The International Monetary Fund – IMF at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, cut the global growth forecast by 0.2% to 3.5% in 2019 as Christine Lagarde cited macro backdrops and cross currents in the economic space exacerbated by Chinese and Europe economic slowdown. This article attempts to link anemic global growth to market uncertainty and ultimate rise in appetite for riskier assets such as base metals and African dollar bonds. Brexit, Sino – US Trade wars and geopolitical tensions With global uncertainty from Brexit the 2-year ‘political soap opera’ that the whole world is glued onto, the ‘Sino…
Author: The Editor
Vedanta Resources has announced that its Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mine (KCM) will preserve jobs despite the new mining tax regime introduced in Africa’s second largest copper hotspot. This was confirmed by KCMs acting chief executive officer Venkatesan Giridhar during a consultative meeting with Finance Minister Honourable Margaret Mwanakatwe on 29 Jan. Agarwal’s directive to preserve jobs Giridhar relayed Vedanta’s passion about the success of the subsidiary hence its chairman Anil Agarwal’s directive to KCM management to approach the subject of security of employment tenure with due care and compassion for the citizens of Zambia. KCM commended the states open…
Economic think tank in Africa’s second largest copper producer has said cited sanity in Zambia’s mining tax regime as a stride towards enhancing economic development. This was carried in a press release shared by Economics Association of Zambia President Dr. Lubinda Haabazoka. Mineral royalty taxes and sales tax introduction will be the first step towards more measures proposed this year that are aimed at enhancing national economic development. “Zambia’s economy is actually bigger than captured in official figures and clearly It is no coincidence that we are among the most stable economies in Africa,” Dr. Haabazoka said. Habazoka highlights unemployment…
Angola’s recession and currencies in Nigeria and Zambia dented Shoprite Holdings earnings for H2:18. Ease of doing business deteriorated in the three economies especially in the Q4:18. Ex South Africa turnover slid 17.24% in Q4:18 negating expansionary efforts across Africa. Cross-border operations have been the Shoprite Holdings group cash cow but 2018 seemed to have painted a different picture depicting economic challenges in these jurisdictions. This double digit plummet in sales compounded H1 earnings which softened 12% to USD1.4billion. When things go well in Africa, they really do go well but when they go wrong, entities tend to struggle. Africa…
The year 2019 started with USD$92billion worth of outstanding African dollar debt stock across 20 countries. These include Zambia, South Africa, Senegal, Gabon, Namibia, Congo Brazzaville, Tunisia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Seychelles, Cameroon, Rwanda and Mozambique. This outstanding debt stock was issued on the international capital markets and in hard cash. Terms and condition are public while 89% of these are dollar denominated while 11% are in Euro’s. Of these over (53%) of the outstanding eurobonds yield above 7%. Of the 20 eurobonds running, Africa’s most industrialized nation South Africa and North Africa’s largest economy…
This week, currency in Africa’s producer, the kwacha is expected to trade on a back footing. This follows an uptick in dollar demand from the agriculture sector to meet input costs. The kwacha opened today’s trading at 11.95 for a unit of the green back and is expected to trade within a narrow band of 11.92-12.05 should dollar demand persist. Coming from a tax season that offers support for the kwacha, very little conversions from dollar to kwacha are expected save those from corporates that will be looking to fund local currency salary obligations. With a treasury bill on the…
Africa’s second largest producer will, by end of Q1:19, sign a livestock export agreement to supply the crude giant Saudi Arabia with 1 million goats annually. This was confirmed by the livestock and fisheries ministry on 21 Jan. Saudi Arabia has a livestock deficit which Zambia will be looking to assist cushion from its 3.5 million population of goats. Central Statistics Office – CSO in its last census established that the southern African nation has a 3.5 million population of goats which the commerce ministry in conjunction with the livestock and fisheries ministry will look to maximize benefits, at competitive…
State owned insurance company has announced that it will appoint an advisor for its initial purchase offer (IPO) before the end of Q1:19. Zambia State Insurance Corporation – ZSIC Managing Director Christabel Banda confirmed this in an interview. Banda did not disclose the names of the possible advisors but however advised further that internal assessments were ongoing to determine how many shares will be floated on the local bourse this year. ZSIC is one of the two SOE’s after Zaffico, that have been earmarked for listing to not only aid operational efficiency but ease fiscal pressure on the MinFin through…
According to the Africa Development Bank – AfDB Economic outlook report for 2019, preliminary estimates for Zambia’s real gross domestic product growth are that the copper producer expanded by an estimated 4.0% in 2018, compared with 3.8% in 2017. Agriculture output contracted by more than 35% due to a rain shortage in early 2018 while copper production continued to increase by an estimated 4%–4.5% in 2018. Construction also contributed to growth, thanks to public infrastructure projects and investment in commercial buildings and residential housing, towing cement production, which increased at an estimated 10% in 2018. High capital investment, high debt…
Africa’s strong growth will accelerate in 2019 but fail to roll back high unemployment and poverty, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said Thursday. The continent’s gross domestic product expanded by 3.5 per cent in 2018 after 3.6 percent in 2017 and should reach 4.0 per cent in 2019 and 4.1 per cent in 2020, it said in its annual forecast. “The state of the continent is good. Africa’s general economic performance continues to improve, but it remains insufficient to address the structural challenges,” AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina was quoted as saying. The biggest engine of growth is East Africa, whose…