KONKOLA Copper Mines Plc (KCM) now owes Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) an outstanding US $150 million electricity bill, up from around US $144 million at the end of June, 2020. And CEC managing director Owen Silavwe says CEC is currently doing “reasonably well" because in spite of the ongoing challenges it continues to face with...

STANDARD and Poors (S&P) Global Ratings have lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Zambia to 'CCC-' from 'CCC' following the Zambian government’s request to suspend Eurobond debt interest payments. According to its latest ratings, S&P disclosed that it had lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on...

FINANCE Minister Dr Bwalya Ng’andu has announced that government will spend K119.6 billion in 2021, with more than K27 billion of that amount due to be spent on servicing Zambia’s external debt. And Dr Ng’andu has proposed to raise the exempt threshold for Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) to K4,000 from current K3,300 per month and adjust the...

FITCH Ratings has downgraded Zambia’s credit rating to ‘C’ from ‘CC’, meaning the country is in imminent default with little prospect of recover. Fitch has also downgraded Zambia's rating on its senior unsecured foreign-currency bonds, mainly triggered by the Zambian government’s request to suspend debt interest payments on its US $3 billion worth of Eurobonds....

DR Denny Kalyalya’s dismissal is likely to trigger a sharp kwacha depreciation because there will be a severe lack of confidence in the country’s economy, says financial market analyst Maambo Hamaundu. President Edgar Lungu sacked the highly-respected BoZ governor, Saturday, in an abrupt announcement, replacing him with Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Finance and Economic...

COMMERCE Minister Christopher Yaluma has fired Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Board Chairperson Fisho Mwale with immediate effect for unknown reasons. Confirming the development in a brief interview, Monday, Mwale, who is also a Yalelo Limited director, said he was no longer the ZDA board chair after having his contract of employment terminated. “It is true....

GOVERNMENT still needs to implement strong fiscal policy where the budget deficit and high levels of inflation are kept under control if the Bank of Zambia’s (BoZ) relaxed monetary policy is to have any meaningful impact, says economist Chibamba Kanyama. And Kanyama says interest rates on loan facilities should not be expected to significantly decline...

THE kwacha has continued to sharply depreciate and is expected to hit K19.50 per dollar owing to continued high demand for the greenback on the local market, compounded with little supply. According to financial market players, the kwacha maintained a weak position, depreciating to crash through the K19.00 per dollar mark last Friday for the...

THE annual rate of inflation has marginally decreased to 15.8 per cent in July, down from 15.9 per cent recorded in June, mainly induced by price decreases in food items, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZSA). Announcing Zambia’s annual rate of inflation for the month of July, ZSA Interim Statistician General Mulenga Musepa said...

THE annual rate of inflation has decreased to 15.9 per cent in June, down from 16.6 per cent recorded in May, mainly triggered by price decreases in food items, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZSA). Announcing Zambia’s annual rate of inflation for the month of June, ZSA Interim Statistician General Mulenga Musepa said that...