The municipality in the capital city for Africa’s second largest copper producer, Zambia have seen an opportunity to shore up revenues from 2,700 mobile money booths that have been operating illegally and are causing sanitation concerns in the city. The Lusaka City Council (LCC) only has sight of 300 booths through the levies they remit. However records from the telecommunications provider show that they are a total of 2,700 booths citywide. From a revenue collection perspective thus accounts for a 10% of the LCC’s collection. In a statement released today, the Lusaka city council will go all out to collect…
Author: The Editor
There’s a widespread view in Africa that you accept whatever terms are offered, for fear that the money might go somewhere else instead. By Folashade Soule, University of Oxford “You don’t negotiate with China !” I was quickly told when I started interviewing African public servants about their infrastructure deals with Beijing. There is a widespread view in Africa that you accept whatever terms are offered, for fear that the money might go somewhere else instead. China is the leading infrastructure finance provider on the continent – as demonstrated by a recent pledge of US$60 billion (£47 billion), most of which is for infrastructure projects. Big projectson…
Key contributors to government revenues where FQMs Kansanshi, Kalumbila followed by Vedanta’s Konkola Copper Mine. Mineral royalty taxes accounted for (29%), import value added tax 21%, pay as you earn 16% and corporation tax 3%. The recent published Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) 9th Report on Zambia, the mining sector accounted for more than 25% of the Zambia government’s income, contributing K10.72 billion (circa.US$1 billion @K10,29/USD) in 2016. This represents a 13.31% increase from 2015 levels of USD9.46 billion. The revenue authority in Africa’s second largest copper producer, in 2016, reported having collected K10.28 billion from the mining sector whose…
Zambia’s headline Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the month of December 2018 deteriorated to 47.8 from 48.1 on account of an uptick in overall input cost inflation. This is below the 50 borderline for expansion and contraction in industrial activity. The copper producers manufacturing pulse has been in negative territory for 5 months in a row following elevated cost curves as a consequence of higher input prices such as fuel and labor. What Zambia is experiencing is an autopsy of a higher adjusted minimum wage bill and higher pump prices of fuel that have elevated the manufacturing cost curve which…
The central bank in Africa’s copper producer, Zambia, sold K789 million (in cash terms) worth of short dated government paper in Thursdays 03 Jan auction which was 83% subscribed. This was adequate to cover a current maturity profile of circa. K770 million. Analysts forecast was that, with K1,419 million worth of market liquidity, the BOZ would absorb the entire asset offering to fully subscribe the debt sale. However despite 17% under-subscription, the sale nonetheless generated adequate cover for the maturing obligation ladder by 1.02x. Read Also: Zambian cash markets flush enough to mop the first treasury auction of 2019 The…
Foreign exchange reserves in Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia, slid 2% to USD1,598 million (Oct.18) compared to USD1,630 million (Sept.18). This was according to the central banks fortnight statistics. Reserves slid 23% in 2018 from USD2,081 million (Dec.17). This translates to 1.9 months import cover below the targeted 3 months which the MinFin is trying to address. Law makers in Zambia in October last year allowed for mineral royalty tax submission by the mines in dollars directly to the mines in the central banks quest to shore up reserves. With the current debt sustainability concerns, the low inventory of…
The world’s largest copper producer, Chile, is in record copper output for the month of November 2018. Copper production hit a 13 year high at 540,720 tons on the back of good ore grades and efficient processing, the mining authorities said. This represented a 7% higher output compared to November 2017. Chiles YTD production was 5.33 million tons, a 6% higher than Jan to Nov. 2017 levels. Contributors to this record production was Codelco, BHP Billiton, Anglo-American, Glencore Plc and Antofagasta Minerals. In the same vein, Africa’s second largest producer Zambia recorded a 6.38% more copper in the Jan to…
In the week ahead, Markit economics will release business pulse numbers for most African nations for the month of December. This week, the critical releases were the Caixin/Markit PMI index for China’s factory and manufacturing activity which printed a 19 month low at 49.7 in negative territory from 50.2 in November. December manufacturing activity statistics for other Asian nations such as Taiwan, Singapore also reflected decelerated activity. Read Also: Zambia’s November private sector activity detents, minimum wage and inflationary effects persist – PMI Zambia’s private sector pulse has been in negative territory for 4 months starting Aug. to Nov.18 as a…
Cash markets in Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia, commence 2019 with a flush position enough to absorb the K950million, Thursday 03 Jan treasury sale. This will be the first debt sale for the year 2019. Interbank aggregate current account balance as at 02 Jan (14:15pm) was K1.41 billion. The Bank of Zambia will sell assets across the short end of the kwacha curve (3m – 1yr). Expectations are that this debt sale will be a de javus of the 20 Dec.18, a fully subscribed offering. Given the current kwacha demand curve, we forecast higher appetite for 1-year assets than…
The credibility of the auditing industry has taken a hard knock, but ethical behaviour starts with individuals Over the past few years, SA has been at the top of the leader board regarding unethical behaviour. In recent times, the “Zupta” state-capture claims have further demonstrated how entrenched unethical behaviour is in this country. Even the auditing profession, with its stringent independence and ethical requirements taught as part of the curriculum at university, is being dragged into the debacle. Earlier this year, the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA), exposed several auditors accused of consistently contravening its professional standards and the…