LUSAKA (BT) – Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listed Glencore corporation will preserve jobs at its Zambia operation despite the new tax regime. This was confirmed by Mopani Copper mine Chief Executive Officer – Chris Vermeulen during a consultative meeting with the Ministry of Finance on 17 Jan. Mopani officials assured Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe that they will not be laying off any staff in light of the new tax regime. This meeting follows the recent threats by miners to lean their operating costs through layoffs in response to a proposed tax regime. Africa’s second largest copper producer, has introduced a…
Author: The Editor
The Bank of Zambia (BOZ) sold K856million (USD71.9million) worth of treasury bills in an auction that was 92% subscribed on Thursday, 17 Jan. On offer was K950million, with nominal bids totaling K1.03billion the BOZ absorbed K856million across the curve spectrum. Concentration as expected, was in the 1- year (64%) and 9-month (23%) which paid 24.0001% and 23.0001% respectively. Read also: Cash markets thin on tax payments, inadequate cover for today’s kwacha treasury sale Yields trended bearishly, edging 200bps higher in the 9-month as the 1- year rose 87bps to remain the most attractive point on the kwacha yield curve. The debt…
LUSAKA (BT) – Copper sales at Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listed First Quantum Mining (FQM) subsidiary Kansanshi plummeted 25% in Q4:18 compared to a year ago in 2017. This was according to preliminary figures in a TSE – SENS to shareholders. The miner reported 56,330/MT of red metal sales from its Solwezi based operation on North Western Zambia for Q4:2018, versus 74,974MT in Q4 a year ago. The Q4:18 figure was 15% lower than its Q3:18 sales levels, when the mine sold 64,848MT. *ANNUAL SALES: Preliminary figures show an overall slide in sales at the mine by 14% for 2018,…
LUSAKA-(BT) With only K579 million in market liquidity as measured by aggregate interbank current account balance on 16 Jan, the kwacha markets do not have adequate cover to absorb K950 million of bills on offer today (17 Jan). Thin market liquidity position has been fueled by kwacha demand to fund tax obligations whose deadline was 16 Jan. Traditionally, the monthly tax payment window offers supports kwacha demand as players are expected to meet their obligations in local currency. “We expect the Thursday’s auction under water, on insufficient market liquidity cover versus assets on offer,” the BT carried in a note…
According to a statement issued by the Institute of International Finance – IFF, global debt rose by a 3.9% in Q3:18 to $244.2 trillion compared to a year earlier from levels of USD235.1 trillion. This represents a 0.7% rise quarter on quarter in the year 2018 from USD242.5 trillion in Q2:18. The nominal record high stands at USD247.7 trillion in Q1:18. Among non-financial corporates, debt rose to USD72.9 trillion in the Q3:18 of 2018 from USD68.6 trillion a year earlier and a revised $71.8 trillion in the second quarter. Q2:18 had had been initially reported as a record high USD75…
London metal exchange (LME) copper prices rallied marginally on uptick in demand for riskier assets following a weaker dollar and evident stimuli from the world’s second largest economy china. China. China injected USD83 billion in net liquidity through open market operations (OMO) in 7 day and 28 day reverse repo’s. The Asian giant yesterday effected a 50 bps haircut on its commercial bank reserve requirement that allowed USD116 billion to be freed into the market. The next reserve haircut is expected on Jan 25. Dec18 Caixin/PMI index showed a very weak factory activity of 49.1 from 52.1, an autopsy of…
In all the talk about what the “people” want, it’s often forgotten that Britain is a representative democracy. That means members of parliament are not mere delegates and their job is to independently make informed decisions on behalf of their constituencies. They are not obliged to blindly follow what voters tell them. Of course, if those voters feel aggrieved, they can vote them out at the next election. So it’s a complete misnomer for Prime Minister Theresa May to argue that legislators rejecting her flawed Brexit deal with the EU — possibly delaying and even blocking the exit from the EU —…
LONDON – British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing likely defeat in parliament on Tuesday when she asks members of Parliament (MPs) to approve her Brexit deal – a decision that would trigger huge uncertainty about the future of Britain’s exit from the European Union. May has warned that rejecting her deal opens up the possibility of Brexit being stopped, or that Britain leaves disruptively without a deal. She has promised to respond quickly to any defeat. So what could happen next if she loses? IMMEDIATE TERM OPTIONS: Back to parliament May must submit a new plan for Britain’s next…
Africa, the second largest continent, will have a record number of elections this year. Millions of its citizens will exercise there right to change governance systems through the ballot. At least 20 nations will go to the polls at various levels. Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritania will hold presidential polls while Guinea, Cameroon, Mali will ballot at parliamentary level. Ghana and Niger will have elections at council level. We could add Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the list of presidential polls despite the voting date being 31 Dec 18, results are yet to be announced. Uncertainty looms For all the possibilities presented…
Barclays is being threatened with a boardroom shake-up after an activist investor announced plans for a shareholder vote on the bank’s leadership. Edward Bramson, who has spent about £900m building a 5.5% stake in Barclays through his investment vehicle Sherborne Investors, told his own shareholders that a vote was necessary, given that “consistent engagement” with Barclays had failed to yield results. He is pushing Barclays to scale back its investment banking business, which he says has “strategic weaknesses”. Bramson believes more resources should instead be funnelled towards the bank’s “attractive” consumer operations. “It seems increasingly likely that, for any progress to be made…