Red metal price rebound on the London Metal Exchange – LME and economic pulse clawing back into the economy helped scale Zambia’s tax revenue collection to an outperformance of 43.0% above forecast. This was revealed in a treasury brief by the Ministry of Finance dated June 18. Tax revenues in the period under review were 43.0% above forecast at K26.5 billion supported by positive tax type performance namely income tax, value added tax, customs and excise duties in addition to insurance premiums. Read also: Zambia’s MinFin serviced 10 yards of debt in the Jan – May period A MINING REBOUND…
Author: The Editor
According to a press brief from the Ministry of Finance in Africa’s copper producer Zambia dated June 18, K10.1 billion worth of debt was serviced in the January to May 2021 period. This accounted for 20.2% of the total expenditure in the review time frame the brief carried. Of this stock of debt, domestic obligations totalled K8.0 billion of which 1.1% related to commercial bank facility related principal repayments while the remainder was highly likely channelled towards domestic arrears and other repayment obligations such as government security maturities whose decomposition quantum was not specified. The treasury brief revealed that K2.1…
Yields on Kwacha treasury bills were unchanged in Thursday, June 17 debt sale that saw the central bank in Africa’s red metal hotspot raise K1.89 billion worth of proceeds. Appetite remains strong with the Bank of Zambia absorbing all bids north of K2.2 billion at face value. Market players have still continued to gold rush for 1 year assets for the attractive yield of 25.5% it is offering while the remaining tenors are underwater – between 13.98% and 18.0% – given elevated inflation last reported at 23.2% for May. Sixty percent (60%) of the proceeds raised in cash terms were…
As the COVID19 pandemic persists globally, the world continues to explore emerging opportunities informed by morphing appetites for digital platform use in the faculty of alternate channels. Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia has continued to see increased usage of MoMo for touchless transactability whose velocity has increased significantly over the last one year. Ecosystems partnerships have become more prominent as customer value chains evolve. This has accelerated digital strategy for most if not all players in the payment system. Read also: MoMo sprints 81% in 1Q21 as contactless payment appetite leaps State owned Mobile Network Operator – MNO Zambia…
With the advent of a COVID19 pandemic, financial institutions have accelerated their digital transformation journeys to not only keep abreast with an evolving threat landscape but align solutions with clients fast morphing needs. Managing and leading in digital times induced by a healthcare crisis has revealed the need for agile risk management, constant learning and that leaders are indeed citizens of the world. As part of the European Investment Banking – EIB lending operations to SMEs and Microfinance, a webinar in conjunction with the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management dubbed ‘Managing and Leading in times of Digitisation’ was convened…
China’s Huaxin Cement is set to increase its footprint in Africa following its recent acquisitions in East Africa (Tanzania) where it bought off debt – laden Athi River Cement – ARM unit, Maweni Limestone Limited through paying off its $116-million worth of obligations and injecting $30-million into the completion and upgrade of its production factory. The Chinese Cement giant has extended to Central Africa as it takes over control of Zambia’s largest cement name, Lafarge Plc for a 3-yard Kwacha equivalent. Read also: Zambia’s Oligopolistic Cement market flogged by Competition Regulator for ‘unbridled business’ behavior According to a Stock Exchange…
With the advent of the corona virus pandemic, more and more African central banks have increased appetite for digital transact-ability to enable higher payment amounts to be made. Contactless payments are being encouraged to discourage usage of hard currency as the world embraces social distancing and navigates other ways of mitigating risks of reducing spread of COVID19 while simultaneously supporting operational resilience. The central bank in Africa’s copper producer Zambia increased limits on digital transaction channels and evidently has seen a spike in transaction size and volumes in the digital conduits. According to the Bank of Zambia monthly statistics on…
As risk appetite claws back into the global and local markets, Emerging Market- EM asset demand is rallying. Increased stimulus packages by global central banks led by the US Federal reserve and other key regulators such as the Bank of England, Peoples Bank of China and European Central Banks have seen increased liquidity globally leading to fund managers search for yield. The current global landscape reveals increased inflation which continues to make yields in the west, unattractive. As such this has coincided with economic recovery expectations after intensified vaccine efforts to curb the spread of COVID19, a systematic global health…
The bourse in Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia has shrugged off losses, rallying to 13-month high fuelled by positive global sentiment. The Lusaka Securities Exchange All Share Index – LASI recovered 14.24% from a November 2020 troughs of 3,779.72 to 4,292.98 to date. With the global recovery fuelled by increased stimulus by reserve banks especially the US Federal reserve that has actively tapered the market significantly which has resulted in cash flush positions forcing fund managers to search for yield. Other factors driving risk sentiment are increased vaccination efforts supporting forward looking views on increased demand for riskier assets.…
Private sector activity for the month of May in Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia slid back into contraction according to Markit Economics Purchasing Managers Index – PMI. Headline PMI marginally ebbed back in contraction at 49.7 in May from an expansionary 50.1 for April as currency weakness continues to wane input costs which then translated to higher selling prices. This signalled a fractional deterioration in business conditions during the month. May reading is the second highest manufacturing pulse Zambia has seen in 27-months. The headline figure derived from the survey is the Purchasing Managers’ IndexTM (PMITM). Readings above 50.0 signal…