Good afternoon. Here’s what you need to know
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We’re forecasting very strong economic recovery for Zambia in 2025 – IMF
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Bitcoin tops $98,000 in fresh high
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Nvidia Breaks Records in Q3 : AI Chip Demand Sends Revenue Soaring
In Local Business and Finance News
The recent ZiM ZaM summit held in Livingstone, Zambia, brought together stakeholders from Zimbabwe, Zambia, and the international community to discuss the region’s energy landscape and chart a course for a sustainable future. The event yielded significant key takeaways, landmark deals, and commitments to drive renewable energy growth, rural electrification, and digital inclusivity. Zimbabwe and Zambia are poised to lead the renewable energy revolution in Southern Africa, leveraging solar, wind, and hydro power resources. This shift towards clean energy will reduce dependence on fossil fuels, mitigate climate change, and create economic opportunities. Ambitious rural solar mini-grid projects, valued at USD 20 million, will provide clean energy to remote communities, fostering economic growth and improving living standards. This initiative will bridge the energy access gap, empowering rural populations and enhancing their quality of life. Read more on Financial Insight
IMF Resident Representative in Zambia Eric Lautier says the Fund is forecasting a very strong economic recovery for Zambia in 2025, with a projected 6.2 per cent GDP growth. In an interview, Lautier said the projection was anchored on expected recovery of the agriculture sector and investments taking place in mining. “You know that the economy has been severely impacted by the drought and so this has reduced agricultural output. We also had the electricity shortages that impacted the economy widely in 2024 so now we have revised the GDP growth from the initial 2.3 per cent that we had in the last review to 1.2 per cent so of course the economy is still trying to recover from the drought.” Read more: News Diggers
ZESCO Limited says its outstanding debt owed to Independent Power Pools (IPPs) has been reduced to $379 million from $1.8 billion. In an interview, Monday, Zesco Spokesperson Matongo Maumbi said the utility company was actively working on clearing the remaining debt and had set a target to fully settle the outstanding balance by the second half of 2026. “As of 31 December 2021, Zesco’s debt to IPPs stood at US$1.8 billion. However, significant efforts have been made to reduce this liability, and as of 30 September 2024, the outstanding debt has been reduced to US$379 million. Zesco is actively working on clearing the remaining debt and has set a target to fully settle the outstanding balance by the second half of 2026.” Read more: News Diggers
Parliament has approved a private member’s motion by Nkana Member of Parliament, Binwell Mpundu, urging the government to promote social media monetisation. The motion, seconded by Kamfinsa MP, Christopher Kang’ombe, received overwhelming support from lawmakers, including three Cabinet ministers. It aimed to enable content creators to earn income through their social media platforms while creating new opportunities for government revenue collection. Presenting the motion on Wednesday, Mpundu argued that social media monetisation would help tackle Zambia’s high youth unemployment rate. “Being an avenue for communication, social media can also be an avenue to earn a living,” he said. Kang’ombe emphasised that the initiative would not only empower young entrepreneurs but also broaden the national tax base. Read more: Zambia Monitor
President Hakainde Hichilema welcomed American actor, television host, author, and businessman Steve Harvey to State House yesterday. The meeting focused on exploring opportunities to enhance Zambia’s tourism sector, leveraging Mr. Harvey’s vast network, particularly among African American travelers, as well as his global influence. President Hichilema highlighted the potential for collaboration in promoting Zambia as a premier tourist destination. Despite challenges such as the drought impacting attractions like Victoria Falls, the country’s tourism industry continues to demonstrate resilience and growth. “Zambia would greatly benefit from having international celebrities like Mr. Harvey showcase our unique offerings to the world,” the President said. The discussion emphasized the untapped potential of Zambia’s natural beauty and cultural heritage, with a shared vision of increasing the country’s visibility on the global tourism map. Read more: Lusaka Times
In International News
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has demanded Google sells Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser. It is one of a series of remedies proposed by the DOJ in a court filing late on Wednesday aimed at stopping the tech giant from maintaining its monopoly in online search. Government lawyers also recommended that District Judge Amit Mehta force the firm to stop entering into contracts with companies – including Apple and Samsung – that make its search engine the default on many smartphones and browsers. The proposed remedies stem from a landmark anti-competition ruling in August, in which Judge Mehta found Google illegally crushed its competition in online search. The Department of Justice was joined in the filing by a group of US states that argued the changes will help to open up a monopolised market. “Restoring competition to the markets for general search and search text advertising as they exist today will require reactivating the competitive process that Google has long stifled,” the government lawyers wrote. In response, Google said that with its proposals, the DOJ “chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.” Read more: BBC News
Bitcoin breached the $98,000 level for the first time Thursday as investors continued pricing in a second Donald Trump presidency. The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by more than 3% at $97,541.61, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $98,367.00. Crypto exchange Coinbase advanced 2% in premarket trading while MicroStrategy, which trades as a bitcoin proxy, jumped 13%. Mining stocks rose as well, with Mara Holdings up 9%. Bitcoin has been regularly hitting fresh records this month on hopes that Trump will usher in a golden age of crypto, which would include more supportive regulation for the industry and a potential national strategic bitcoin reserve or stockpile. Read more: MSN
Nvidia reported third quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday that topped expectations on the strength of sales of its high-powered AI chips fueling what its CEO Jensen Huang called the “age of AI.” The world’s largest publicly traded company by market cap, Nvidia reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81 on revenue of $35.1 billion. Analysts were anticipating EPS of $0.74 on revenue of $33.2 billion. Nvidia also said it anticipates revenue of $37.5 billion, plus or minus 2%, for the fourth quarter. That’s just ahead of Wall Street expectations of $37 billion. Nvidia’s stock price rose nearly 2% in premarket trading Thursday morning, reversing earlier losses, as investors weighed the forecast. “The age of AI is in full steam, propelling a global shift to Nvidia computing,” Huang said in a statement. “Demand for Hopper and anticipation for Blackwell — in full production — are incredible as foundation model makers scale pretraining, post-training, and inference.” Read more: Yahoo Finance
KPMG said on Wednesday it would spend $100 million over the next four years to bolster its enterprise artificial intelligence services through a partnership with Alphabet’s Google Cloud. Part of the money will be spent on payments directly to Google, though the majority will be spent on in-house efforts that leverage Google’s products, Steve Chase, vice chair of AI and innovation for KPMG, told Reuters in an interview. That includes developing AI agents and training the firm’s workforce to become proficient with the technology. While Wall Street waits on the technology industry to demonstrate returns commensurate with the billions in capital expenditure it is pouring into AI, professional services providers have become one of the first business beneficiaries of the technology as large businesses tap accounting and consulting firms for help on implementing AI inside their companies and product offerings. “We strongly are in the camp that it is moving from [proof of concept] and experimentation to scaling,” Chase said. “We believe that professional services is going through the largest transformation that it will likely ever go through.” Read more: Reuters
Apple asked a federal judge on Wednesday to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice’s case accusing the iPhone maker of unlawfully dominating the smartphone market, in the latest Big Tech antitrust showdown. U.S. District Judge Julien Neals in Newark, New Jersey, heard arguments from lawyers for Apple who said the government’s case should be dismissed on multiple grounds and asked the judge to limit the discovery process. Discovery refers to the exchange of information among parties in a case. “The government has failed to plausibly allege that Apple has monopoly power,” said Apple lawyer Devora Allon. Prosecutors are expected to say the company locks users in and keeps competition out by limiting interoperability between the iPhone and third-party apps and devices. Apple has moved to dismiss the case, saying its limitations on developers’ access to its technology were reasonable, and that forcing it to share technology with competitors would chill innovation. Read more: Reuters
Finally, Capital Markets News
In 151 trades recorded yesterday, 74,181 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K2,134,032.40. The following price changes were recorded today: -K0.05 in CEC Zambia. Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel, British American Tobacco Zambia, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services, National Breweries, PUMA, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Shoprite, Zambia Breweries, ZCCM, ZAFFICO, Zambeef, Zambia Reinsurance, ZANACO, Zambia Sugar as well as CEC Africa and Pamodzi on the quoted tier.
For the dollar denominated security (REIT): 3 trades with a total quantity of 1,139 shares and turnover of $79.73 were recorded yesterday.
The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 15,849.03 points 0.12% lower than the previous trading day close. The market closed on a capitalization of K205,914,960,790.25 including Shoprite Holdings and K80,914,684,990.25 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
A total of 11 Govt Bond trades with a total quantity of K14,535,000 and turnover K13,096,720 were processed yesterday.
