Story of the Day:
At the Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) held on 30th March 2022 in Lusaka, a Final Dividend of ZMW 0.252 Ngwee per share for the financial year ended 31st December 2021 was approved by the Shareholders of Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc (“Zanaco”). Read more
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Rating agency Fitch has warned that disagreements and prolonged negotiations with some official and private creditors over Zambia’s debt might push the eventual IMF deal into 2023. It says the timelines issued by the Zambian government for the final IMF approval within first half of 2022 is optimistic. It says Zambia has just conducted an IMF/World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) which will be the basis of discussions within the creditor committee. Read more: Lusaka Times
BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, has come under pressure to delay demands for debt interest payments from Zambia to prevent the crisis-hit African country’s finances from spiralling out of control. Anti-poverty campaigners said BlackRock, which manages $10tn of assets, was among the private sector lenders that had refused to reduce the interest rate or delay payments on Zambian bonds, unlike governments and international agencies that hold the country’s debts. Read more: The Guardian
UN is finalising a five year plan for its support to Zambia. The plan is dubbed United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frame Work. The Cooperation Frame Work will run from 2023 to 2027. It is aimed at reinforcing Zambia’s attainment of transformative goals in various developmental programmes. Read more: ZNBC
The Chinese embassy in Zambia has refused to confirm or deny assertions that they are responsible for the delay in the finalization of a $1.4 billion credit facility (loan) that the Zambian government is pursuing with the International Monetary Fund – IMF. Read more: Zambian Business Times
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Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said. Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a “selective default” because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into “dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts.” According to S&P, a selective default is declared when an entity has defaulted on a specific obligation but not its entire debt. Read more: CNN
Oil prices may have met their match — for now, at least. Crude futures are tumbling yet again, sinking nearly 3%. After nearing $140 a barrel in early March and topping $120 as recently as two weeks ago, Brent futures have fallen in nearly a straight line and now sit just a hair above $100. US oil hasn’t sniffed $100 a barrel for nearly a week. What happened? The global economy is catching up to high prices, and investors are getting a case of the butterflies. Read more: CNN
Global food prices are surging at the fastest pace ever as the conflict in Ukraine continues to choke crop supplies. The fighting has wreaked havoc on supply chains in one of the world’s most important food-producing regions, and fuels panic about shortages of key staples such as wheat and cooking oils. All that has sent food prices — which were already surging before the conflict started — to a record, with a United Nations’ index of world costs soaring another 13 percent in March. Read more: CGTN
U.S. stock futures declined in early morning trading as investors braced for a key inflation report Tuesday. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 131 points or 0.38%, while S&P 500 futures shed 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.29%. The overnight moves come as investors await the release of March’s highly anticipated consumer price index on Tuesday. The data is expected to show an 8.4% annual increase in prices — the highest level since December 1981 — according to economists polled by Dow Jones, with rising food costs, rents and energy prices expected as the main contributors to the spike. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 49 trades recorded yesterday, 349,124 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K788,057. Share price losses were recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation of K0.01 and in Standard Chartered Zambia of K0.03. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,958.22 points, 0.22% down from its previous close of 6,973.40 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K71,103,620,830 including Shoprite Holdings and K36,320,935,390 excluding Shoprite Holdings.