Story of the Day
If there is an industry that has leapfrogged the various stages that traditional entities have often passed through to win the hearts and minds of consumers, it has to be fintech. According to an article published by Telus International, “the financial technology market is on the rise” and citing a Market Data Forecast report, “fintechs are expected to reach a market value of roughly $324 billion by 2026” globally. African countries have been in the forefront of pushing the fintech agenda. Zambia is no exception as evidence by the rounds of fund raising from venture capital and private equity that have poured into the sector. This is indicative of the level of trust private capital has in the evolution of fintech. Read more
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The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) says contrary to public perceptions that the mining sector is not contributing to the country’s revenue, the sector was the largest contributor between January and August 2022 at 41.8 percent. Read more: News Diggers
Zanaco Bank Plc investment securities have increased by 53 per cent in the year ending June, 30 this year. The investment securities grew from K6, 952 million in the prior year to K10, 608 million in June this year. According to the audited financial results posted by the Lusaka Securities Exchange Commission (LuSE), the group continued on a strong financial trajectory with a 11 per cent increase in total operating income from K1, 752 million recorded in the prior year to K1, 953 million. Read more: Times of Zambia
Ministry of Finance and National Planning Permanent Secretary, Trevor Kaunda says Zambia will prioritize economic and environmental development. He says this is in order to meet the third criteria for a possible graduation from the Least Developed Countries -LDCs. Mr. Kaunda adds that’s government is focusing on reversing economic challenges by boosting under-performing sectors of the economy. Read more: ZNBC
Energy Minister has disclosed that government will by mid-November, 2022 commerce the pilot project of blending fuel as one of the intervention measures to mitigating the high petroleum prices. Peter Kapala said government is implementing different interventions to mitigate the high cost of fuel on the domestic market. He is optimistic that as the economy grows and the Kwacha gains strengthen against major global convertible currencies, the cost of fuel will drop to reasonable prices. Read more: Money FM
International Business and Finance
OPEC+ said Wednesday that it will slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day, the biggest cut since the start of the pandemic, in a move that threatens to push gasoline prices higher just weeks before US midterm elections. The group of major oil producers, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, announced the production cut following its first meeting in person since March 2020. The reduction is equivalent to about 2% of global oil demand. Read more: CNN
America’s national debt has climbed north of $31 trillion for the first time, a milestone that comes at a time of historically high inflation, rising interest rates and growing economic uncertainty. The nation’s total public debt outstanding closed at $31.1 trillion on Monday, according to Treasury Department data published Tuesday. The US government went on a borrowing spree during the Covid-19 pandemic to help shore up the nation’s economy as the deadly virus upended lives, labor markets and supply chains. Outstanding debt has climbed nearly $8 trillion since the beginning of 2020. And it has jumped by $1 trillion in just eight months. Read more: CNN
With the current state of the global economy, the debate on the Africa-China trade continues to intensify. Before global issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the global pandemic, and inflation levels that seem to be proliferating worldwide, China had been making a robust campaign in the African economy. But in recent months, this economic partnership is believed to have slowed down. It would seem now that most of the conversation surrounding the Sino-African trade is the unremitting Chinese debt dangling like a dark cloud over Africa. Read more: Business Insider
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board will consider Ukraine’s request for $1.3bn in additional emergency funding on Friday as Russia’s war against the country continues, according to two sources familiar with the matter. IMF staff have prepared the necessary documents and believe Ukraine has received sufficient financial assurances from its global partners to meet the IMF’s debt sustainability requirements and qualify for further emergency funds, the sources told the Reuters news agency. Read more: Al Jazeera
Capital Markets Report
In 161 trades recorded day, 190,721 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K652,674. Share price losses were recorded in Zambeef and Zanaco of K0.04 and K0.05 respectively. Trading activity was also recorded in AECI, Bata, British American Tobacco Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Standard Chartered Zambia, Zambian Breweries, Zambia Sugar, ZAFFICO and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,323.10 points, 0.26% down from its previous close of 7,342.44 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,807,813,349 including Shoprite Holdings and K38,025,127,909 excluding Shoprite Holdings.