Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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Ghana, Zambia sign agreements to boost ties
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Egypt’s annual inflation hits record high
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Shoprite Holdings was the highest priced security in the last week of June
Story of the Day
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Ghana and Zambia Friday signed cooperative agreements aimed at bolstering ties and trade development between the two countries. The agreements were on trade and investment; mining; tourism, arts and culture; skills development; information communication technology; youth and sports; drug trafficking; Science, technology and innovation; and investment promotion. The agreements were signed when the Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, who is on a three-day visit to Ghana held a brief with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House, Accra. President Hichilema is in Ghana at the invitation of President Akufo-Addo to strengthen the already cordial bilateral relations between the two Anglophone countries and forge new long-lasting partnerships in various sectors of mutual interest. Read more: Pulse Ghana
The Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone (LSMFEZ) has announced the conclusion of an investment worth $3 million, accounting for investments from three local Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). According to LSMFEZ Corporate Affairs Manager, Alice Schultz, the three firms are set to produce beverages, wheat and flour milling, cooking oil production and recycling of wastepaper into egg trays. Schultz spoke to Zambia Monitor on Monday in Lusaka after concluding the three deals. She said the investors were Muhungano Enterprises Limited set to develop a beverages factory on a 7,900 square meter plot within the MFEZ and is projected to create 268 jobs by year three of its operations with a total project investment for this entity is $2 million. Read more: Zambia Monitor
Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane says African countries at the 2023 IMF and World Bank Africa Caucus in Cape Verde are looking at ways they can be helped in terms of indebtedness. Speaking on the sidelines of the 2023 IMF and World Bank Africa Caucus, Friday, Dr Musokotwane said although Zambia had made progress in terms of its indebtedness, some African countries still lagged behind. “We are in Cape Verde, we are here to meet as an African group, called a Caucus, African Caucus of the World Bank and IMF.” Read more: News Diggers
Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Elias Munga says he will soon announce a policy for his ministry which will be a game changer. Speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s Red Hot Breakfast show, Mubanga said until now, his ministry doesn’t have a policy because it is new. “We’ve never had a policy because this is a new ministry. Now the policy is in place. Soon I will announce it. Smaller businesses you can’t compare them to larger businesses in terms of tax. These are some of the things that have been making the SMEs not to grow, and when the policy comes, some of the incentives will be announced but some of the incentives are there.” Read more: News Diggers
Bank of Zambia Exchange Rates
Currency | Buying | Selling |
---|---|---|
USD | 18.1803 | 18.2291 |
GBP | 13.1981 | 23.2676 |
EUR | 19.9074 | 19.9681 |
ZAR | 0.9599 | 0.9628 |
In International Business News
Egypt’s annual inflation rate hit a record high of 36.8% in June, according to official figures announced on Monday. The country is in the midst of an economic crisis, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The previous record inflation rate of 34.2%, in July 2017, followed a sharp devaluation of the country’s currency linked to a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This year’s record similarly comes after a bailout loan from the IMF last year. The Egyptian pound has lost half its value in a year which has made conditions even more difficult for households as prices rise. Even before the current economic crisis, two-thirds of Egypt’s 105 million inhabitants lived under or just under the poverty line, according to the World Bank. Read more: Africa News
Microsoft confirmed Monday that it’s eliminating additional jobs, a week after the start of its 2024 fiscal year. The cuts are in addition to the downsizing announced in January that resulted in 10,000 layoffs. The software maker also disclosed a small number of cuts this time last year. GeekWire reported on the latest cuts earlier Monday. Amazon, Google and other large technology companies have also scaled back this year after adding headcount rapidly to meet rising demand during the Covid-19 pandemic. Microsoft has said in recent months that clients are looking for ways to save money on their cloud computing bill. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to specify the number of cuts in the latest round. In January, CEO Satya Nadella issued a memo, indicating the company would change its hardware lineup and consolidate leases. Read more: CNBC
India is poised to become the world’s second-largest economy by 2075, leapfrogging not just Japan and Germany, but the U.S. too, says Goldman Sachs. Currently, India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, behind Germany, Japan, China and the U.S. On top of a burgeoning population, driving the forecast is the country’s progress in innovation and technology, higher capital investment and rising worker productivity, the investment bank wrote in a recent report. Read more: CNBC
The governor of the Bank of England has said it is “crucial that we see the job through” to slow soaring prices in a speech to the world of finance. Andrew Bailey said reducing inflation to 2% is “so important” as people “should trust that their hard-earned money maintains its value”. Currently, inflation, which is the rate prices rise at, is 8.7% – more than four times the Bank’s target of 2%. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said government would work to cut inflation. “We will do what is necessary for as long as necessary to tackle inflation persistence and bring it back to the 2% target,” Mr Hunt said at the start of his first Mansion House speech as chancellor. Read more: BBC News
Finally, Capital Markets News
In the final week of June 2023, there were thirteen companies that recorded trades of which Shoprite Holdings was the highest priced security. In comparison to the final week of June 2022, we see fourteen companies recorded trades with AECI Mining Explosives as the highest priced security. Wednesdays’ equity trading was the best performing day of the week. Read more
In 75 trades recorded yesterday 46,387 shares were transacted reuslting in a turnover of K212,310.60. A share price loss of K0.01 was recorded in CEC Zambia. Trading activity was also recorded in British American Tobacco Zambia, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, ZAMEFA and Zanaco . The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 8,228.25 down by 0.05% from its previous close of 8,231.98 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K76,747,750,588.88 including Shoprite Holdings and K41,965,065,148.88 excluding Shoprite Holdings.