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Zambia’s annual inflation rate dips to 9.9%, as country records K.5bn trade deficit
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Chinese hackers attacked Kenyan government to access information on the country’s debt owed to China
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Zambia Sugar Records 3% Revenue Growth
Story of the Day
The Africa Fintech Summit is pleased to announce that its 10th edition will be hosted in Lusaka, Zambia on November 2-3, 2023. The summit will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, and other stakeholders to explore, debate, and pave the future of the financial technology industry across the African continent and the globe. This November’s summit comes after the 9th AFTS which took place in Washington DC this past April where the ‘Tech for Trade Alliance’ was launched by the US government’s Prosper Africa initiative along with several US-Africa partners focused on supporting cross border trade and e-commerce innovation on the continent. Since its inception in 2017, the Africa Fintech Summit has become the premier bi-annual summit of Africa’s fintech industry. The summit has been held in several cities across the continent, including Lagos, Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Cape Town, and has attracted thousands of participants from over a hundred countries from across the world. Read more
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Zambia’s annual inflation rate has declined to 9.9 percent in May due to a reduction in prices of selected non-food items. This is as the country recorded K0.5 billion trade deficit. The annual inflation for May 2023, slowed down to 9.9 percent from 10.2 percent recorded in April 2023, Zambia Statistical Agency (ZamStats) interim statistician General, Mulenga Musepa, said. This means that on average, prices of goods and services increased by 9.9 percent between May 2022 and May 2023. Addressing journalists in Lusaka on Wednesday, Musepa indicated that annual food inflation for May, 2023 remained at 11.6 percent. He said this development was mainly attributed to price movements in meat, chicken, fruits and vegetables. Read more: Zambia Monitor
Government is exploring chances of amending the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that Zambia has with China through a Chinese company that exports soyabean meal so that they can include soyabean. Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Green Mbozi, said that there was no MoU that was signed with China for soyabean export but there was a Chinese company in Zambia that exported soyabean meal to China. Read more: Zambia Monitor
Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has called for prompt actions to ensure ZCCM-IH resolves the identified issues that led to its temporary suspension from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which holds a market capitalisation of US$57.67 billion as of May, 2023. Programmes Coordinator, Natalie Kaunda, said in a statement on Wednesday. On May 2, 2023, the LSE temporarily suspended the ZCCM-IH from trading on the Bourse due to non-compliance and failure to publish audited financial results for 2021 and 2022, which violates the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Disclosure and Transparency Rules. This unsettled many stakeholders such as CTPD who hold views that a formal listing of ZCCM-IH securities on the LSE provided a significant opportunity for growth of the company due to increased investment opportunities. Read more: Zambia Monitor
Mr. Kennedy Kalunga, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Media, addressed the recent misinformation surrounding the 2023 Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Annual Report. The government aimed to provide clarity to the public regarding the contents of the report and dispel any misconceptions. Contrary to the inaccurate reports, the FIC Annual Report of 2023 does not solely focus on financial trends and suspicious transactions that occurred in 2022 alone. Instead, it primarily highlights the activities undertaken by the FIC during the 2022 financial year. The report indicates that the FIC analyzed a total of 155 cases amounting to K6.1 billion in the 2022 financial year. It should be noted that these figures encompass cases carried over from previous years. The complexity of financial crime analysis often leads to cases overlapping multiple years, making it essential to account for prior investigations. Read more: Lusaka Times
ZESCO, the power utility company in Zambia, has provided an explanation for the recently approved upward tariff adjustment, emphasizing its positive impact on reliable service delivery. Fitzpatrick Kapepe, ZESCO’s Head of Business Development, delivered a presentation to shed light on the matter. During the presentation, Mr. Kapepe highlighted that the implementation of cost reflective tariffs would contribute to the financial stability of the institution. He further elaborated on the challenges faced by ZESCO in 2019 and 2020, where significant losses were incurred due to the inability to meet electricity generation and distribution targets, primarily attributed to high operational costs. The prevailing economic conditions, including factors such as economic growth, inflation, and exchange rates, have hindered ZESCO’s service delivery capabilities. Mr. Kapepe asserted that the newly adjusted tariffs would serve as a means to cushion the impact of these factors, allowing ZESCO to enhance its service quality. Read more: Lusaka Times
Bank of Zambia Exchange Rates
| Currency | Buying | Selling |
|---|---|---|
| USD | 19.1720 | 19.2201 |
| GBP | 23.7790 | 23.8406 |
| EUR | 20.6789 | 20.7385 |
| ZAR | 1.0002 | 1.0035 |
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Chinese hackers targeted Kenya’s government in a widespread, years-long series of digital intrusions against key ministries and state institutions, according to three sources, cybersecurity research reports and Reuters’ own analysis of technical data related to the hackings. Two of the sources assessed the hacks to be aimed, at least in part, at gaining information on debt owed to Beijing by the East African nation: Kenya is a strategic link in the Belt and Road Initiative – President Xi Jinping’s plan for a global infrastructure network. Read more: Reuters
White House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said negotiations with the White House over raising the U.S. debt limit Wednesday were still hung up over a disagreement on future spending, indicating that the two sides were far apart with only eight days before the government could face an unprecedented default. A tangible government spending cut in exchange for hiking the debt ceiling is a bedrock GOP demand, but a red line so far for the White House. Increasing the borrowing limit does not authorize new spending. As the U.S. inched closer to default and possible economic chaos, McCarthy blamed Democrats for the holdup. “And the off ramp here is to solve the problem to spend less than we spent last year,” he said during a press conference at the Capitol. Read more: CNBC
Apple says it has struck a multi-billion dollar deal with chipmaker Broadcom to use more US-made parts. Under the multi-year agreement, the two US companies will develop components for 5G devices that will be designed and manufactured in America. Apple says the deal is part of a plan it announced in 2021 to invest $430bn (£346bn) in the US economy. The move comes as a trade row centred on the technology industry intensifies between Washington and Beijing. The long-running dispute has seen the US impose a series of measures against China’s chip making industry and invest billions of dollars to boost America’s semiconductor sector. Read more: BBC News
Deutsche Bank and Citigroup have admitted anti-competitive activity by exchanging sensitive information on UK government bonds between 2009 and 2013, Britain’s anti-trust watchdog said Wednesday, as it provisionally found five banks in breach of competition rules. HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada, meanwhile, have not admitted any wrongdoing over the alleged sharing of information in one or more one-to-one conversations between a small number of traders in Bloomberg chatrooms in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a statement it would consider further representations from the banks before reaching a final decision on its next steps and the possible issue of financial penalties. Read more: CNN
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it had agreed to a $1 billion loan for Kenya, an East African country facing liquidity and economic difficulties. Kenya’s economy is burdened by a debt of $70bn and a sharp devaluation of its currency, the shilling, against the dollar. In an attempt to reduce its debt, the government of President William Ruto has prepared a budget including many new taxes that are expected to raise 289 billion shillings (€2 billion) to supplement the 3.6 trillion shillings (€24 billion) budget planned for 2023-24. This agreement still needs to be validated by the IMF’s executive board which meets in July. If approved, Kenya will have immediate access to $410 million, according to the IMF. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the financial institution said its commitment to Kenya would be increased to a total of $3.52 billion. Read more: Africa News
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made a significant decision to raise its benchmark interest rates to 18.5% during the third meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). This comes just months after the interest rate was previously raised in March, highlighting the ongoing efforts to address inflation and maintain economic stability. The decision to raise interest rates has sparked support and concern among various stakeholders. Proponents argue that the increase is necessary to curb inflation and ensure long-term economic stability by reducing the amount of money circulating in the economy. They believe it will have a positive impact on inflation control and attract foreign investments. Read more: Business Insider
Zambia Sugar last year recorded a three percent increase in revenue after hitting 5.1 billion Kwacha from 4.9 billion Kwacha in 2021. Zambia Sugar Country Managing Director Oswald Magwenzi attributes the company’s strong performance to a rise in domestic sales volume of over 276,000 tonnes. Mr. Magwenzi says this is testament of the success of the commercial strategy despite the challenging market environment such as the appreciation of the Kwacha among others. Read more
In 149 trades recorded yesterday, 39,468 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K355,887.96. Trading activity was also recorded in CEC Zambia, Chilanga Cement, Zambeef and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 8,150.79 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K76,410,598,978.90 including Shoprite Holdings and K41,627,913,538.90 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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