As African skies reopen fully, more operators are ferociously seizing opportunity to claw back lost growth eroded in the COVID19 pandemic period when travel had halted. One such airline that demonstrated tenacity even in turbulent times in Proflight Zambia Limited, the largest indigenous airline in Africa’s second largest copper producer, Zambia. On Monday 29 May, Proflight announced addition of a Boeing 737- 500 to its fleet of 8 aircrafts comprising 3 50 – seater Bombardiers, 3 29 – seater Jetstreams and an 18 – seater Jetstream – 32 machines. READ ALSO: CemAir to service Livingstone to Johannesburg route 7 times…
Author: The Editor
Purchasing power has continued to elude Kwacha fixed income markets in Africa’s second largest copper producer. This comes in the wake of a recent change in pension fund policy. Authorities in the Southern African nation approved legislation that allows for a 20% cash in on retirement savings. Of the K2.6 billion of assets on offer, the Bank of Zambia only raised K390.6 million, a steep undersubscription amidst market liquidity constraints posed by the pension legislation change. This outcome is a replay of the April bond sale that sold only K636 million worth of paper as commercial banks shied away from…
The central bank in Africa’s second largest copper hotspot Zambia has for the second time this year hiked its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 9.5%. This was according to an announcement by Governor Denny Kalyalya after a two day deliberation that commenced Monday 13 May. The monetary policy committee cites rising inflationary pressures that the decision will seek to tame. The Bank of Zambia (BOZ) joined other peer central banks in raising rates in the wake of inflation with the first being in February after a year of keeping rates on hold. This was the second monetary…
The Bank of Zambia (BOZ) is expected to hike interest rates by 25-50 basis points at its next monetary policy committee meeting on May 15, 2023. This is according to a poll of 15 economists conducted by The Kwacha Arbitrageur. The poll results show that 75% of economists expect the BOZ to raise rates, while 25% expect no change. The main reason cited for the expected rate hike is the need to tame rising inflation. Zambia’s inflation rate has been on the rise in recent months, reaching 11.1% in April 2023. This is above the BOZ’s target range of 6-8%.…
The gauge for measuring manufacturing pulse has revealed that currency induced price pressures and lack of money in Africa’s second largest copper producer kept factory activity in contraction. According to Markit Economics purchasing managers index report, Zambia’s April PMI headlined 48.9 from 46.9 in the previous month. This was attributed to the kwacha slide earlier recorded coupled with lack of liquidity, a persistent theme in the red metal producers markets over the last few months. Readings above 50 signal expansionary, while those below reveal contractionary business activity. “Companies continued to face challenging business conditions at the start of 2Q23, with…
Zambia’s largest bank, Zanaco, has said that capital and technology will be key to driving the global green transition. The bank’s CEO, Mukwandi Chibesakunda, said that strengthening technology, Environment Social Governance (ESG) and capital mobilisation will aid explorations and production ramp up. This will ensure accountability to the environment and communities, and ensure availability of funds for small to medium sized enterprises in the mineral value chain. Zambia is at a critical stage of its economic life cycle, characterised by strides towards debt restructure and leveraging off its vast mineral resources to rekindle growth. Synonymous with mining as its mainstay,…
After a 4 year career at the helm of the World Bank starting April 2019, David Malpass will be exiting the Washington based lender as head and passing on the mantle to Ajay Banga. Malpass announced that he would be stepping down earlier in February 2023 after criticism over his stance over climate change. Banga will be the 14th President of the World Bank. According to a press release by the lender on 03 May Wednesday, Banga was by a 25 member board of executive directors voted successor for the top job. “The Board looks forward to working with Mr. Banga…
Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc reported a 55% rise in its first quarter after tax earnings to K410.3 million on higher revenues propelled by higher interest from lending activities, healthy trading margins and transaction fees. This was according to prudential financial results in the local press on Thursday April 27, 2023. The head start gives Zambia’s largest bank by asset size a stellar boost to a new quarterly high positioning the institution for a stronger 2023. The lender recorded a net profit of K1.2 billion in 2022 being the first bank in Africa’s second largest red metal hotspot to exceed…
Bond yields in Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia, remain sticky as market players continue to seek clues around debt restructure prospect. Zambia, the first dollar bond defaulter in pandemic times has rekindled hopes after China eased its stance on the need for multilateral development banks to share in haircut losses, a very contentious matter in the ongoing creditor negotiations. The uncertainty in the debt reorganization space has continued to fatigue money and foreign exchange markets breeding delays in curve compression and has fueled currency volatility. In the fourth Kwacha bond sale held on Thursday April 27, with K2.6 billion…
Petroleum prices ruling for May in Africa’s red metal hotspot Zambia, could ebb by 4.05% after taking a cue from the previous months Kwacha bulls offsetting the slowdown in global Brent prices. The Energy Regulation Board is expected to announce petroleum prices for May on Sunday 30th April. The month of April saw the currency in the Southern African nation post gains fueled by widening hopes of a debt restructure whose discussions have protracted causing market fatigue. The copper currency reacted to corporate players offloading foreign exchange on word that China had eased its unrealistic demands of requesting that multilateral…