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Liquid Telecom Zambia has installed free Wi-Fi at Covid-19 quarantine centres to help patients stay in touch with friends and family while also enabling healthcare workers to share vital information and data without delay.

The company is supporting the Ministry of Health with free internet connectivity at COVID-19 quarantine centres.

Speaking as the company made a symbolic handover of equipment to the Ministry of Health last week, Mark Townsend, CEO, Liquid Telecom Zambia commended the government in its fight against the COVID-19 virus.

As a result of COVID-19, fast, reliable and accessible internet is now more critical than ever, especially amongst frontline workers who can now use digital collaboration tools across Liquid Telecom’s free WiFi to share and access vital data.

In a press release made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT on May 04, 2020 Townsend said the gesture is about supporting those who are in quarantine with wireless connectivity for internet calling and entertainment.

“Our thoughts go out to all of those who have been affected by the virus, especially the patients and healthcare workers at each of the COVID-19 quarantine centres. By connecting the quarantine centres with free WiFi, patients and healthcare workers can stay in touch with friends and family by connecting their smart devices to the free WiFi for voice, video calls, messaging and entertainment. We hope that Liquid Telecom’s free connectivity will go a long way to help to reduce the feeling of anxiety and isolation amongst patients, but also the staff treating them who can now exchange vital information and data more easily across our network,” he added.

Meanwhule, Minister of Health Dr. Chitalu Chilufya thanked Liquid Telecom for its support and said: “For us to ensure we manage the war against COVID-19, one key fundamental is data management.

With a spike in internet usage in the past weeks owing to the partial lockdown that has forced many Zambians to work remotely, Liquid Telecom Zambia has adapted to further enhance its reliability and connectivity, Mr Townsend added.

He encouraged Zambians to follow health guidelines from government of social distancing and staying home and urged customers to take advantage of Liquid Telecom’s online self-service tools in the wake of COVID-19.

Liquid Telecom’s free access to Netflix is also available with Liquid Telecom’s Fibre and Data on the Go packages for home and enterprise consumers. Fibre and Data on the go are consumer products.

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Liquid Telecom Zambia has installed free Wi-Fi

Mining

First Quantum Minerals – FQM has cut its capital expenditure and reduced operating costs for 2020 as it braces itself for the impact of the COVID-19 on the mining sector.

The virus has brought unprecedented challenges to communities, industries and the global economy, and that First Quantum’s priority is the health and safety of its employees and communities, said the company in its financial results statement for the first quarter of 2020.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to communities, industries and the global economy. Our priority continues to be the health and safety of all of our employees and the communities where we work,” said Philip Pascall, FQM’s Chairman and CEO.

He added that the company is managing the restrictions and protocols implemented in Zambia and in each country where it operates, to help protect all, particularly those most vulnerable

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, FQM Director Philip Pascall explained that the reduction in capital expenditure included moving construction work on the fourth crusher at its Sentinel mine in Kalumbila into 2021 and deferring development project capital expenditure and some process improvement and sustaining maintenance program at operations.

He said that underlying sustaining capital expenditure was expected to be approximately $200 million in 2020, adding that supported by the mining firm’s banking group, the company had improved its flexibility and liquidity, and would continue to make the changes necessary to deal with the global crisis.

However, despite Sentinel achieving record throughput in the first quarter of 2020, copper production was down 2% compared with 2019 due to lower grade and recovery.

“Kansanshi achieved higher copper production for the quarter compared to 2019. However, Kansanshi smelter processed 329,946 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate, produced 80,280 tonnes of copper anode and 315,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid,” he continued.

The mining firm has also revealed that with the closure of the South African and Zimbabwean borders, the export of the company’s copper from Zambia was currently being managed through alternative routes,” He added.

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First Quantum Minerals - FQM has cut

Tech

The University of Zambia – UNZA has locally designed and developed a “Walk-Through” body sanitizer in response to its mandate of providing intellectual and practical services aimed at generating interventions that support the national COVID-19 contingency emergency plans.

The University through the Technology Development and Advisory Unit (TDAU), has embarked on an ambitious project to develop the Body Sanitizer that is built as a full body sanitization mechanism, utilising the misting technology under a high pressurized liquid/fluid supply system.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by the university’s Head of Cummunications Dr. Brenda Bukowa, UNZA’s prototype is suited for places and spaces where the one meter social distance rule is violated or not possible such as malls and markets aimed at killing viruses that maybe carried on clothing or body surfaces.

Meanwhile, the University of Zambia (UNZA) in addition to the “Walk Through” body sanitizer, has designed three virtual prototypes through technology adaptation. These designs include; a Ventilator, a retractable Wheel Chair and Isolation centre Beds: all aimed at equipping health centres in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ventilator designed, will cushion the country’s supply needed in the treatment of COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory distress.

And in order to convert the three virtual designs into physical prototypes, the institution is inviting stakeholders to sign MOUs with the university in order to partner in actualising the designs from virtual prototypes to physical ones.

Meanwhile, University of Zambia Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Tamala Kambikambi who is also the Board Chairperson for the Technology Development and Advisory Unit (TDAU) says UNZA is committed to developing, adapting or adopting technologies to assist in preventing or minimising transmission of COVID-19 infections and render assistance during treatment and care.

Kambikambi adds that UNZA’s prowess is demonstrated through UNZA’s provision of intellectual and practical services such as the state of art level three (3) biosafety testing lab housed at School of Veterinary Medicine and various research undertakings by UNZA experts for the benefit of Zambia and its people.

She has thanked all staff at the institution of higher learning whom she says have worked tirelessly to ensure UNZA provides solutions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The University of Zambia - UNZA has

Mining

The central province town of Serenje, has joined the list of mining towns in Zambia after the confirmation that manganese mining has resumed and is expected to give it an alternative economic engine. The town which lies next to one of Zambia’s largest commercial farming hub of Mkushi, has mostly been an agricultural area and houses the massive 110,000 hectares Nansanga farm block.

The resumption of manganese mining is not only good for the economic diversification of Serenje, but for Zambia as a country. Manganese has recently become a well sought out metal following the shift in mostly the motor vehicle industry from combustion engines (petrol or diesel powered engines) to manganese-lithium battery powered electric cars.

ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc has announced that its subsidiary, Kabundi Resources Limited has commenced works at the manganese mine located in Serenje district following the end of the heavy rains that had hampered efforts to kick-starting operations, posing a challenge in accessing the mine site areas.

Kabundi Resources Limited – KRL are on site and have started phase one of the project via a small-scale mining license, with an initial capital injection of K18.6 million (about US$1 million). The ore grade is on average at 45%, which is relatively considered rich.

The company has disclosed that KRL targets to mine about 60,000 tonnes of manganese by the end of the year during the ramp up period of operations while production is targeted to reach 240,000 tonnes of manganese ore annually once commercial production levels are achieved.

ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Officer – CEO Mabvuto Chipata said in a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT on April 05, 2020 that phase two of the project which is scheduled to start before the onset of this year’s rainy season will be extended to other license areas of the ZCCM-IH large scale exploration area in Serenje.

“I undertook a site visit end of April 2020, were we also inspected works at the Kampumbu resettlement area earmarked for relocation of nine (9) households from the Kabundi mine site,” He said.

He added that the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) approved by the Zambia Environmental Management Services – ZEMA involves the construction of an additional one-by-two classroom block, a health center, nine-by-three bedroomed houses for the relocation of the Project Affected families, one house for a teacher, and another house for a medical staff.

Chipata was happy with the progress made both at the mining operation and the RAP sites saying the mine will be fully operational by July 2020, and looked forward to having it officially launched by August 2020. ZCCM-IH is set to spend a total of K4.5 million to fulfil the RAP obligations, which are scheduled to be handed over to the beneficiaries in June 2020.

The ZCCM IH CEO further said the RAP project has so far employed over 20 locals and the KRL will further employ over 150 youths at the mine site as production scales up upon relocation of the affected families.

Zambia as a country has many avenues to turn around its fortunes and even pay off its national debt, but the pace of implementation of key revenue generating projects remains a challenge. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, it remains to be seen if ZCCM IH and it’s subsidiary Kabundi Resources will deliver the planned production levels and exports.

ZCCM Gold company is also another avenue to boost the countries revenue earnings which is moving at a snails pace. When the countries debt serving obligations are mounting, the country defaults to asking the government to get an IMF/world bank bail out package, why not instead put pressure for realizing such projects one may ask?

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The central province town of Serenje, has

Markets

Zambia’s treasury is set to access about K2.7 billion (about US$150 million) financial support from both bilateral and multilateral cooperating partners as emergency funding facilities to mitigate the impact of Covid-19

Despite their own Covid-19 related challenges, the United States of America – USA and United Kingdom – UK have joined the African Development Bank – AfDB and the World Bank in providing financing facilities Zambia to enable the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya Nga’ndu had announced on April 20, 2020 in his state of the economy address amidst Covid- 19 that a number of multilateral institutions have announced various windows under which Zambia could source emergency support facilities to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by Ministry of Finance Spokesperson Chileshe Kandeta on April 30, 2020, the World Bank has made available US$57.60 million (about K1.05 billion) under its rapid response facility and in addition, the Zambian Government has applied for a further US$20 million (about K372 million) under the Banks Covid-19 fast track facility.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed US$37.5 million (about K697.5 million) to Covid-19 as part of the their Covid-19 Rapid Response Facility and that the funds will cater for the purchase of medical equipment, screening of patients, rehabilitation of quarantine facilities and community sensitisation.

Further, the AfDB will provide support to high density areas through the provision of hand sanitisers, soap, water bowsers, hand washing facilities and supply of clean and safe drinking water to fight Covid-19. The AfDB will also provide food security packs for approximately two-hundred thousand (200,000) households in the event of the situation escalating.

And the United Kingdom has pledged support towards upscaling social cash transfer under its GBP30 million (about K705 million) social cash transfer grant assistance and it has to this effect pledged to frontload its support in view of the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure that the vulnerable are cushioned.

Meanwhile, the United States of America Government has approved a grant of US$14.5 million (about K270 million) towards the fight against covid-19 in Zambia and the funding is an addition to the technical support that the United States Centre for Disease Control (US-CDC) is providing to the Ministry of Health and the Zambia National Public Health Institute.

And Finance Minister Dr. Bwalya Nga’ndu has expressed gratitude for the financial support and partnership from the four cooperating partners. The details on the conditions attached for these facilities are yet to be made available to ZBT.

The Finance Minister has since pledged Government’s commitment to ensuring that the resources are used prudently, and accountability exist in their use.

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Zambia’s treasury is set to access about

Markets, Mining

Zambia has recorded a trade surplus valued at almost K182 million (about US$10 million) in March 2020, a shift from a trade deficit of K119.5 million in February. This trade surplus means that the country exported more than it imported in nominal terms.

Zambia Statistics Agency- ZSA Interim Statistician General Mulenga Musepa has explained that exports which mainly comprise of domestically produced goods increased by 6.6%, up from K7,829.1 million in February 2020 to K8,346.4 million in March 2020.

He added that this outturn was mainly attributed to a 11% increase in export earnings from Copper and other intermediate goods. A trade surplus is good for Zambia as its a confirmation that the country exported more than it imported, which ideally results in retaining more forex into the country.

Speaking at a live stream media briefing monitored by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT on April 30,2020, Musepa said Imports increased by 2.7% from K7,948.6 million in February 2020 to K8,164.9 million in March 2020 and attributed the increase in imports to higher import bills for the Intermediate goods and Consumer goods categories by 18.4% and 7.1%, respectively.

He said traditional export (mainly copper) earnings increased by 13.8%, up from K5.6 billion in February 2020 to K6.4 billion in March 2020 adding that In terms of share in total exports, copper exports accounted for about 77% in March 2020.

Meanwhile, Non-Traditional Export (NTE’s) earnings decreased by 11.8 percent from K2,203.2 million in February 2020 to K1,943.9 million in March 2020 while in terms of share in total exports, NTEs recorded a 23.3 percent in the month under review.

And exports of copper by volume and the London Metal Exchange – LME prices for March 2020 and February 2020 indicate that the volume of refined copper exported in March 2020 increased by 13% from about 64,000 metric tonnes in February 2020 to about 72,000 metric tonnes.

“The Copper prices on the LME however decreased by 8.9 percent from US$5,686.5 per metric tonne in February 2020 to US$5,178.7 per metric tonne in March 2020,” He said.

Zambia has continued to heavily rely on copper exports with diversification efforts only coming to be prioritized when copper prices are down. As soon as copper prices increase, the country abandons the aggressive diversification drive.

Massive gold deposits found at Kasenseli, in Mwinilunga have however given Zambia’s diversification drive within the mining sector another lease of life though full operation and mining is yet to start. The delays have mainly due to lethargy and bureaucracy at the mines ministry, ZCCM Gold company and the Zambia Environmental Management Agency – ZEMA.

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Zambia has recorded a trade surplus valued

Markets

The year- on- year (annual) inflation rate as measured by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April 2020 has increased to 15.7%, up from 14% recorded in March 2020.

This means that on average, prices of goods and services have generally increased by 15.7% between April 2019 and April 2020.

Zambia Statistics Agency – ZSA Interim Statistician General Mulenga Musepa has disclosed that the increase in the annual rate of inflation was attributed to price increases in both food and non-food items.

Streaming live and monitored by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT on April 30,2020, Mulenga said the year on year food inflation rate for April 2020 was recorded at 17.% compared to 15.2% recorded in March 2020, hence indicating an increase of 1.8 percentage points.

He attributed the development to increases in prices of food items such as Dried bream, Dried kapenta, Cooking oil, Live Chicken and Sugar.

Mulenga also mentioned that the the year on year non-food inflation for April 2020 was recorded at 14.2% compared to 12.7% recorded in March 2020 and has attributed the increase to the prices of items such as vehicles, solid fuels (i.e Charcoal and Firewood), furnishing and household appliances.

Meanwhile, a disaggregation of the annual inflation rate by provinces shows that annual inflation rate for April 2020 increased for all the nine provinces with Lusaka province recording the highest rate of annual inflation at 18.1%.

“However Western province recorded the lowest annual rate of inflation at 11.5%,” He added.

Analyst have indicated that Zambia’s inflation number has come under pressure through imported inflation due to the depreciation of the Kwacha as well as effects of #covid 19 which has generally reduced business activities.

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The year- on- year (annual) inflation rate

Companies

FNB Zambia has initiated the rollout of cashflow relief interventions effective 30 April in line with the announcement of the K10 billion in funding by the Ministry of Finance.

“FNB is offering cashflow relief to qualifying individual and commercial customers whose finances have been impacted by #COVID-19. The FNB Zambia cashflow relief measures will become available from 30 April 2020, for customers who hold loan products with us,” said FNB Zambia CEO, Leonard Haynes in a statement availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT.

He stated that these interventions may include Rescheduled Payments or Payment Holidays and that No fees will be charged for any relief granted.

“We are cognisant of the challenges faced by our customers whose businesses and livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are pleased to be able to support our customers in this way and will continue to look for more opportunities to assist them to navigate through this period of uncertainty,” Haynes said

The relief will be considered for both retail and commercial customers with a proven track record of honouring their payments before COVID-19.

Both individuals and commercial customers can enquire about these services by contacting the Bank via the FNB App, Mobile Banking or website fnbzambia.co.zm.

“We would like to assure our customers that in addition to this, we are putting in place the necessary precautionary measures to ensure the health and safety of our customers, staff and vendors during this time”.

”We also continue to reinforce our capacity to provide uninterrupted essential banking services which allow customers to do their everyday banking through our innovative digital channels and branches,” Haynes concluded.

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FNB Zambia has initiated the rollout of

Companies

Lafarge Zambia, the country’s longest-standing cement manufacturer, has signed an agreement with AfriDelivery, an e-commerce company to provide end-user customers with a digital platform when ordering cement and having it delivered to the customers home or business premises.

Customers will now be able to purchase Lafarge cement and have it delivered directly to their premises or construction sites, a move that is set to add value to the end user’s shopping experience.

According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT on April 29, 2020 and issued by Lafarge Corporate Communications Manager Sarah Banda, the company’s new partnership with AfriDelivery is mainly to serve its clients who would like to purchase its products and have them delivered directly.

She said the partnership with AfriDelivery and its cement retailers goes a long way to give its end users a cost -effective and convenient digital solution for them to order, pay and have their cement swiftly delivered.

“For our business to thrive and to remain competitive, the company has tapped into digital solutions to understand our customers’ needs and preferences and to anticipate where the market pull is and to react to that. Thus, our partnership with AfriDelivery is timely and responds to our current situation of maintaining social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic,” She added.

Banda further said the that company’s goal is simply to make customers happy with world-class attention on trust and safety, adding that the shopping feature is designed to provide online shoppers across Lusaka with a smooth shopping experience from purchase to delivery.

Meanwhile, clients that have purchased products off the new shopping platform will receive their products within 2 hours upon purchase. The AfriDelivery App which is the enabler is available on both Android and iOS app store.

Lafarge Zambia has since pledged to continue contributing to the construction of cities and homes around the world, through innovative solutions as it owes its best efforts to the people of Zambia who have supported, believed, trusted and walked with the company for the past 70 years.

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Lafarge Zambia, the country’s longest-standing cement manufacturer,

Companies

The Centre for Trade Policy and Development – CTPD is calling on Government to rethink its definition of what constitutes ‘key economic sectors’ as calls to re-open certain sectors amidst COVID-19 are being implemented.

The Centre says there is need to clearly define what constitutes key economic activities and differentiate those that are social in nature, said CTPD Senior Researcher Dr. Simon Manda.

“As CTPD our understanding of ‘key economic sectors’ are those that contribute immensely to the country’s GDP, job creation, domestic resource mobilization and help to reduce poverty and inequality”.

“We are afraid to mention that those that were recently announced by the President fall short of that definition. When we talk about economic sectors, we have in mind sectors such as Mining, agricultural food production and local manufacturing,” He added

Dr Manda told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in a statement that there is need to also identify needy urban households especially in high density areas [compounds] and consider introducing support such as through food banks.

He disclosed that for Lusaka alone, food banks could play a pivotal role in closing gaps in food access to the majority of who do not have reliable access to food and that this raises the need for not only government support but also food charities and ordinary individuals.

Dr. Manda further stressed that this can help address not only food insecurity but also food waste by distributing food which otherwise would have been lost.

The CTPD Senior Researcher has observed with concern that the scaling down of economic activities and restrictions on social movements could create a new stream of urban poor as they face financial constraints due to reductions in or loss of both formal and informal jobs in the wake of COVID-19.

He has since urged Government to consider the vulnerable, poor and equally food insecure urbanites as it comes up with interventions aimed at protecting the affected populations from COVID-19.

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The Centre for Trade Policy and Development