Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
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President Hichilema upbeat about prospect of Africa meeting 10% annual growth projection
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The Supreme Court is deciding whether Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were liable for a 2017 ISIS attack
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Standard Chartered posts 15% income growth
Story of the Day
Ghana’s economy, like many others, is still recovering from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.1 Despite this, the mobile money industry in Ghana enjoyed a big boost during the pandemic. In 2018, Ghana launched one of the first interoperable systems in Africa, which allows transactions between different telecom service providers in Ghana; reports reveal that the interoperability-supported payments reached 308 million Ghanaian cedis (GH₵) ($57 million) by 2019.2 Since then, mobile money has risen to become the most popular digital financial service (DFS) in Ghana, and in recent years, Ghana has been identified as one of the biggest mobile money markets and the fastest-growing one in Africa. Read more
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Experts at the 36th African Union Summit have stressed the need for Africa to sustain annual growth rates of at least seven to 10 percent over the next 40 years. At the summit, President Hakainde Hichilema expressed confidence on the continents’ growth. The experts, while examining an ongoing study of key factors underlying development in Africa, emphasised the need for the continent to sustain annual growth rates of at least seven to 10 percent over the next 40 years if Agenda 2063 was to be met. Read more: Zambia Monitor
President Hakainde Hichilema has called for the Curriculum in Schools to include content that encourages young people to work on their own, by engaging in entrepreneurship. President Hichilema says the school system should further encourage young people to form business partnerships and not always think of getting employed. He says government is working to ensure that Financial Literacy is introduced to young people at an early age so that they understand the need to make wise investment decisions. Read more: ZNBC
The Zambia Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) says limited information on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) may disadvantage Zambian businesses from benefiting from the many opportunities that the program presents. ZIPAR Executive Director, Herrick Mpuku says Government should engage Zambian embassies in Africa to do market research on available business opportunities under the auspice of the AfCTA which the private sector should leverage on. Dr. Mpuku says public sector institutions that deal with trade must do their part and develop a strategy to gather information so that businesses make informed investments decisions. Read more: ZNBC
The presidents of Zambia and Tanzania agreed Sunday on the need to fast-track the upgrading of an over five-decade-old oil pipeline which the two countries share. The pipeline remains a critical asset for Zambia as the country does not produce crude of its own and is instead dependent on imports from Europe and the Middle East via the port of Dar-es-Salaam. Read more: Mena FN
In International Business News
The Supreme Court is weighing Wednesday whether Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be sued over a 2017 Islamic State attack on a Turkish nightclub based on the argument the platforms assisted in fueling the growth of the terrorist group. What the justices decide to do in this case and a related one it heard Tuesday is important particularly because the companies have so far been shielded from liability on the internet, allowing them to grow into the giants they are today. On the first day of arguments, the justices suggested they had little appetite for a far-reaching ruling that would upend the internet. Wednesday’s case about the nightclub attack in which 39 people died could provide an off-ramp for the justices if they want to limit the impact of what they do. Read more: Yahoo Finance
Global bonds are poised to erase all of the gains they made in their best start to a year on record. Fixed-income assets have gone into reverse as central banks around the world have stood by their intention to keep raising interest rates to tame inflation, defying bond bulls who piled into debt last month betting on a pivot. Treasuries tumbled Tuesday on further signs the world’s biggest economy is proving resilient despite almost a year of policy tightening. Read more: Yahoo Finance
Goldman Sachs said it was expecting the European Central Bank to raise interest rates thrice this year, taking the terminal rate to 3.5% from 3.25% estimated earlier. In a note dated late Monday, the brokerage said in addition to an increase of 50 basis points in March and 25 basis points in May, it was estimating a 25 basis-point hike in June. Goldman’s change in expectations comes after hawkish commentary from ECB board member Isabel Schnabel and French central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau, two influential policymakers from the 26-member Governing Council on Friday. Read more: Reuters
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy is beginning to take effect as Nigeria loses over 54% of its currency. Nigeria currently has about 1.39 trillion of its currency in circulation, after cutting off an estimated 1.6 trillion in just a month. This 54% drop is part of the Central Bank’s governor’s initiative to inflate the value of Nigeria’s currency, the Naira. In January, the money in circulation totaled N3.1 trillion. Subsequently, the currency outside the vaults of banks has also been cut down by 69.3%, jumping from N2.56 trillion to N788.92 within the same month. Read more: Business Insider
Finally, Capital Markets News
Standard Chartered Bank yesterday announced its performance for 2022 during the quarterly CEO’s press briefing held at Standard Chartered House. Standard Chartered Bank Zambia CEO, Sonny Zulu said, “We are pleased to announce a strong set of results for the full-year 2022, with both income and profit before tax up 15%, and a return on tangible equity of 8.0%, up 120bps on 2021. We are also announcing a new $1bn share buy-back, and a final dividend of 14 cents per share, taking total shareholder distributions announced since the start of 2022 to $2.8bn, more than half the three year $5bn target we set ourselves by 2024.” Read more
In 51 trades recorded yesterday, 28,964 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K85,058.66. A share price gain of K0.15 was recorded in Zanaco. Trading activity was also recorded CEC Zambia, Chilanga, Madison Financial Services, National Breweries, Zambia Sugar and in CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,257.57 points, 0.69% up from it’s previous close at 7,207.82 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,522,601,050.37 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,739,915,610.37 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
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