Zambia is richly endowed with natural resources ranging from mineral resources to potential deposits of fossil fuel. As part of a value extraction strategy, the government has mad concerted efforts to expedite exploration works to boost investment in the petroleum faculty. Some of the areas that have been earmarked as potential oil and natural gas blocks are part of the great rift valley bordering East African neighbours such as Tanzania through the Lakes Mweru and Tanganyika on the northern part of the Southern African nation. Other exploration hotspots include areas bordering Angola on the western part of the country which…
Author: The Editor
Zambia’s central bank sold K797.7million ($35.5million) worth of treasury bills in an undersubscribed auction shy of the K1.3billion of assets of offer. This was the last T-bill sale of the quarter. Despite an aggregated interbank liquidity of K3.3billion, the market has continued to see persistent risk skew behaviours with preference for 1-year bills that took up 75.0% (K598.3million) of the auction yielding 25.75%, a 295bps above March inflation. However, this outcome could have been overshadowed by last Fridays bond sale that saw the central bank record the strongest performance of the quarter but rising inflation still can not be ruled…
The odds of Zambia’s long awaited International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package are widening as the Washington based lender gears up for a fortnight of virtual deliberations in April. According to a media release signed by secretary to the treasury Fredson Yamba, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be in virtual talks with Zambia for an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) commencing 30 March 2021 and continue into the first two weeks of April 2021. Read also: Despite ‘debt and pandemic’ labyrinth, Zambia still hopeful of IMF bailout Amidst deteriorating fiscals and balance sheet vulnerabilities, Zambia formally requested for a fully…
Global economic recovery in pandemic times is strongly linked to vaccine rollouts as they provide the next ray of hope in curbing the corona virus transmission. Zambia is one of Africa’s recent nations – after South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Botswana, DRC, Mali, Cameroun and Rwanda – to nod Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID19 vaccines in curbing transmission against the deadly virus. Speaking at a press brief meeting on March 25, health minister Jonas Chanda informed the nation that cabinet in the copper producer had approved adoption of the vaccines under the free COVAX facility backed by the United Nations…
One of Zambia’s top professional services network firms PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) on March 25, signed a technical assistance memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Office of the Public Auditor. The intent of this agreement was to enhance adoption of the highest corporate governance tenets namely; transparency and accountability in public finance management. For decades, the office of the public auditor also called the auditor generals office has conducted audits that have revealed revenue leakages, misappropriation and misapplications whose inertia in timely actioning is very topical especially at a time when the copper producers fiscal posture remains fragile weighed by a weak…
As the foreign currency quagmire in Africa’s red metal hotspot persists, cost push inflationary effects have continued to the be the biggest drivers of inflationary pressure. According to the Zambia Statistics Agency release on March 25, inflation accelerated 60 points to 22.8%, a 61 month high last recorded in February 2016. Annual food inflation rate rose to 27.8% compared to 27.3% in the previous month while non-food inflation rose 17.0% from 16.2% in the previous month. March inflation reading sinks treasury bill yields a further 60basis points under water between 280 – 880bps save the 1year point which is 295bps…
As the foreign currency quagmire in Africa’s red metal hotspot persists, cost push inflationary effects have continued to the be the biggest drivers of inflationary pressure. According to the Zambia Statistics Agency release on March 25, inflation accelerated 60 points to 22.8%, a 61 month high last recorded in February 2016. Annual food inflation rate rose to 27.8% compared to 27.3% in the previous month while non-food inflation rose 17.0% from 16.2% in the previous month. March inflation reading sinks treasury bill yields a further 60basis points under water between 280 – 880bps save the 1year point which is 295bps…
Africa’s second largest copper hotspot, Zambia faces a plethora of economic hurdles to include currency woes, spiralling inflation, constricted private sector pulse and above all a deteriorating country risk profile. The red metal producer launched an economic recovery plan that will seek to leverage off mining as a sector that could accelerate ‘V’ shaped economic recovery especially post COVID19 that saw the highest growth erosion in the history as Zambia receded 2.6% (FY20). The southern African nation nonetheless produced north of 868,000MT of copper in 2020 and will target 900,000MT this year. Base metal fortunes look positive for Zambia as…
Pandemic times have accelerated the pace of global digital transformation and innovation whose period has seen a plethora of witty inventions that Zambia has not been left out on. COVID19 has reshaped corporate social responsibility (CSR) to sustainable responsible investment (SRI) that has seen entities then invest in what really matters to human kind, saving lives. The school of engineering at the University of Zambia in conjunction with the institutions Technology Development and Advisory Unit (TDAU) successfully developed the copper producers debut prototype for a COVID19 respirator, launched on March 23. This was supported financially by SAB Millers local unit,…
Lusaka Securities Exchange – LuSE listed British American Tobacco (ISIN:ZM0000000029) recorded 49.0% climb in top line to K343.2million compared to K230.6million a year ago same period in 2019. The increase in turnover was supported by price increases in key brands. According to latest audited financial statements for the year 2020, BAT grew its operating margin by 92.2% percent from 8.2% in 2019 to 15.8% in 2020. Total operational cost base widened by a 36.5% margin to K288.9million fuelled by an uptick in tobacco leaf and wrapping material import costs. For the period ended 31 December 2020, BAT incurred an after…