Story of the Day
Government’s milestone approval of the Kalumbila Multi-Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ) will enhance trade and job creation in North-Western Province and promote the area as an attractive foreign investment destination, says First Quantum Minerals. Final approval of the facility by the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry gives local suppliers a designated industrial base from which to supply the growing Sentinel copper mine, upcoming Enterprise nickel mine, and other businesses around the FQM sites. “We commend the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry for taking this vital step in support of the MFEZ at Kalumbila and for recognising its importance as a driver of business and job creation in the area,” said General Kingsley Chinkuli, Country Manager of FQM. Read more
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President Hakainde Hichilema is Wednesday expected to travel to Namibia to attend the Swakopmund International Trade Expo which is scheduled for October 12th to 15th, 2022. Foreign Affairs Minister Stanley Kakubo says President Hichilema is expected to deliver a keynote address at the expo. Mr. Kakubo has told ZNBC News in a statement that on the sidelines of the expo, President Hichilema will also attend the Zambia-Namibia Business Seminar where he will also deliver a keynote statement. Mr. Kakubo says President Hichilema is also expected to engage with potential investors and partners to advance efforts to re-establish Zambia as an investment destination. Read more: ZNBC
Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane is leading a Zambian delegation to attend the 2022 IMF/World Bank Group Annual meetings in the United States of America. The annual event brings together Ministers of Finance, Central Bank Governors, Investors, and several other stakeholders to a common space to discuss and agree on solutions to the various challenges facing the global economy. Among these challenges includes low commodity prices, unstable macro-economic environment and low investments. Read more: ZNBC
President Hakainde Hichilema says every province will start having trade and investment expos in order to attract investments and better the lives of Zambians. Speaking upon arrival at Mongu Airport to officiate at the Western Province Economic Expo slated for today, President Hichilema noted that the country has abundant resources that need to be exploited to improve people’s welfare. “I am very delighted to be part of this expo, this is the way the country will run going forward, expos in all the provinces, so we can bring our assets, God gave us a lot of assets, a lot of resources and exploit them to better the lives of our people in the whole country.” Read more: Money FM
Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) has exceeded its annual registration target of 28,620 by registering over 36,000 businesses in the first 3 quarters of 2022 exceeding its annual registration target by over 25%. PACRA Business Development Manager Vaida B Njobvu said in a statement that the registrations include 22,000 business names and 14,000 limited companies. Ms. Njobvu explained that during the period under review, the Agency registered 23,206 businesses translating into a 37.9% increase this year. Read more: Money FM
ZESCO Limited says it is looking at harnessing more than 1,100 megawatts of power from renewables such as solar and wind, among others, in the next decade as the Government looks to increase copper output to an all-time high of three million tonnes per year. Read more: Times of Zambia
FIRST Quantum Minerals (FQM) says it is targeting at the production of between 5,000 tonnes and 10,000 tonnes of nickel from its Enterprise operation in Zambia next year. FQM project manager for Zambia Jacob Gresham said at Paydirt Nickel conference in Australia last week , that the company plans to reach three-million tonnes a year of production in 2023, before pushing out to the four-million tonnes ore a year nameplate capacity the year after. Read more: Times of Zambia
The Anti-Corruption Commission has issued a Restriction Notice on one of the accounts for Savenda Systems Limited after an attempt by Chief Executive Officer Clever Mpoha to withdraw the entire sum of US$3.4 million which was sitting in its account. ACC Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Timothy Moono says the Restriction was done pursuant to the Anti-Corruption Act. No. 3 of 2012, which gives the Director General powers to restrict property or money in a bank for a person who is under investigation. Read more: Zambian Observer
International Business and Finance
The IMF has said there is a growing risk that the global economy will slide into recession next year as households and businesses in most countries face “stormy waters”. China’s zero-Covid policy and fragile housing market, the need to raise interest rates to control inflation in advanced economies, and higher energy and food prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will lower world economic growth from 3.2 per cent in 2022 to 2.7 per cent next year, the fund predicted. The growth forecast for 2023 is the lowest for the year ahead that the IMF has published since 2001, apart from the years of the coronavirus pandemic and following the global financial crisis. Read more: Financial Times
Miners operating in Zimbabwe will have to pay some of their royalties in refined metal rather than cash. The country’s president announced the move in a newspaper on Sunday (Oct 9), as the country struggles to benefit from the demand for its resources. “Starting this October, the government now requires that part of these royalties come as actual refined mining products,” Mnangagwa wrote in the paper. The main minerals found in Zimbabwe include gold, platinum, chrome, coal, diamonds and lithium. Read more: Africa News
President Joe Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday that the prospect of a “slight recession” is possible but that he doesn’t anticipate it – even as experts are sounding the alarm about the future of the American and global economies. “I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it will be a very slight recession. That is we’ll move down slightly,” Biden told Tapper in his first exclusive interview with CNN since taking office, adding later, “It is possible. Look, it’s possible. I don’t anticipate it.” Investors, economists and banks, however, are all warning that the US is likely to enter a recession in the coming months. Read more: CNN
OPEC and its allies have defended their decision to slash oil production by arguing they are trying to prepare for a potential economic downturn that would hurt energy demand. Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal isn’t buying that argument from Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and is leading the push to punish the kingdom. “Give me a break. You’re causing the recession,” Blumenthal told CNN on Tuesday in a phone interview. “Saudi Arabia has not only thumbed its nose, it has given us a gut punch.” Read more: CNN
The UK economy unexpectedly shrank in August, strengthening predictions that it will fall into a recession. The surprise 0.3% drop came as factories and consumer-facing businesses struggled, according to official figures. Analysts thought the economy would stall in August but not shrink as costs mount for businesses and households. Prices are rising at their fastest rate for 40 years, eating into people’s budgets, and outpacing growth in pay. Read more: BBC News
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has doubled down on criticism of the chancellor’s mini-budget, days after warning it will fuel rising prices. The body, which works to stabilise economic growth, admitted tax cuts announced by Kwasi Kwarteng would boost growth in the short-term. But it said the cuts would “complicate the fight” against soaring prices. It expects high prices to last longer in the UK with only Slovakia out of the eurozone set to see higher inflation. Inflation, which measures how the cost of living changes over time, is expected to peak at about 11.3% before the end of the year in the UK, according to the IMF’s latest assessment of the global economy. Read more: BBC News
A shift in investor sentiment could see a further 20% downside for U.S. stock markets, according to the International Monetary Fund’s director of monetary and capital markets. IMF research found that rising interest rates and future earnings expectations were driving down company valuations in the current market downturn, Tobias Adrian told CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore at the 2022 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. Sentiment and risk premia have held up “pretty well” so far, leading to an “orderly tightening,” he said Tuesday. Read more: CNBC
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the U.S. economy was “doing very well” as rising energy prices, Covid-19 variants and Russia’s war with Ukraine have caught global markets in a vice grip. “From the perspective of the United States, I think the United States is doing very well,” Yellen told CNBC’s Sara Eisen Tuesday. The Treasury Secretary is meeting with world finance leaders at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s annual meetings this week in Washington, D.C. She said the economy was expected to slow after a very strong recovery, but a recent jobs report released last week revealed a “very resilient” economy. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 39 trades recorded yesterday, 3,025 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K31,176. Share price gains were recorded in Zambeef and Zanaco of K0.01 and K0.01 respectively. Trading activity was also recorded in Chilanga Cement, Standard Chartered Zambia and ZCCM. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,229.31 points, 0.06% up from its previous close of 7,225.30 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,399,557,541 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,616,872,101 excluding Shoprite Holdings.