Story of the Day
In compliance with Section 3.59 of the Lusaka Securities Exchange Listing Rules (“LuSE Rules”), ZAFFICO PLC is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Mundia Mundia to its Board of Directors. Mr. Mundia will serve as Managing Director effective 14th March, 2022. Mr. Mundia is a senior executive with over 20 years’ experience in the private and public sectors. Prior to joining ZAFFICO, he was Director of Finance at Madison General Insurance Company Zambia Limited. He has also worked for BP Southern Africa, Lafarge Zambia PLC and the Zambia Privatisation Agency in various portfolios. Read more
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Vice President Mutale Nalumango says government is working on plans to ensure sustainable supply of fuel in the country amidst the Russia/Ukraine which has resulted in escalating commodity prices in the country including fuel. Responding to a question from Chama north member of parliament, Yotam Mutayachalo during the vice president’s question time in parliament, Mrs. Nalumango said government is trying to find cheaper sources of the commodity and admitted that reserves are not enough as the end of the war in Ukraine is not known hence the need to find a sustainable source. Read more: Zambian Observer
Science and Technology Minister Felix Mutati has unveiled a 20 man team of the Technical Steering Committee on the National Space Science program to help launch a satellite in the next two years. Mr. Mutati says he has confidence in the membership that has been appointed to spearhead the development and coordinate activities for development of the space science under the national remote sensing centre. He said the Technical Steering Committee will be expected among other things to develop the road map and implementation plan for the launch of space satellite. Read more: ZNBC
Chilanga Cement has revealed that it paid more than K142 million in taxes to the Zambian government in 2021. This was revealed during 30th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Tuesday via Zoom chaired by Chilanga Cement Board Chairman Mr. Muna Hantuba. Mr. Hantuba has so announced that Chilanga recorded a 291 million Kwacha profit after tax for the year 2021. Read more: Lusaka Times
Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Elias Mubanga is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia attending the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) 2022. In a press statement issued to the media yesterday the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Yvonne Mpundu said the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) is being held in collaboration with Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). Read more: Lusaka Times
International Business and Finance
Ecobank Kenya Limited, a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, has been suspended from the East African country’s forex market for one week. Business Insider Africa gathered that Kenya’s apex bank took the decisive action after discovering that the lender had flouted forex regulations. The suspension will start from today and end on April 4th, 2022. Read more: Business Insider
The world’s biggest companies “have a choice to make” whether to do business in Russia or in Western allied nations, a top US official has told the BBC. Wally Adeyemo, the US Deputy Treasury Secretary, said firms could “choose to help Russia” in its invasion of Ukraine or “continue to do business with the 30 countries” that have imposed sanctions. He said Ukraine’s allies were committed to issuing more sanctions. He also warned Russian oligarchs “we’re going to come for your resources”. Read more: BBC News
President Joe Biden delivered a strong message to corporate executives this week in his 2023 spending plan: Share the wealth. His administration wants to discourage stock buybacks, which critics say allow ultra-wealthy executives to manipulate markets while funneling corporate profits into their own pockets instead of the economy. Last year, companies in the S&P 500 repurchased a record $882 billion of their own shares. That number is on track to reach $1 trillion in 2022, according to new data from Goldman Sachs. Read more: CNN
The World Bank has put four projects in Afghanistan worth $600 million on hold amid concerns over a decision by the country’s ruling Islamist leaders to ban girls from returning to public high schools, the bank said. The projects, to be funded under the revamped Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, were being readied for implementation by United Nations agencies to support projects in agriculture, education, health, and livelihoods. Read more: CNN
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In 107 trades recorded yesterday, 43,575 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K441,739. Share price gains were recorded in Standard Chartered Zambia of K0.01 and in Zanaco of K0.02. A share price loss was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation of K0.02. Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel, First Quantum Minerals Zambia, Chilanga Cement, National Breweries, Zambia Breweries and ZAMEFA. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,845.80 points, 0.04% up from its previous close of 6,842.81 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K70,613,105,530 including Shoprite Holdings and K35,830,420,090 excluding Shoprite Holdings.