Story of the Day
Saturnia Regna Pension Fund has embarked on a project to construct a modern 100-room hostel to provide affordable accommodation to University of Zambia (UNZA) students. The investment will provide alternative accommodation to students after the fund recognised a shortage of bed spaces at the university. “It is a fitting irony that funds grown for existing working members and designed to provide security for members as they approach the end of their working lives will be put to use to provide facilities for the next generation of employees,” said Saturnia Regna Board of Trustees Chairperson Collins M Hamusonde. Read more
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Indian investment amounting to $5 billion is in the pipeline for Zambia, targeting sectors such as health, agriculture, and infrastructure development, the Zambian deputy president announced on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters in the Indian capital New Delhi on the sidelines of the ongoing Exim Bank India-Africa Growth Partnership Conclave, Mutale Nalumango said: “Over $3 billion of investment by Indian enterprises have been registered in Zambia in the recent past, with more than $5 billion already in the pipeline.” Nalumango assured investors of asset security in the southern African nation, which is the continent’s second top copper producer. Read more: AA
Zambia’s creditors are expected to commit to debt relief needed to unlock $1.4 billion from the IMF on Wednesday or Thursday, two sources familiar with the situation said, as the country and its lenders seek to end a drawn-out restructuring process. After meeting on Monday, Zambia’s bilateral creditors agreed to release a statement on their position sufficient for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board to sign off on a $1.4 billion three-year program, the sources said. Read more: Reuters
ZESCO has revealed that Zambia has achieved an electricity generation surplus of 1,156MW (Megawatts) following the successful commissioning of 4x150MW capacity from the 750MW Kafue Gorge Lower Power Station. ZESCO Managing Director Eng. Victor Mapani said currently the installed national generation capacity stands at 3,456.8MW against a peak national demand of approximately 2,300MW. Read more: Lusaka Times
Zambian Breweries’ US$80 million capital investment will help expand its Lusaka plant and create over 5,000 direct jobs once completed in the next 18 months. Company country director Michelle Kilpin said the investment will double production and contribute to the growth of the economy. Ms Kilpin said this during a media briefing and tour of the Lusaka plant on Friday. “Apart from the over 5,000 direct and indirect jobs we shall create, the project will expand the company’s agriculture out-grower schemes, while offering procurement opportunities for local suppliers and service providers,” she said. Read more: Zambian Breweries
President Hakainde Hichilema has challenged engineers in the sector dealing with infrastructure in the Public Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF) to ascertain how feasible it is for Zambia to construct concrete roads. President Hichilema said he was mooting the idea of moving away from asphalt to concrete roads as that would result in acquiring materials locally thereby empowering companies operating in Zambia. Read more: Times of Zambia
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has disclosed that exports to China by the region dropped from 11.2 billion United States dollars to 9.5 billion United States dollars in 2019. COMESA Secretary General, Chileshe Kapwepwe attributed the drop to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. ZANIS reports that Ms. Kapwepwe, however, said similarly the value of imports from China declined from 35 billion United States dollars in 2019 to 26 billion United States dollars in 2020. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $235.6 million loan disbursement to Kenya. Business Insider Africa understands that the loan is the third 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 $1.208 billion. Read more: Business Insider
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1.04 billion for Tanzania. Business Insider Africa understands that $151.7 million, out of the total sum, would be disbursed immediately. A statement by the IMF explained that the 40-month financing package will assist Tanzania’s economic recovery efforts, as well as help to address some of the economic issues the country has faced since Russia’s war on Ukraine began. Read more: Business Insider
South African carrier South African Airways (SAA) and Kenya national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) have signed a codeshare agreement that opens more destinations for travelers. As demand for air travel rebounds, the code-sharing agreement will see each airline sell, under its own code, flights operated by each other. Passengers traveling out of South Africa will have more options to travel to African destinations including Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Mombasa and Kisumu, while Kenya Airways passengers will have more choices for travel into Southern Africa including Cape Town, Durban and Harare. Read more: CGTN
Surging inflation led interest payments on UK government debt to hit the highest amount on record in June. Interest payments paid by the government for last month hit £19.4bn. It pushed government borrowing for the month up from a year earlier to the second highest June level on record. Borrowing – the difference between spending and tax income – was £22.9bn during the month, up £4.1bn from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. Read more: BBC News
After enjoying a long reign as the king of streaming, Netflix faces a tough fight to keep its crown. It lost almost a million subscribers between April and July as more people decided to quit the service. The streaming giant has now lost members for two quarters in a row, but the drop was smaller than it feared. Read more: BBC News
Capital Markets Report
In 26 trades recorded yesterday, 4,751 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K9,618. A share price gain was recorded in Zambeef of K0.08. A share price loss of K0.02 was recorded in Zanaco. Trading activity was also recorded in Chilanga Cement, PUMA, Stanadard Chartered Zambia and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,877,18 points, 0.02% down from its previous close of 6,878.29 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,866,808,445 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,084,123,007 excluding Shoprite Holdings.