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Sport

ZESCO united has disclosed that they have completed the move and secured the services of a vibrant upcoming winger from Green Eagles, Lazarus Phiri, to boost their attacking options.

“ZESCO United Football Club is delighted to confirm the arrival of Lazarus Phiri from Green Eagles. The former Kansanshi Dynamos winger has signed a one-year loan contract subject to completing medicals”.

ZESCO United Football Club Technical Chairman, Peter Mutale described Phiri as an exciting prospect who will add value to the club.

“Lazarus Phiri is a young player who has a bright future ahead of him. He is an exciting winger who will bring speed to our game. This is also a great opportunity for him to shine at the biggest stage of the Zambian game.

“He has joined us on a one-year loan spell with a chance to extend. As a club, we want to get the best players on the market,” he said.

The winger described the opportunity to play for the club as a rare one and its very cardinal for him to prove to people that he is worth every Kwacha that the football club has invested in him. His main focus is hard work and to bring trophies to the team.

ZESCO United Football Club was registered in 2013 as ZESCO United Football Club Limited under the Office of Registrar of Companies and Business names. The Club is affiliated to the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA).

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ZESCO united has disclosed that they have

Agribusiness

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on record to have offered Zambia a market to export 1 million goats per annum. No value was however availed in the report.

The Livestock farmers in Zambia were elated by this pronouncement as they would have a high value market which could improve their return. This purported deal was seen as a break-way for full commercialization of goat farming in Zambia.

Its now two plus years and no single goat has been exported. Complications have arisen that has seen postponement after postponement, with reasons ranging from wether Zambia can satisfy the demand of 1 million goats per annum as well as whether the breed of goats in Zambia is suitable for the Saudi market.

Zambia runs a huge deficit with Saudi Arabia as it sources its petroleum products which are a high value product. Analysts have pointed out that the export of goats will just be a drop in the ocean when it comes to cutting the trade deficit between the two countries.

But when contacted to update the nation on the status of the goats export deal to Saudi Arabia, Director of Ministry of Livestock and fishers Dr. Chibwe Kaoma told the Zambian Business Times-ZBT in an exclusive interview that a team of experts was sent from Saudi Arabia to come and inspect the livestock in Zambia. The purpose was to come and check if the animals they intend to import in their country are meet the health requirements.

Dr. Kaoma stated that “the team came to Zambia and inspected a number of abattoirs that will be used to slaughter the animals before being exported. Saudi Arabia have their own way in which they slaughter their animals and dispose of blood. During the course of inspection they graded the environment and they were looking at how far the abattoirs  are  from the town centers. After the expert team inspected they  identified a number of abattoirs, that they feel can be used for slaughtering goats before exported”, Dr Kaoma stated.

For the identified abattoirs, there was need to improve on some areas, which the Saudi Arabia team identified. Some of the identified areas to be improved on was the hygiene status. However, the identified abattoirs took keen interest and committed to improve on these measures to facilitate the resumption of exports.

The Livestock director stated that the Ministry then contacted Saudi Arabia that those identified areas have improved on and that improvements that they had identified to be rectified had finally been worked on for the identified abattoirs.

“But it was unfortunate that the covid-19 cases increased, such that it brought about the closure of exports and imports. That led to the delay in the project. Currently the ministry is waiting for experts from Saudi Arabia to come, assess, and finally certify the abattoirs so that export of goats can start.

Dr. Kaoma stated that once the Saudi team has certified the identified abattoirs, then licenses shall be issued to able Zambian exporters to start exporting goats to Saudi Arabia.

He reiterated that the market is open to all abattoirs that would like to export goats to Saudi Arabia and the procedure is letting the Saudi Arabia expert team to inspect. Once inspected and the Saudi Arabia is satisfied with the measures put in place, then that abattoir is ready to export the goats. The market for goat export is huge in Saudi Arabia and we can export more than a million per year.

Moreover, the Saudi Arabia do not have a specific breed that they need to be exported, but all breeds raised in different types of systems can be exported once they are slaughtered in the certified abbatoirs.

When asked if Zambia can meet the export requirement of 1 million goats, Dr. Kaoma stated that “Zambia should export 1 million goats per year. But looking at Zambia’s goat population which only about 4-5 million goats, this export numbers could be a challenge.

However, the Ministry is extending services to the farmers to start rearing goats in Zambia due to the huge market demand in Saudi Arabia. Most farmers in Zambia do not rear goats as a business but with this huge demand, farmers are encouraged to rear goats as a business.

In addition, Dr Chibwe Kaoma stated that the consumption of goat meat in Zambia is very low, but due to the health issues, most people are encouraged to consume it to increase the consumption rate that will led to an increase in production of goat meat.

Dr Kaoma stated the covid-19 has brought much delay to this project. The ministry is also looking at how best it can tap the huge market in DR Congo for goats. The Ministry will see to it that towards the end of this year 2020 or early next year the exportation of goats should commence.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on

Lifestyle

The Electoral Commission of Zambia – ECZ has in a statement made available to Zambian Business Times – ZBT, provided clarity on eligibility to vote in the 2021 General Elections and beyond.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia wishes to clarify to all stakeholders and members of the public that all eligible Zambian citizens who will register during the 2020 Voter Registration Exercise will qualify to vote in the 2021 General Elections.

ECZ  has stressed that eligible Zambians who will not register during the 2020 Voter Registration exercise will not be able to vote in the 2021 General Elections and future elections conducted under the new register of voters.

Meanwhile ECZ says those  who will not register will only be eligible to vote in future elections when the Commission undertakes another voter registration exercise after the 2021 General Elections.

The Commission is calling upon all eligible Zambians to register during the 2020 Voter Registration exercise even if one is currently registered. If you do not register you will not vote in the 2021 General Elections. The current Voters card will not be used in the 2021 general elections.

Zambia is scheduled to go to the polls for presidential, parliamentary and local government in August 2021. Both the Census of population and ECZ electoral calendars have been affected by the Covid 19 outbreak resulting in postponements and dates being moved forward for certain activities.

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The Electoral Commission of Zambia - ECZ

Markets

Zambia which imports large quantities of its Petroleum to power its expanding transport industry from mostly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – UAE has no preferential trade terms or government to government trade deals with the two countries.

As a result, Zambia runs a huge trade deficit with the Saudi and UAE which has been blamed as one of the major contributors to the perpetual depreciation of the Kwacha. Efforts by Zambian based businesses and companies to embark on reciprocal exports have not been successful in the absence of high level trade deals.

What is supposed to happen is that once trade increases and reaches a material level with a specific country, those statistics should be used to negotiate and establish bilateral or special trading terms to achieve mutually beneficial trade and economic relations.

Any failure to attain mutually beneficial trade relations should result in retaliation from Zambia by sourcing Petroleum from alternative countries that are willing to establish a mutually beneficial relationship. The country should not accept to stick into this one sided and skewed relationship when It can engage in reciprocal export for its mining, tourism and Agro products.

And in response to an inquiry from the Zambian Business Times – ZBT on the skewed trade relations, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Mushuma Mulenga stated that Zambia trades with Saudi Arabia and UAE on Most Favored Nation (MFN) terms under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

MFN terms of trade implies that there are no preferential terms or treatment when trading with these two countries vis-à-vis the rest of the WTO Members. He admitted that there is need to establish stronger bilateral relations which Zambia has been working on with these two countries.

When asked if the government has plans to sign government to government deals or agreements to ensure that Zambia’s exports to both Saudi and UAE are increased to so that the trade deficit reduces, Mulenga stated that Zambia is keen to engage and sign off the government to government trade deals.

He stated that “the ministry hopes to take advantage of the Expo 2020 which has been postponed by one year due to covid 19, to strengthen bilateral cooperation with the UAE. Following President Edgar Lungu’s visit in November 2019,Zambia will participate and hold bilateral trade meetings with the government of UAE aimed at creating market access for Zambia’s products.

Another method to counter trade deficit is through attracting sizable foreign direct investments – FDI. Zambia’s trade deficit with both Saudi Arabia and UAE can be narrowed if there are strong commitments to invest into Zambia at values and volumes that can plug the annual trade deficits.

Analysts say the Zambian government needs to aggressively deal with the issue of trade deficits with South Africa, Saudi Arabia and UAE as a starting point to begin to sort out the perpetual macro economic challenge of a depreciating Kwacha, the national currency. A depreciated Kwacha robs citizens of their hard earned value in assets and savings from a global point of view.

The depreciating Kwacha has also been sited as a major contributor to high inflation which is mostly driven by imported goods and services. The imported inflation arising from the Kwacha depreciation sets into motion a domino effect on both food inflation and non food inflation.

Zambian Kwacha has this year alone in 8 months shed 42% of its value relative to international convertible currencies such as the US dollar.

The Saudi embassy in Zambia has been engaged by ZBT to give the reasons behind the lack of a trade deal despite so many years of well established trade. Watch out for the response form Saudi Arabia and UAE to follow…

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Zambia which imports large quantities of its

Tech

The impact of COVID-19 has really sent shock waves and changed the way we live. For the COVID-19 curve to flatten or better still control the spread, the Ministry of health encouraged people to stay home and engage in social distancing. This means finding alternative to do our daily transaction. And this is where the digital space (or IT) comes in.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times- ZBT, Information and Communication Technology Association of Zambia (ICTAZ) National Secretary Mulenga Sichangwa says that though we may have been pushed to use ICTs more by the pandemic, the ITC or digital space must be used or improved on.

Our expectation and hope is to see the 2021 budget that will be presented by the Finance Minister, to build on this path that we are on. We may have been pushed into it because of circumstances, but the circumstances present opportunities themselves.

We see the way parliament itself is conducting business, we saw it on the presidential address and how top leadership at government is holding meetings with other neighboring countries through digital solutions like Zoom, they are able to conduct their businesses now remotely more than ever. So we would like to see that in the budget so that we are able to foster that development.

Furthermore, Sichangwa says that we as a country must build on the new way of doing business through the digital space as the world is turning into one big computer.

“We mustn’t say that we want to go back to the old ways because we obviously do from a health and safety position, but I think now this should be that drive to make us take this digital transition more seriously at all levels of the country from the top right up to the bottom an should just be the responsibility of the ICT service providers but for all of us as citizens”, he said.

International and local travel costs have been shrinked as people now engage in online meetings. Video conferencing is now being undertaken by both public and private institutions. These benefits should be retained in Zambia.

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The impact of COVID-19 has really sent

Markets

The 2021 budget to be presented on 25 September 2020 by Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya N’gandu will have to contend with some major contingencies and unknowns as it will be presented before the outcome of the six months moratorium solicitation is concluded for the US$3 billion Euro bond.

Secretary to the treasury Fredson Yamba on 22 September announced that the ministry of Finance had commenced a consent for solicitation to holders of Zambia’s total of US$3 billion Euro bonds requesting for suspension of debt repayments for a period of six months.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia (AMIZ) Executive Director Webster Mate, says micro finance institutions are hope for the best in the 2021 budget and that the finance minister tackles challenging issues like the increasing inflation, the continued depreciation of the Kwacha and basically giving hope to all the Zambians.

“We can only hope for the best, that’s how economies are, there are ups and downs. Financial players like us (micro financiers) always hope for the best. “I mean we don’t know how the minister has managed to balance this budget for 2021 the outcome on the request for repayment suspension on Euro bonds is still not complete, this issue started  when he did his last presentation, there were already question marks and that the budget looked like it was not balanced” Mate told ZBT.

“And now, we got into this year 2020 and COVID -19 created even more problems. And before the year is coming to an end, another budget has to be presented. So we can only hope for the best particularly in the area of inflation”.

Mate further stated that “because we getting into elections in 2021, experience seems to tell us that politicians in an election year don’t seem to care much about the economic fundamentals. So we don’t know whether that trend is going to continue and that’s what’s worrying us”, he said.

Meanwhile, he warned that if the trend of not taking good care of the macro economic fundamentals by politicians continues, inflation may continue rise and when the elephants are fighting, it is the grass (which in this scenario is the people) who will suffer.

Chances are that inflation might continue to go up and also the pressure that is coming from the bond holders, we have to see what the outcome will only be known after the budget is already presented as the meeting is scheduled for 29 September, 2020.

We’re likely to see pressure on our foreign exchange, the Kwacha is likely to continue to weaken against internationally convertible currencies like the US dollar, Euro, Great British Pound and South African rand. The depreciation is a major driver of imported inflation, which has continued to be a major challenge.

Ideally we hope that the minister is going to come up with great ideas or strategies that will give hope to people and especially the business community as well as the ordinary Zambians on the street.

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The 2021 budget to be presented on

Agribusiness

The Diary Association of Zambia – DAZ expectation of the 20121 national budget is that the electricity tariffs of dairy farmers will be lowered to enable growth and sustainability of intensive diary farming.

DAZ says that most of the the farmers are using generators as a result of load shedding in milk production which has resulted in a further increase in the cost of production. If the tariffs can be reduced, as power supply is expected to stabilize, it will be an advantage to the farmers and the Zambia consumers as the cost of production will be reduced.

Speaking to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT in an exclusive interview, DAZ Policy monitoring and evaluation Officer Enock Zulu stated that Association also want to see a reduction in the cost of production for the farmers, one of the things that has led to a high cost of production is the cost feed.

However, feed for dairy animals comprises of supplements and additives, most of which are imported. With the depreciation of Kwacha, the cost of imported products are higher because the dairy sector depend on the imported ingredient. For optimal production, quality of breeds and feed are key. If the cost of feed is high, most of the farmers will be unable to produce the required production rate

The dairy industry is in a growth stage, which should not be subjected to competition with outside mature industries. So there is a lot of importations of long-life milk from other countries that has led the local industry to register limited growth . DAZ anticipate that government should impose higher import taxes on the importation of long-life milk and yogurt to support its local production.

Both  milk and yogurt  are actually produced in Zambia. When these products are imported, they are sold at a cheaper price. Of which the local market for milk and yogurt are been suffocated. If the right levels of taxes are imposed on imported diary products, the local industry will take up the space and this will result into high productivity among locally based farmers.

There is also challenge in the milk industry of high tech equipment such as testing kits to enable local farmers to grade their milk. The 2021 budget should zero rate importation of these types of equipment. The grading is mostly depended on the processors, but we want to see a situation where the milk collection centers can afford to buy testing kits and are able to grade the milk on their own to help them get better prices. This will help allay any mistrust between processors and the producers.

In the livestock sector in general, the challenge that has hindered growth of the industry has been access to better breeds of animals. Most animals produced in Zambia are cross breeds. DAZ is expecting that government will still maintain the zero rating on the inputs from other countries used in the Livestock sector.

Milk production which has a deficit will surely be overturned and see the country start to export when Diary breeds are improved upon. As a country, we do not have enough pure diary breeds that can be used or crossed to ensure optimal production of fresh milk.

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The Diary Association of Zambia - DAZ

Sport

The Zambia Golf Union – ZGU has says they are hopeful of receiving a More equitable share of resources and funding from government in the 2021 budget to be presented tomorrow 25 September 2020 by Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya N’gandu.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Zambia Golf Union President  Christopher Mulenga  says the Golf union is hopeful of better funding or more resources from government as they usually source their funding mostly through external sources and various activities.

“In terms of my expectations for golf, we have always wanted to draw some resources from the government. As you know golf is one of those sports that has not really received resources from central government. It is through our own activities and cooperating partners as well as through the activities that our corporation partners buy into. But I don’t think it’s too late for government to help in funding the sport, because we can do better especially in junior golf with funds from the government”, he said.

And when asked whether they have shared their challenges with the Ministry of Finance during the budget submission stage, Mulenga stressed that their channel of communication to government is through National Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ).

“We collaborate with government through NSCZ, and the council is fully aware that we’ve got a budget that needs to be financed. But to be very honest with you, because of limited and competing needs from the various other sporting activities, we have not benefited. It’s a well-known fact by NSCZ that we need a helping hand”, he said.

Even though we have top notch golfers and have the ability to reach greater heights, football has always been treated like the last born, always favored. Fingers are crossed to see if this time it will be a different story.

Sports analysts and journalists have called on the government through the budgeting process to include other priority sports so that these receive funding to enable mass participation so that the country can also start producing international level players other than in football.

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The Zambia Golf Union - ZGU has

Mining

Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya N’gandu is tomorrow 25 September, 2020 at 14 hours expected to present the 2021 national budget. The national budget spells out how the treasury intends to apply the funds raised for the year 2021.

This budget speech is a special one as it will also reveal how the government forecasts to generate revenues through tax and non tax measures, as well as give policy directions and investment priorities for 2021.

The Finance Minister is expected to address the way forward on Konkola Copper Mines – KCM to bring some credible level of certainty on the future operations of the Chingola and Chililabombwe based Mines. The minister may also touch on the announced discussions between Glencore and ZCCM IH on the later increasing its shareholding.

As part of the built up to the presentation, the Zambian Business Times – ZBT has engaged the key associations and groups to just get a glimpse of what expectations they have so as to analyze whether the presented budget will live upto these expectations.

The cornerstone of the Zambian economy is mining, and this was definitely our first point of call. Copper exports make out over 70% of total exports from Zambia and mining remains the singlemost important industry to Zambia today.

And the Chamber of Mines Chief Executive Officer – CEO Sokwani Chilembo told Zambian Business Times-ZBT in an exclusive interview that the mining industry in the 2021 national budget is expecting the finance minister to announce the removal of non-deductability mineral royalty so that the mines can return to a situation were they can afford the cost of capital.

Chilembo further told ZBT that the Chamber of Mines are also expecting some leveled of considerations for its submission for the reduction in the mineral royalty rate itself and for the tax regime to move to the sliding scale similar to the one in the Pay as You Earn – PAYE.

The Chamber of Mines which boosts of membership of all the top copper mines such as First Quantum Minerals – FQM, Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines, Konkola Copper Mines – KCM is further looking forward to a withdraw of all export duties on export of mineral concentrates.

With the strain in government revenues on the back of the impact of the coronavirus, it calls for an astute balancing act from Dr. N’gandu and his team at the ministry of Finance to deliver a budget that will be able to stimulate the economy and set the country back on a growth path that would see Gross Domestic Product – GDP growth rates rebound.

Mining analysts are further expecting the finance minister to give policy direction on gold mining, establishing of gold reserves and what level of reserves may accrue from this exercise. There are also other base metals like Manganese that offer areas of diversification within the mining industry.

One of Zambia’s biggest macro economic challenge has been the perpetual depreciation of the Kwacha. Analysts see the development of gold mining and establishment of gold reserves at Bank of Zambia – BOZ as a viable alternative and supplement to US dollar reserves, that could see the Kwacha begin to command resilience.

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Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya N’gandu is tomorrow

Lifestyle

The European Union – EU Zambia office is calling for Agribusiness proposals from eligible Zambians to access grant funding of up-to €1 million under its Enterprise Zambia Challenge Fund.

In an emailed statement to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the Enterprise Zambia Challenge Fund (FED/2019/413-674)  is inviting agri-businesses in Zambia who meet the eligibility criteria to apply for financial support in the first call for proposals. Deadline for submission of concept notes is 3rd  October 2020.

The statement stated that the “Zambia Challenge Fund, the European Union (EU) will award grants (ranging from EUR 150,000 to EUR 1 million) to eligible entities, notably agribusiness operators who demonstrate that their envisaged investments are not only innovative, but that they will also contribute to the smallholder farmers’ commercialisation and better integration into greener and more sustainable value chains development”.

The EU stated that “the project seeks to benefit around 150,000 smallholder farmers with particular attention to the creation of decent employment opportunities for women and youth”.

The Enterprise Zambia Challenge Fund is a €26 million initiative by the European Union,  which is part of the wider Support to the Sustainable Commercialisation of Zambia’s Smallholder Farmers Programme, funded to unlock, accelerate and leverage investments within agricultural value chains (including agroforestry and aquaculture).

It is a five-year agribusiness support initiative that will invest about €26 m in the sector over five years (2020-2025), which works out to be about €5 million per year. Affordable funding is one of the challenges local agribusiness firms encounter in Zambia due to high lending rates from banks and financial institutions.

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The European Union - EU Zambia office