Story of the Day:
Ralph Mupita has been appointed the CEO of the MTN group following a company announcement yesterday. He will be taking over for Rob Shuter who will step down formally on August 31 but will continue to assist the incoming CEO until the early 2021 in a non-executive role. Read more
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Zambia’s currency and Eurobonds plunged after President Edgar Lungu’s shock dismissal of central bank Governor Denny Kalyalya raised questions about the independence of the institution. Read more: Bloomberg
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday central banks’ independence must be maintained, in a statement in response to a change of Zambia’s central bank governor. Read more: Reuters
The Bank of Zambia sold K446million worth of fixed income government securities in a debt sale with K1.5bln on offer translating to 30% subscription. In these extraordinarily uncertain times, risk skew remains towards the shorter end of the yield curve with K322.16mln housed in the 2year tenor whose yield repriced 100 basis points higher to 31.9%. Read more: The Business Telegraph
President Edgar Lungu has urged business houses to engage the Ministry of Finance and propose reliefs that they would like to be given amid the Covid-19 pandemic. President Lungu says this should be done now as the ministry is preparing the 2021 National Budget and that government is open to proposals that will help businesses to remain viable during the Covid 19 pandemic. Read more: ZNBC
Government plans to hold a stakeholder meeting with Management in all Mines in the country to discuss issues surrounding tax. Mines and Minerals Development Minister Richard Musukwa says there have been numerous complaints from the mines that the current tax regime is not favouring their operations. Mr. Musukwa says government is aware of the tax challenges in the mining sector and is working towards coming up with a favourable regime. Read more: ZNBC
The Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) says verification delays by the Central Bank for clients seeking to access the K10 billion facility is a recipe for mistrust and discontent about the intention of the fund. Read more: News Diggers
International Business and Finance
U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators held a phone call on Tuesday about implementing the phase one agreement between the two countries. The call came after a planned six-month review of the deal set for Aug. 15 was delayed, and U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently claimed he postponed the talks. Read more: CNBC
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is getting a massive shakeup to balance out the disruption from Apple’s stock split. Salesforce, Amgen and Honeywell International will join the Dow, replacing Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, and Raytheon, S&P Dow Jones Indicies said in a statement Monday. Read more: CNN
Facebook has agreed to pay the French government €106 million in back taxes to settle a dispute over revenues earned in the country. The payment covers the last decade of its French operations from 2009. Read more: BBC News
Nigeria’s economy contracted by 6.1% in the second quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, the statistics office said on Monday, with lockdowns in its two main cities and low oil prices taking their toll. Read more: Reuters
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In 3 trades recorded yesterday, 55,727 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K46,511. Trading activity was recorded in PUMA and Zambia Breweries. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 3,842.39 points, as there were no share price movements . The market closed on a capitalization of K55,545,036,766 including Shoprite Holdings and K21,305,830,786 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: