Story of the Day:
There wasn’t so much fanfare from bank square on 19th February 2020 as the Bank of Zambia decided to keep its policy rate unchanged at 11.5% at its first policy rate meeting of the year. The reserve ratios on kwacha and foreign deposits were also unchanged at 9%. The rising inflationary pressures which is now pegged at 12.5% for January 2020 was cited as a major factor in arriving at the decision. Read more
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A delegation from the African Development Bank (AfDB) is scheduled to meet Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu to discuss Zambia’s macro-economic environment among other issues. African Development Bank Executive Director for Southern Africa Cornelius Dekop will also hold liaison and consultative meetings with Ministry of Finance and other Public Institutions that benefit from AfDB resources. Read more: ZNBC
Works to upgrade the Kenneth Kaunda International Airports are nearly complete with only 12 percent remaining. And Zambia Airports Corporation Limited Managing Director Fumu Mondoloka says the Terminal building which is at 96 percent complete will be operational by September this year. Read more: ZNBC
Real Estate Investments Zambia reported profit after tax for 2019 of K19.8m compared to K2.8m for 2018, as revenue grew by 33% to K67.4m, up from K50.6m in 2018 while profit from operations increased to K91.4m from K54.1m. Read more: LuSE
Zamtel Chief Executive Officer Sydney Mupeta has explained that the company has increased some of its prices due to changes in the economic fundamentals in the country. Read more: Lusaka Times
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Maya Angelou once said and I quote – “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. Over the years, human resource management has become more and more complex because just like technology, people are evolving at an incredible rate. Read more
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US airlines slammed by the coronavirus are requesting an aid package from the federal government that could amount to about $50 billion, according to industry group Airlines for America. Read more: CNN
Goldman Sachs sees potential for the S&P 500 to drop to 2,000, down 41% from the all-time high, before rebounding to end 2020 at 3,200 as the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) roils markets. Read more: Yahoo Finance
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he supports sending money directly to Americans as part of a $1tn stimulus aimed at averting an economic crisis caused by the coronavirus. “We’re looking at sending cheques to Americans immediately,” he said. Read more: BBC News
The U.K. government has announced a raft of new financial measures to help businesses under strain from the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking at the government’s new daily press conference regarding the outbreak of coronavirus in the U.K., Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced announcing £330 billion of government-backed loans and guarantees. Read more: CNBC
Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerated to 12.20% in February 2020, the highest in almost two years as food inflation sub-index keeps rising. This is 0.07% points higher than the rate recorded in January 2020 at 12.13%. Read more: Pulse Nigeria
Credit Suisse sharply lowered its forecast for Mexico’s economic performance this year and now expects a 4.0% contraction, according to a note sent to the bank’s clients on Tuesday, adding to a series of downgrades since the coronavirus spread. Read more: Reuters
Capital Markets Report
In 7 trades recorded yesterday, 1,002,800 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K2,659,047. Trading activity was recorded in AEL Zambia and Bata. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 4,232.26 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K57,240,437,967 including Shoprite Holdings and K23,001,231,987 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: