Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Zambia’s official creditors expected to sign debt relief MOU in May
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‘We should be worried’: Finance leaders warn rising interest rates are squeezing low-income countries
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Tesla net income and earnings drop more than 20% from last year
Story of the Day
Standard Chartered Bank in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, has handed over three houses in Bauleni Township to vulnerable female-headed households. The bank has invested ZMW200,000 to support the provision of decent housing for vulnerable women, under the Habitat for Humanity Annual Women’s Build. Speaking at the handover ceremony, Standard Chartered Bank CEO, Sonny Zulu said the bank was delighted to be handing over the three houses in Bauleni. He said Standard Chartered through its collaboration with Habitat for Humanity has continued to finance the building of homes for dis-advantaged women in communities such as Bauleni. Read more
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Zambia’s official creditors, which include China, are getting closer to signing a memorandum of understanding on debt relief to the country in May, in what would be a key step needed to pave the way for more IMF funding, sources told Reuters. Zambia has been in default since 2020 when it became one of the first major sovereign casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic era, though progress in overhauling its debt burden has been slow. Zambia’s external debt amounted to $18.6 billion by end-2022, according to government data, with China being its biggest bilateral creditor. The International Monetary Fund wants official creditors – which met on Tuesday – to outline in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government specific modalities of how they intend to deliver debt relief aligned with the parameters of a $1.3 billion 38-month programme signed off by the fund’s board in August 2022. “There was progress and the next meeting is in two or three weeks time and MOU is expected to be signed,” one of the sources familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The government reached a preliminary deal on the first review of the programme with the fund during a staff visit which ended in early April, but needs the executive board to sign off the deal for funds to be deployed. Read more: Reuters
President Hakainde Hichilema says food availability is a security issue which requires urgent attention whenever it arises. Mr Hichilema said food shortages being reported in some parts of the country, whether real or artificial, need Government’s attention and should be addressed urgently. The President said this yesterday when he met the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), grain traders and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector. “Today’s meeting is straightforward. We are all aware of what is going on around mealie meal,” he said. “Real or whatever you want to call it, particularly on the Congo borders, Zambia-Congo border, followed by, all of a sudden, the Tanzania-Zambia border and the Zambia-Malawi border.” The President said the food shortages being reported should be addressed as soon as possible. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Trade between Zambia and Zimbabwe has increased from 165 million United States Dollars in 2020 to 265 million United States Dollars in 2021. Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Zambia Charity Charamba says the recent launch of a Zambia Airways flight to Zimbabwe will help boost business opportunities and will further create room for cooperation in the aviation industry. Ms. Charamba says Zimbabwe is open for business and that the country endeavors to be a friend to all. Read more: ZNBC
Commerce Minister, Chipoka Mulenga, has challenged members of the Zambia Institute of Marketing- ZIM- to be aggressive in the marketing of Zambian products. Speaking when he officially opened the 26th Zambia Institute of Marketing ZIM Annual Conference in Livingstone , Mr. Chipoka Mulenga said marketers have a big responsibility to change the negative perception on local products, within and outside the country. He said this will increase trade and investment as well as enable Zambia to achieve its vision 2030. Read more: ZNBC
Bank of Zambia Exchange Rates
Currency | Buying | Selling |
---|---|---|
USD | 17.2828 | 17.3328 |
GBP | 21.5033 | 21.5724 |
EUR | 18.9333 | 18.9916 |
ZAR | 0.9500 | 0.9535 |
In International Business News Sponsored By
Leaders of several global financial bodies warned that rising interest rates are increasing pressure on low-income developing countries, around 60% of which are now in or at high risk of debt distress. Public debt burdens in developing countries have been exacerbated in recent years by back-to-back global crises, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine coming on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic, while many heavily-indebted nations are also dealing with idiosyncratic pressures from climate events or conflict. Major central banks around the world have tightened monetary policy aggressively over the past year in order to rein in soaring inflation. A lot of the debt accrued by low-income countries is coming due over the next couple of years, however, and rising interest rates mean these countries will find it increasingly difficult to meet their repayments. Read more: CNBC
Tesla helped kick off an EV price war. Now, those lower prices are hitting the company’s sales and profits. Tesla, which has cut prices on its electric vehicles four times in the quarter and twice so far this month, earned $2.9 billion excluding special items, down 22% from a year ago. Profits fell even more compared to the third and fourth quarters of last year. The lower prices caused revenue to fall $1.3 billion compared to the fourth quarter despite record deliveries, leading to tighter profit margins. Read more: CNN
Facebook owner Meta has started notifying staff who are losing jobs in the wave of 10,000 job cuts the social media company announced last month. Boss Mark Zuckerberg had said the layoffs are key to to making the company more efficient. Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has been under pressure since a sharp slowdown in its ads business last year. It had already let go 13% of its staff – roughly 11,000 people – last year. Read more: BBC News
US authorities have imposed a $300m penalty on tech firm Seagate for allegedly violating export controls of hard disk drives to China’s Huawei. Seagate Technology shipped more than $1.1bn worth of goods to Huawei after export controls were introduced in 2020, the Department of Commerce said. The penalty is the latest move by the US government to stop sales of sophisticated technology to China. Read more: BBC News
In 29 trades recorded yesterday, 873,520 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K4,358,905.73. Trading activity was also recorded in AECI, CEC Zambia, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services, Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Zambeef. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI)maintained its close at 7,987.89 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K75,701,512,416.33 including Shoprite Holdings and K40,918,826,976.33 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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