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Strengthen institutions of governance, Hichilema tells delegates, as Democracy Summit opens in Lusaka
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Elon Musk and other tech leaders call for pause on ‘dangerous race’ to make A.I. as advanced as humans
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Izwe Loans Zambia Plc posted 19% growth in profit after tax
Story of the Day
Liquid Intelligent Technologies Zambia has launched a state of the art Cyber Security center is calls Fusion Center at its Head Quarters in Lusaka Zambia which it promises will deliver end to end security that will be available for both large corporates and small businesses. Speaking with pride at the launch of the new Center, Country Chief Executive said “As we stand here in Liquid C2’s incredible Zambian Cyber Security Fusion Centre, we’re seeing the culmination of a lot of hard work — and significant investment — in this beautiful country that we call home” at the launch event held on 29th March 2023. Read more
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President Hakainde Hichilema, officially opened the second Summit on Democracy in Lusaka on Wednesday with a call to strengthen institutions of governance in order to continuously grow the much-cherished democracy. In a virtual address to the delegates at the Summit, Hichilema said servant leadership is important to the delivery of a strong democracy which must be backed with strong institutions of governance. The Head of State said with strong institutions of governance, accountability, transparency, autonomy and independence of such offices is guaranteed like the case of Zambia which has changed Presidents Seven times. “It is true that with strong institutions, transparency is safeguarded, strong institutions also guarantee independence and autonomy in decision making and of course service delivery to those who put us in office, who are the people,” he said. Hichilema said there is need to work together in order to create a world which is free and fair not only for the few but every citizen in all the countries. Read more: Zambia Monitor
The total import and export volumes between China and Zambia has surged to 36. 9 percent, hitting US$5.884 billion in 2022. This represents the total import and export between countries for the period January to October 2022, according to Chinese Embassy Minister, Counsellor Hao Meng. Hao pointed out that during the Covid-19 pandemic, China-Zambia economic and trade cooperation did not lose speed, stating that they still maintained a good momentum in trade, investment, infrastructure, construction and other fields. “From January to October 2022, the total import and export volumes between China and Zambia reached US$5.884 billion, a year-on-year increase of 36.9 percent,” he said. Read more: Zambia Monitor
The 2022 Satellite Home Survey (SHS) conducted by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflect (JCTR) has estimated that most bread winners in Zambia have an average monthly income ranging between K1000 and K3000. The average cost of living for a family of five across the 16 towns JCTR monitored in February 2023 stood at K6, 637. The 2022 SHS report discovered a number of key issues, including a revelation of 64% of households being headed by men who earn less than K4000. Read more: Lusaka Times
The Zambia’s 2022 annual Gold Production has dropped from 2,432 metric tons produced in the previous year 2021 to now 1,515 metric tons produced in the year 2022. According to a consolidated mineral production report, the 2022 reduction represent 917 metric tons. The drop is largely attributed to lack of traction by the mines ministry to formalize known artisanal mining activities and failure to timely re-open Kansenseli and Mumbwa Gold Mines among others. Read more: Zambian Business Times
Mopani copper mine has held its first Women in Mining Business Forum & Exhibition aimed at facilitating networking and strengthen business linkages for Women in the mining sector. Speaking during the opening of the first Mopani Women in Mining Business Forum & Exhibition held in Kitwe, Mopani CEO Charles Sakanya said Women in Zambia and the Sub-Saharan region have been struggling to benefit from the opportunities of large-scale mining operations and often disproportionately suffer from the negative impacts of the industry. Sakanya said Women’s economic empowerment is essential to ensuring that the benefits of the mining and minerals sector are shared widely by the community. “It is Mopani’s desire to increase local spend and we recognise the urgent need to invest in our women.” He added He added that, “For the mining industry to become a vehicle of inclusive economic growth, gender considerations and women’s economic empowerment must be integrated into every phase of mining projects. Mopani is abreast with this fact and commits to ensuring that no one is left behind.” Read more: Zambian Business Times
Bank of Zambia Exchange Rates
Currency | Buying | Selling |
---|---|---|
USD | 21.3045 | 21.3470 |
GBP | 26.2684 | 26.3293 |
EUR | 23.1217 | 23.1764 |
ZAR | 1.1764 | 1.1797 |
In International Business News
Elon Musk and dozens of other technology leaders have called on AI labs to pause the development of systems that can compete with human-level intelligence. In an open letter from the Future of Life Institute, signed by Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, AI labs were urged to cease training models more powerful than GPT-4, the latest version of the large language model software developed by U.S. startup OpenAI. “Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” the letter read. “Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?” Read more: CNBC
Ghana’s central bank surprised analysts on Monday by raising its main interest rate to 29.5%, indicating that the monetary committee does not yet see the country’s economic situation stabilizing despite two months of slower inflation. Ghana, one of West Africa’s most lucrative economies, is experiencing its worst financial crisis in the last 2 decades and is restructuring its debt in order to get a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. In an effort to limit spiraling price surges, the central bank has raised its primary lending rate by 12.5 percentage points in the last year, from 17% in March 2022 to 54.1% in December. Read more: Business Insider
According to a spokesman from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), IMF personnel are in Ethiopia this week completing technical work in preparation for a future IMF-supported program for the East African country. The IMF has received a request for financial assistance from Ethiopian authorities to support the country’s economic reforms, according to the spokesperson, noting that the country has been hit by a number of shocks, including drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic conflicts, and the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine. A mission team is “on the ground doing technical work to prepare for a potential IMF-supported program,” the Washington-based lender said Monday in response to emailed questions. The Horn of Africa nation requested financial assistance from the IMF, it said. Read more: Business Insider
Stocks rallied on Wednesday as investors eyed the end of an eventful month and first quarter of the year marked by resiliency in the face of a bank crisis and looming questions about the global economy. At the closing bell, the S&P 500 was up 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led gains, rising 1.8%. With the first quarter set to wrap up Friday, the Nasdaq is sitting on gains north of 13%, the S&P 500 is up more than 4.5% so far this year, and the Dow is lagging, falling 1.3% in 2023. This relative performance is a reversal from what was seen last year, when the Nasdaq fell nearly 30%, the S&P 500 lost over 18%, and the Dow fell a more modest 9%. Read more: Yahoo Finance
S&P Global Ratings Credit Research & Insights said on Wednesday that it expects the U.S. trailing 12-month speculative-grade corporate default rate to reach 4% by December, more than double the 1.7% default rate at the end of December 2022. “If, as we expect, unemployment rises and discretionary spending erodes, consumer-reliant sectors, which make up roughly half of borrowers in the ‘CCC’ to ‘C’ categories, will suffer most,” S&P analysts wrote. Retail borrowers have driven defaults so far this year, as consumers feel the pinch of inflation and increasing debt burdens, the analysts note. Speculative-grade corporate borrowers rated B-minus or lower had roughly $570 billion in floating-rate debt on their books as of Jan. 1. The greatest concentration of floating-rate debt lies among speculative-grade borrowers in high technology, health care, and media and entertainment, among others. Read more: Reuters
Ratings agency Moody’s said on Wednesday it expects risks to the sovereign credit profile of the United States to be limited from the recent turmoil in the country’s banking sector unless the strains deepen. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank sparked a crisis of confidence in the U.S. banking sector, leading to a run on deposits at a host of regional banks despite authorities launching emergency measures to shore up confidence. “The rapid deterioration in the operating environment for US (Aaa stable) regional banks over the past two weeks has indicated higher banking sector risk than we had previously factored in the sovereign’s credit profile,” Moody’s said. The agency said it did not “expect significant direct fiscal costs for the sovereign from the current banking sector stress”. It, however, underlined that if the stress were to prolong, it could weaken the economic and fiscal strength of the country. Read more: Reuters
The Directors of Izwe Loans Zambia Plc “Izwe” are pleased to present the abridged audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2022. The business environment remained positive throughout 2022, continuing into the first quarter of 2023. While recent increases in interest rates present a moderate risk in the short term, it is expected that once the government completes the imminent debt restructure, long term stability should be restored. Izwe continues to show strong profitability, ending the year with a performance of 19% growth in profit after tax. This growth has been attributed to a 40% increase in net operating income from ZMW262.9 million in the prior year, to ZMW368.3 million in 2022. This increase was driven by higher net interest income which grew from ZMW214.4 million to ZMW309.2 million representing a growth of 44%. Fees and commission income also grew by 22% from ZMW48.5 million to ZMW59 million. Read more
In 79 trades recorded yesterday, 33,818,365 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K170,251,766.18. Trading activity was recorded in BAT Zambia, CEC Zambia, PUMA, Zambia Breweries, ZCCM, Zambeef, Zanaco, Zambia Sugar and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintainted its close at 7,761.51 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K74,716,119,708.43 including Shoprite Holdings and K39,933,434,268.43 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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