There are two things in this world one does not want to be left behind in namely going to heaven and lagging in technological innovation. Having ticked the former, MTZ deliberately chose to technologically sprint in spreading the gospel through church unusual in the latter. This involves doing church the unconventional way, in cyberspace for the tech savvy niche and those that cannot genuinely attend services. Mount Zion Christian Center is one organisation that has not lagged in the use of technology to reach the hungry in spirit for the gospel. There is now, no excuse for not attending church…
Author: The Editor
The Kwacha Non Deliverable Forward (NDF) Curve is at spreads of between 310 to 1,920bps above the nominal treasury bill curve as at last Thursday 11 April suggesting that government securities could be slightly overpriced. Ideally the NDF curve should be at most, close to par (in developed markets) or at negative spreads on the T-bill curve (usually in frontier markets). Spreads between Kwacha NDF and T-bill market have turned positive (are widening significantly). See below the Kwacha offshore non deliverable forward rates versus the nominal and real treasury bill curve as at 11 April. The current fundamentals reveal…
As interest payments for Zambia’s April 2024 falls due next week, the Central Bank in Africa’s second largest copper producer, has been on a dollar buying spree to help shore up foreign currency funding. The Bank of Zambia has been in the market consistently over the last fortnight in the quest to raise funding for the coupon obligation on the 2024’s. 2024 coupon falling due next week A total of $42.5million falls due next week. Efforts to raise dollars to fund this obligation has resulted in the Kwacha being on the back-foot for most of the last week of March…
Zambia’s increasing debt load is an investment for the future and shouldn’t be a cause for concern, the nation’s Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said. “In the main it is infrastructure development, Zambia is vast,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Washington on Friday. “The opportunity is out there. If I don’t put a road there, how do I harness the potential that is there. Debt, much as it looks high, it’s a debt for the future.” Zambia’s external debt climbed to $10.05 billion by the end of last year from $8.74 billion a year earlier as the…
This is the seventh under subscription of eight auctions year to date. Central Bank in Africa’s copper producer, Bank of Zambia (BOZ), on 11 April sold K239-million ($23.43-million) worth of treasury bills that was 30.5% subscribed. This was the eighth debt sale of the year. Of the K950-million on offer, the BOZ, sold K290.35-million in cash terms (K349-million) in nominal terms. The debt sale absorbed all bids raised by players. Of the K290.35 million allocated, 70% was concentrated in the 24% paying 1-year tenor while other 30% was allocated to the other tenors. Yields rose across all tenors rose with…
China Nonferrous Metals Company subsidiary Luanshya Copper Mine – LCM will not proceed to re-open shaft 28 until safety concerns are ticked off, Richard Musukwa Mines Minister in Africa’s second largest copper hostspot said. Shaft 28 a copper rich site for LCM was closed earlier due to safety concerns which made it a hazard for miners to operate. However CNMC management have opted to pursue an ore body that is adjacent to the restricted shaft to access the deposits. CNMC senior management will meet with Zambia’s Head of State and the Mines Minister to discuss a tangible investment plan on…
US FED -Markets were little changed after minutes of the FOMC of 19-20 March were released on 10 April. Minutes revealed debates around balance sheet management and keep interest rates flat which was unsurprising to the markets. The dollar index (DXY) measured against a basket of 6 major currencies was little changed at 96.943. US STOCKS – Wall Street indexes were flat with the Dow Jones Industrial Average – DIJA 6.5 points (0.03%) weighed by Boeing shares that tumbled 1.1%, S&P 500 rose 10 points (0.35%) supported by technology stocks (8/11 sectors closed yesterday in positive territory) and Nasdaq composite…
A London court has ruled in favor of a community in Africa’s second largest copper producer, Zambia, that sought the right to sue Vedanta resources over alleged pollution 4 years ago. The UK Supreme Court ruled. The landmark judgement entails that communities in other jurisdictions could reference similar cases to obtain redress in the United Kingdom against large multinationals. A group of inhabitants of a Zambian community had in 2015 accused Vedanta’s subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines – KCM of polluting their water supply which also contributed to a deteriorated farm land space. These inhabitants that resided near the huge KCM…
Rencap maintains its view of Egypt being the best investment destination in North Africa post highly successful economic reforms. Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, will hold its North Africa Investor Conference on 9-10 April 2019 at the Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa. This is one of the Firm’s spring season run of investor events across its core geographies. The conference aims to bring together Egypt’s leading corporates and South Africa’s key institutional investors. Participating companies represent a variety of sectors such as consumer, healthcare, banking and financial services, manufacturing and real estate.…
Since 2013, debt in Africa has risen rapidly, with the median debt-to-GDP ratio as percent of GDP increasing to 53% in 2017. As a result, about one-third of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa are classified as being either in or at high risk of debt distress, including the majority of countries that benefited from debt relief in the 1990’s from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. These observations are fueling concerns that the region is facing another systemic debt crisis. Our analysis suggests that while another systemic sovereign debt crisis is not imminent, the rapid pace of the debt increase…