Africa’s Copper producer Zambia’s private sector pulse eased in the month of November according to London IHS Markit website. Headline purchasing managers index (PMI) printed 48.1 (vs 43.7) in October as employment rose. However wage bill and inflationary effects on production costs weighed business activity through higher selling prices. This is the 4th time in a row private sector activity was slowing down. (Prints below 50 represent muted private sector activity while those above 50 signal rise in business activity). Read also: Easing CPI to detente Zambia’s private sector pulse, though growth still in the woods Stanbic Bank Head Global Markets…
Author: The Editor
One of the world tourism hot spots, Zambia earned a million dollars in tourism levy year to date, the tourism ministry confirmed. Zambia collected the K10.93 million (circa. $1 million) in tourism levy – a marginal increase from K10.53 million in 2017. However, this revenue number has been dubbed by analysts as sub optimal for a nation with immense potential given the vast tourism hot spots and assets it has. The Southern African nation is on a recovery path to realize potential of its undervalued tourism potential through implementing accommodative policies. This includes using its cities like Livingstone host global…
TREASURY BILL AUCTION: The Zambian Central Bank will have on offer K950 million worth of short dated government treasuries on Thursday 06 Dec. This is the pen ultimate sale of the year. We expect another under-subscribed auction with infinitesimal shifts in the yield curve. This perceived performance will be on the back of liquidity concerns in the market. Appetite will skew in the 1 year which is currently the highest paying point in the term structure of the Kwacha curve. OPEC VIENNA MEETING: All flights lead to Vienna for the long awaited OPEC club on 06 Dec where member states…
Central Bank of Kenya – CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge has denied assertions by International Monetary Fund – IMF that the Kenyan Shilling (KES) is overvalued. Njoroge has called the Washington based lenders assertions that the currency in East Africa’s largest economy is 18% overvalued, as “erroneous.” Njoroge retaliated with evidence that all mathematically tested models had shown that the margin of error could only stretch to 500 points or 5%. “There is no single model that does the job and we have used several approaches. What we have seen is there is less than 5% to the extent of any…
Russian trained Economist Dr. Lubinda Haabazoka has urged Zambians to be in control of how its mineral resources are used citing that this will determine the nations destiny. The time for politicking over the mines is over, Haabazooka carried on his social media page. Zambians should benefit from the mines as was the case in the ZCCM days when the state were in control of the mineral resources, the Russian trained Economist said. “Every well-meaning Zambian should rally behind the state to ensure that workers are not sacrificed just to arm twist government. This follows varying threats by mining companies…
The continents largest Pan African Bank – Standard Bank has appointed Peggy-Sue Khumalo (former Miss SA) as Chief Executive Officer – CEO of its wealth division in SA. This appointment takes effect 01 February 2019 and will end her 17-year Investment career with Investec. Khumalo will manage the Bank’s wealth business where short- and long-term insurance, asset management, pension-fund operations and fiduciary services are housed. “It is a new role that we’ve established because the wealth business has grown exponentially and we felt that it is important for us to mirror the group structure whereby there is a regional head…
With the forecast prolonged dry spell affecting the Southern Africa Development Corporation – SADC member states, there has been concern as to what the impact will be on power generation prospects for the copper producer. One proxy for power generation is the lake levels of the worlds largest man made dam the Kariba. According to the Zambezi river authority – ZARAO, water levels have declined to 483.45m as of 26 Nov. 2018 (3 m higher than last years level same time). This represents a 39% full dam. Earlier in the year the Kariba was 87% full just at the end of…
Earnings for Lusaka Securities Exchange listed Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings Plc – ZCCM-IH (ISIN: ZM0000000037) rallied 33% to K975 million (versus K729 million a year ago) in the 2018 financial year. This was confirmed by the investment vehicles abridged financial statements for the year ended March 2018 published on the LuSE website. The bullish performance was attributed to improved performance by its investee company’s in light higher copper output and healthier red metal prices on the London Metal Exchange – LME. The stronger performance by investee company’s reflected in IHs 13% asset growth to K10.9 billion. ZCCM-IH had a…
The day’s importance to SA’s nascent e-commerce sector is clear as 352 sites across 29 categories offer promotions for the day Black Friday promotional sales are transforming the retail sector in South Africa. What started out as an imported US sales gimmick — Takealot and Checkers both claim they brought it to SA — about four years ago, is now reshaping how South Africans shop. The SA Reserve Bank referred to its effect in its Quarterly Bulletin in June when it showed a “robust increase” in durable and semi-durable goods in the fourth quarter of 2017. It said this was as a…
Microsoft stock shocked markets in the week with a 0.6% rally that propelled the cloud computing investments to $852 billion in market cap exceeding Apples at $848 billion. Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) stock market value exceeded that of Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O), a first in a space of 8 years. Looks like waning iPhone demand was surpassed by rising appetite for cloud computing products that Microsoft is enjoying. At share level Apple stocks are of higher value at $178.6 a share while Microsoft is trading for $110.90 a share. Apple’s market capitalization caught up with Microsoft’s 8 years ago in 2010 when…