the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility arrangements for the East African country. Of the $2.34 billion that is expected to be disbursed under this 38-month arrangement, Kenya has so far received $1,548 billion. The funds will cover Kenya’s external financing needs caused by drought and challenging global financing conditions, the IMF said. Read more: Business Insider
The National Bureau of Statistics recently reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased to 20.8%, but this figure has been disproven. This news came as another demoralizing blow to business owners all across the country and spurred some panic amongst a few Nigerian economists. However, as bad as that sounded, renowned American economist, and professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University has relayed some even worse news. According to the professor, Nigeria’s interest rate is 52%, 21.92% more than what the National Bureau of Statistics had reported. Read more: Business Insider
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced that it will cut 13% of its workforce. The first mass lay-offs in the firm’s history will result in 11,000 employees, from a worldwide headcount of 87,000, losing their jobs. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts were “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history”. The news follows major lay-offs at Twitter, which cut about half its staff, and other tech firms. BBC News
President Joe Biden said Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s relationship with other countries was “worthy of being looked at,” but declined to say how that could be done. “I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at, whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate,” Biden said, when asked if Musk was a threat to national security. “But that’s all I’ll say.” When a reporter in the room asked, “How?” the President responded: “There’s a lot of ways.” Just before Musk completed his $44-billion acquisition, Bloomberg reported that Biden administration officials were in early discussions about possibly subjecting some of Musk’s ventures to national security reviews, including the Twitter takeover. Read more: CNN
Capital Markets Report
In 122 trades recorded yesterday, 1,208,867 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K2,804,123.59.A share price loss 0f K0.10 was recorderd in Standard Chartered Bank Limited. Trading activity was also recorded in AECI, Copperbelt Energy Corporation Zambia, Madison Financial Services, Zambia Breweries, Zambeef and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,181.18 points, 0.53. points down from its previous close of 7,219.48 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,190,067,645.77 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,407,382,205.77 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
