Story of the Day
With His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema’s drive for a New Dawn for Mining in Zambia, ZCCM-IH – which holds stakes in many of the country’s mining operations – appears to have entered a new and dynamic phase. Mining For Zambia met up with the company’s recently appointed Board Chair, Ms. Dolika Banda, at last month’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town to find out more about its vision for the future. Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Latest data from Stanbic Bank’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) suggests that inflationary pressures hindered growth in the Zambian private sector in May. It stated that output and new orders both ticked down amid reports that customers had struggled to finance new projects while input costs and output prices continued to rise, though at softer rates than in April. The headline figure of the PMI posted 49.8 in May, down from 50.5 in April, thereby signalling a fractional deterioration in business conditions in the private sector. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
A Japanese company is setting up a banana paper project in Eastern Province that will be producing high-grade paper from banana stems. One Planet Café, which has its headquarters in Japan, is implementing the banana paper project in Mfuwe and expanding to Nyimba. Under the project, the company will buy banana stems from small-scale farmers and produce pulp, which will be exported to Japan and Europe to make the finished product. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
International Monetary Fund -IMF- Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh is today expected in the country for a two day visit. While in Zambia, Ms. Sayeh is expected to hold high level talks with the government focused on recent economic developments. The talks will look at the effect of global economic developments such as high oil and fertilizer prices on the Zambian economy. Read more: Lusaka Times
Zambia and the DRC on Monday signed fresh Memoranda of Understanding to revive ambitious plans to construct over 1,000-MW power stations on the Luapula River Basin as well as building new power interconnector. The bilateral agreements initially signed in 2015 but not implemented, are jointly going to be executed by ZESCO and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) power utility SNEL will also herald a new 330 kV Solwezi – Kolwezi Interconnector. Read more: Lusaka Times
International Business and Finance Sponsored By Agricultural and Commercial Society of Zambia
Just one month ago, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank was not “actively considering” raising interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point to fight inflation. But after Friday’s consumer price index report showed inflation is rising faster than expected, Wall Street is worried that Powell may have to change his tune. Read more: CNN
It’s official, according to the folks who decide which markets are bulls and which are bears, not to mention which stocks go into the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. U.S. stocks on Monday entered a bear market because the S&P 500 closed more than 21% below its all-time record close reached as recently as last January, S&P Global Dow Jones Indices senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt wrote. Read more: CNBC
Alphabet Inc unit Google, Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and other tech companies will have to take measures to counter deepfakes and fake accounts on their platforms or risk hefty fines under an updated European Union code of practice, according to an EU document seen by Reuters. The European Commission is expected to publish the updated code of practice on disinformation on Thursday as part of its crackdown against fake news. Read more: Reuters
The U.S. dollar gained towards fresh two-decade highs versus major rival currencies on Monday, supported by fears over a global economic slowdown and bets on steep interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The yen was among a host of currencies swept lower on the day, to its lowest level versus the dollar since 1998, as the gap between Japanese and U.S. benchmark yields widened after red hot U.S. inflation data on Friday. Read more: CGTN
Russia earned nearly $100bn from oil and gas exports during the first 100 days of the war in Ukraine, according to a report. Revenues have been falling since March, as many countries shunned Russian supplies, but remain high, the independent Centre For Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) found. It also warned of potential loopholes in efforts to curb imports from Russia. The EU, US and UK are among those to have pledged to cut Russian imports. Read more: BBC News
Capital Markets Report
In 61 trades recorded yesterday, 26,315 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K56,423. Share price gains were recorded in Zambeef of K0.41, in Zanaco of K0.05 and in CEC Africa on the quoted tier of K0.01. Trading activity was also recorded in British American Tobacco Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services, Standard Chartered Zambia and Zambia Breweries. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,839.34 points, 0.65% up from its previous close of 6,794.44 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,702,094,699 including Shoprite Holdings and K35,919,409,259 excluding Shoprite Holdings.