Business News

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 10:46:07 +0000

Mines await Govt’s verdict on night ban

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

THE mining industry is currently in talks with Government over the introduction of the Statutory Instrument (SI) 76 which restricts the movement of both public and private vehicles at night, says the Zambia Chamber of Mines (ZCM).

ZCM president Nathan Chishimba said in an interview that the mining industry and other stakeholders raised concerns over the SI to the Minister of Transport and Communication Brian Mushimba who had since instituted a task force to look into the matter.

Mr Chishimba explained that the task had since collected views and recommendations from the stakeholders which have been presented to the minister

“What I can confidently tell you is that after we raised concerns directly with the minister, he acted very swiftly; he instituted a task force in his ministry to collect views from various stakeholders, not only the mining industry.

“They organised some oral sessions on the Copperbelt and here in Lusaka. We in the mining industry were able to make presentations and submit evidence that we had and on January 31st, 2017, the task force circulated a draft result which we believe is now sitting with the minister,” he said.

Mr Chishimba said the mining industry was waiting for feedback from the minister.

“We are very happy with the way the minister reacted, but also we are anxiously waiting to see what he will do in response to the submissions which were made by various stakeholders,” he said.

He also said the sector had been impacted with the introduction of the SI which had led to the mining firms delay in collecting raw materials such as copper concentrates.

Mr Chishimba explained that the truck drivers had been subjected to the heavy traffic of the day which the industry had been avoiding by scheduling their programme.

“There is huge traffic during the day, so we scheduled our movements away from that; by requiring the trucks to move in the day, we then have to mix in that traffic.

“When you look at the Solwezi-Chingola road, for instance, it is not in great shape. So if you restrict transportation hours then trucks will have to stop somewhere and not make a turnaround; thus impacting on commercial production as mines will not get their concentrates on time,” he said.

He said the movements were scheduled to ensure public safety.

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Kwacha hits road to recovery

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

THE Kwacha has continued to appreciate against the dollar following an increase in supply from corporate sellers and exporters which has outweighed subdued demand from buyers.

Cavmont Bank daily market report indicated that the local unit during Thursday’s trading session began the day trading at K9.630 / K9.680.

It further showed that current trends seem to favour the local unit with a bias towards the upside owing to a mismatch in demand and supply.

The local currency however was being quoted at K9.575 / K9.625 by mid-morning,

It then closed at K9.575 / K9.625; K0.055, stronger compared to its opening levels.

And Citibank global markets in its March 2017 monthly market outlook, reports that copper prices staged a comeback after it underwent a five- year correction between 2011 and 2016, reaching a seven-year low of US$4,330 a tonne in January 2015.

Citi analysts expected the copper market to see supply shortage in 2017 for the first time in six years due to a combination of tightening supply and recovering developed world demand.

This is likely to push copper prices above US$6,000 a tonne in 2017, with peaks of close to US$7,000 per tonne expected before year end in Citi’s view.

The bank expected copper demand exceed supply for most of the next five years.

For 2017, Citi analysts expected Chinese copper demand growth to slightly moderate to between 3 percent – 4 percent compared to around 5 percent in 2016.

Citi believed that housing related demand, principally in construction and home appliances, may be at risk as central government steer the policy direction away from being accommodative towards preventing over-heat.

On the positive side, power and transportation demand may support overall copper consumption this year.

According to Citi, unlike bulk commodities, new copper ore discoveries could take decades to come to production.

Citi analysts expected mine supply growth to move into negative territory by 2020 due to low levels of investment capital expenditure.

The Citi group also analysed that investors could consider copper miners for exposure to copper price upside.

Copper equities offered greater leverage to higher copper prices than investing in the commodity itself.

Citi analysts also believed that pure and concentrated copper players may benefit more from the potential price upside compared to diversified or integrated commodity players.

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Support local banks to grow economy – activist

By MAILESI BANDA

THE reason the Zambian economy cannot sustain itself is because we fail to control and prioritize locally owned banks for investments, an economist and activist Samson Tembo has said. 

Professor Tembo said if locally owned banks were given a priority in investment opportunities the money would help in the growth of the economy.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, he said increasing the pool of resources in the banks would lead to infrastructural development and job creation for the local people.

“All we need to do for economic growth is to switch to locally owned banks and then the banks grow into investment banks which will enter into partnerships with companies and will bring a reduction in the cost of money’’, he said.

He said the money raised in the investment banks would be used for infrastructure development that would contribute to job creation and grow the economy.

He said in a project that he called ‘‘back to the land’’ he hoped to bring development to the rural areas with the help of chiefs.

“There is need for us to utilize the rural areas as part of economic development because that is the sure way to economic freedom for the country,’’ he said.

There was need for the country to grow the manufacturing sector and increase tax on imported goods to save foreign exchange.

He said growth in the manufacturing sector would translate into local supermarkets stocking local products.

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French investment team to explore tourism potential

By MAILESI BANDA

FRENCH tour operators have taken keen interest in exploring Zambian tourism products and services because of the significant peace that the country enjoys, Zambia’s deputy ambassador to France Joe Kaunda has said.

The ambassador said the Zambian people’s friendliness towards tourists had been a great contributing factor to the development.

He announced that most investors in that country had taken keen interest in investing in the different opportunities the country represented.

“Because of the peace that Zambia has enjoyed over the years and the friendly people we have, investors are interested to invest in the tourism sector of the country,’’ he said.

And a French delegation of investors will be visiting Zambia next month to explore the agriculture opportunities found in Zambia.

French businessmen pledged to invest in the agriculture industry during a business breakfast meeting held for Finance minister Felix Mutati when he visited that country recently.

The delegation is said to have been encouraged to invest in Zambia after President Edgar Lungu visited that country in 2016 and presented the investment opportunities in Zambia.

Meanwhile, a Zambian professor based at the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Fackson Banda said the country should approach bilateral and multilateral relations with an open heart

“Zambia needs to take bilateral and multilateral relations with an open heart as this is the only guaranteed way the economy could gain growth and reach markets beyond its borders,’’ he said.

Prof Banda advised Government to continue with the economic recovery and stabilization programme as it represented the larger vision of Zambia’s economic growth.