Africa’s red metal hotspot Zambia continues to make strides to ramp its copper production, with the most recent being handover of Mopani Copper Mines to its new majority shareholder. Head of State President Hakainde Hichilema on 21 March handed over the mine to new majority shareholder International Resources Holdings of the United Arab Emirates in a $1.1 billion book valued deal. This transaction has dawned the sun on a mining town of Kitwe, home to key red metal operations that has seen a slow down in view of exit of former shareholder Glencore Corporation. READ ALSO: Mining Outlook gets Positive…
Author: The Editor
It is about a dry point of construction that Africa’s second largest red metal hotspot is a critical stage of its economic life cycle. Zambia is not only on the cusp of a debt restructure completion but is grappling with numerous headwinds. Starting the year with a cholera outbreak, rising inflation and a depreciating currency, the Southern African nation more recently declared as a national disaster spiraling into 50.0% of corn fields damaged and a forecast power deficit as precipitation woes heighten. Zambias central bank on 05 February shocked the market with an early valentines gift of 900 basis points…
On 29 February, Republican President in Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema declared drought as a national disaster and emergency. The declaration follows erratic precipitation as a consequence of widening El – Nino effects earlier forecast by the Famine Early Warning Networks Systems in 2023. The wave of El – Nino is projected to persist to the end of 2024 into early 2025 and will likely have adverse impact on rainfall intensity in Southern Africa. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that of 2.2 million hectares of planted maize, 50% has thus far been destroyed and is…
The central bank in Africa’s second largest copper producer, Zambia on 26 February 2024, launched its debut monetary policy committee report. This was to aid with transparency of the deliberations of the rate decision meeting. The intiative comes as part of implementation of the new Bank of Zambia (BOZ) Act that will see the central bank align to global best practice. Speaking at the launch, Governor Dr. Denny Kalyalya took the initiative to explain the recent monetary policy tightening measures that included hiking of the cash reserve ratio by 9% to 26% which extended to vostro accounts and idle government…
Mobile money yet again in 2023 was the most prefered retail payments platform growing in quantum by 53% to K452 billion according to paymemts data released by the Bank of Zambia. Africas’s second largest copper hotspot has seen an exponential boom in usage of mobile payment platforms with the largest soar observed in the COVID 19 pandemic era. Supporting this boom is the digitalization, democratization and decentralization around the mobile banking modeling. A continued upscale in agency models adopted by local banks which coupled with integrations between commercial banks and mobile network operators such as Zamtel, Airtel Networks and MTN…
The largest bank in Africa’s second largest copper hotspot, Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) listed Zambia National Commercial Bank, is attracting demand from buyers as many take a positive view on future earning prospects. The ISIN0000000250 (ZNCO) stock is now the third largest in market capitalization K7.22 billion accounting for 12.2% of the local bourse excluding Shoprite Holdings. Zanaco rallies behind Illovo’s local subsidiary Zambia Sugar (K11.1 billion) and Copperbelt Energy Corporation (K12.4 billion). The three agribusiness, banking and energy stocks account for over half of the stock exchange studded with 23 listed corporates. Given the banks’ earnings, customer deposits, credit…
Amid currency tumult in Africa’s second-largest copper producer, Zambia, the recent monetary tightening spree by its central bank seems to have started yielding the desired results. The Bank of Zambia raised its cash reserve ratio from 9% to a record 26% effective 05 February, the highest since 1994, in a move to stem the copper currency losing streak that had extended 58% (since July 2023), sending the Kwacha to flirt with highs of K27 per unit of the dollar. Currency risk, being an anchor risk manifesting in the widening cost of living as petroleum prices scaled north in a widening…
Amidst monetary tightening conditions in Africa’s red metal hotspot, Zambia, the central banks sophomore Kwacha bond sale was deeply undersubscribed. A tumultuous time it has been for the Kwacha that shaved close to 58% in value from July 2023 to date the Bank of Zambia has been on a monetary tightening streak with a 900 basis points upward adjustment to 26% effected on 5th February as the regulator sought to rein in on a steep slide. This was anchor to fueling of widening cost of living pressures. READ ALSO: BOZ Gifts Market with a 150bps ‘Valentines’ Interest Rate Hike in…
As Africa’s second largest copper producer grapples with a runaway Kwacha, its central bank today hiked its benchmark interest rate 150 basis points to 12.5% exactly 9 days after cash reserves were scaled 9% to 26%. The Bank of Zambia black swan move left the market net short and tight liquidity wise as tame excessive inflationary pressures. The highest cash reserve ratio observed in history was 30% in 1994 when the Bank of Zambia was under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program. With the benchmark interest rate raised, credit costs are expected to scale with implications on growth…
Exactly 7 days after effecting a record upward adjustment to its cash reserve ratio, Zambia’s central bank will on 12 February, commence monetary policy deliberations for the first rate decision meeting of the year. The black swan statutory reserve hike to 26% a 900 basis point scaling caught the market by surprise. Africa’s copper hotspots highest reserve ratio was in 1994 period where the Bank of Zambia raised the level to 30%. A homogenous theme about the monetary policy stance is that the Southern African nation was under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment program. Thirty years later, the…