Story of the Day
The Africa Fintech Summit has a core purpose to bring Fintech Changemakers together in a place where ideas are explored, investments mobilized and collaborations formed across sectors and geographies. Twice a year, we bring the issues, entrepreneurs, and opportunities revolutionizing finance in Africa to the world’s stage. The Summit takes place in Washington, D.C., every April—in line with the spring meetings of the World Bank Group—and each November in a different African city,with our most recent summits being in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Lagos, Nigeria; and Cairo, Egypt. The 2022 Summit was held in Cape Town, South Africa – the first summit to be held in Southern Africa. The event, which was held in person and virtually using CVENT, attracted 671 attendees with 78% being in person attendees. Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
The Japanese government has committed US$11 million in form of a grant to support rice production in Zambia under a project titled ‘Development of Rice Seeds Production Field and Training Facilities’. Japan ambassador Ryuta Mizuuchi says the grant will ensure the construction of new training facilities for the Mount Makulu Research Station in Lusaka and the Mansa Agricultural Experiment Station in Luapula. And Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has expressed confidence that the implementation of the project will make real and desirable social economic impact on citizens. Read more: News Diggers
The cost of living for a family of five in Lusaka as measured by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket (BNNB) for the month of October has reduced by K312.6. Read more: News Diggers
Zambia on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the European Union aimed at partnering in the sustainable management of the forestry sector. The MoU seeks to promote sustainable forestry management for improved livelihoods. President Hakainde Hichilema said the MoU was signed on the sidelines of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Nov. 6-18. Read more: China View
More than US$20 million will be invested to build a manganese ore beneficiation plant for the manufacturing of electric car batteries and manganese alloys in Chipili District, Luapula Province. Read more: Times of Zambia
The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) has paid a K1.7 Billion to farmers that supplied Maize, Soya beans and Paddy Rice to the agency. FRA Chief Executive Officer Chola Kafwabululula says of the amount, 839 million kwacha has been paid to farmers that supplied Maize while 911-million kwacha has been paid to farmers who supplied Soya beans. Dr. Kafwabululula says the remaining K2 million has been paid to farmers that supplied paddy rice. He has told ZNBC News in an interview that the agency has continued to pay farmers that supplied crops to the agency contrary to social media reports. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
The World Bank said in a statement on Friday that South Africa, a significant emitter of greenhouse gases and a country struggling with its energy transition, had been awarded $497 million to convert one of its old coal-fired power plants. The continent’s leading industrial power, whose delegation will accompany President Cyril Ramaphosa to COP27, which opens Sunday in Egypt, still gets 80% of its electricity from coal, a pillar of the South African economy employing nearly 100,000 people. Read more: Africa News
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan was received by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday during a state visit to China. President Hassan is the first African head of state China has received after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). During the meeting both countries agreed to expand the scale of bilateral trade as well as boost the level of trade and economic cooperation. The talks concluded with the signing of bilateral cooperation documents covering trade, investment, development cooperation, digital economy and green development. Read more: Africa News
Tesla boss Elon Musk has sold another 19.5 million shares of the electric car maker worth $3.95bn, filings with the US financial watchdog show. The news comes less than two weeks after the world’s richest man completed his $44bn takeover of Twitter. Tesla’s share price has fallen by more than 50% since the start of this year. Separately, Tesla is recalling just over 40,000 of its vehicles in the US because of a potential problem with their power-steering. Read more: BBC News
US stocks were mostly unchanged in after-hours trading as results from Tuesday’s midterm elections rolled in. Investors have been betting on a big Republican wave in the elections. If Republicans take at least one chamber of Congress, that will likely result in more gridlock, which the market usually loves. Investors are more than happy when politicians bicker but don’t actually enact any new laws that may hurt corporate profits. Dow futures were down 45 points, or about 0.14%. S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.01%. Read more: CNN
Capital Markets Report
In 52 trades recorded yesterday, 89,117 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K2,686,787.A share price loss 0f K3.00 was recorderd in AECI. Trading activity was also recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation Zambia, Chilanga Cement, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Zambia Breweries, Zambeef and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,219.48 points, 0.19 points down from its previous close of 7,233.54 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,356,765,645.77 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,574,080,205.77 excluding Shoprite Holdings.