Story of the Day
This month the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations commenced with great expectation from viewers across the country as the ‘Shepolopolo’ had earned a substantial local following due to heroic performances in the 2020 Olympics. However, a swirl of rumours confirmed by snippets in sparse articles ultimately confirmed what we feared the most; our captain, team star Barbara Banda, had been excluded from the squad. The public was outraged and questions were met with a hushed tone. In the days since, it has become clear that the system itself, developed under the guise of gender rules and regulation, is in fact a law created to disproportionately oppress the most talented female athletes. In this article I will break down the motivations of Gender Verification Laws or Differences of Sex Development (DSD) (as they are known in athletics), how they are applied in different markets and why in its current state, the law is at its core discriminatory specifically towards female athletes. Read more
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Muchinga Province will in October next year host an investment exposition. Provincial Permanent Secretary Henry Mukungule says Muchinga has been lagging behind in various developmental aspects and that the expo is one avenue of creating investment opportunities. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
Botswana is one of the few economies in Sub-Saharan Africa whose output has recovered to its level before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, the International Monetary fund said on Wednesday. The information was published following the conclusion of an IMF Executive Board 2022 Article IV Consultation with the Southern African country. Read more: CGTN
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has been summoned before a senate committee on banking to explain why the naira has been on a losing streak. Business Insider Africa understands that a motion summoning the CBN governor was passed on Wednesday, July 27. Reuters, however, reported that no specific date has been set for the hearing. Read more: Business Insider
Airtel Africa PLC has released its financial statement for its Q1 period ended June 30, 2022. Business Insider Africa obtained a copy of the report and hereby brings you the key highlights. For the period under review, the telco’s revenue grew by 13.0% to $1.2 billion, compared to $1.1 billion during the same period in 2021. The sizable increase in revenue was due to a strong performance in the voice, data and mobile money segments of Airtel’s business operations. Read more: Business Insider
The US economy has shrunk for the second quarter in a row, a milestone that in many countries would be considered an economic recession. That is not the case in the US, which uses additional data to make that call. But the contraction, at an annual rate of 0.9% in the three months to July, has drawn widespread attention as worries about the economy grow. Prices for groceries, petrol and other basics are rising at the fastest pace since 1981. Read more: BBC News
Capital Markets Report
In 152 trades recorded yesterday, 34,574 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K305,773. A share price gain was recorded in PUMA of K0.01. Share price losses of K0.03 and of K0.01 were recorded in Airtel and Zanaco respectively. Trading activity was also recorded in British American Tobacco Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services, National Breweries, Pamodzi, Standard Chartered Zambia, Zambia Breweries, ZCCM and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,887.17 points, 0.04% down from its previous close of 6,890.06 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,910,320,051 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,127,634,611 excluding Shoprite Holdings.