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Companies

Zambeef Products Plc has highlighted the need to safeguard the country’s value chains and has called on both stakeholders and consumers to guard against the illegal influx of smuggled meat.

Zambeef Chief Executive Officer Francis Grogan observed that efforts by both the government and the private sector to boost and encourage local livestock production in the country were being hampered by rising levels of unregulated meat particularly beef making its way onto the market.

“Such activities are not only hurting our hardworking farmers and businesses but also putting consumers at risk. I therefore urge shoppers to continue buying local meat products from trusted and regulated sources,” he said.

Grogan has also noted that while the market for beef holds great potential, there has been minimal growth in beef volumes despite the massive investments that have gone into developing the sector owing to such challenges.

Zambeef currently has an inventory of almost 12,000 cattle all bought from local farmers but is concerned that the economic impact in the long-term is being hampered by the smuggling which is undermining the local beef industry and depriving the country of much-needed and valuable revenue.

The recent Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak has been a further wake up call for the development and enforcement of more focused, stringent, streamlined and sustainable policies in the local beef industry necessary to curb the growing illicit trade.

“Zambia has the potential to feed itself and neighboring markets but it must position itself to be an agricultural and agro-processing powerhouse by tackling illicit trade of commodities and production is vital to achieving this,” said Grogan.

The Zambia Revenue Authority recently exposed a beef importing syndicate that was importing the commodity under false declarations. This beef was said to be destined to a farm in Mazabuka were the beef was being re-packaged and sold as local beef.

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Zambeef Products Plc has highlighted the need

Companies

A Deloitte Zambia tax expert  has expressed concern over the content in the goods and service tax bill section 34 which gives descriptive powers to the finance minister Margret Mwanakatwe to waive sales tax contrary to article 199 of the constitution of Zambia.

Speaking during sales tax consultative meeting at Pamodzi hotel in Lusaka on May 6th 2019, Deloitte Senior Tax Manager Kennedy Munyandi said finance minister Margret Mwanakatwe has been given too much power in the sale tax bill.

“The law itself is about 4 pages but the minister has been mentioned at least 15 times and that is already an indication of too much power being given to a person, laws should not depend on the goodness of an individual but be based on data, so the powers given to the minister are too many,” he said.

He added that there is need to raise awareness on the content of the sales tax bill to the business community as it will be implemented soon. The Sales tax meant to replace Value Added Tax – VAT was set for implementation on April 1st 2019 by the Minister of Finance Margarate Mwanakatwe but was later deferred to be implemented on July 1st,2019.

Munyandi said the sales tax extension must be utilized effetely by stakeholders and government to both consult and sensitize the public. He has further welcomed the sales tax bill and reiterated on the need by government to explain the bill to the business community before it takes effect.

Speaking at the same event, Zambia Revenue Authority – ZRA Commissioner General Kingsly Chanda disclosed that following the announcement to abolish the value added tax by government last year, VAT refunds have increased to K1.4 billion per month from the initial K774 million.

Chanda said currently the authority is recording arrears of between K400 Million to K500 Million in VAT refunds. He further explained that government decided to change to sales tax from VAT due to frauds by some multinational companies and over valuation of capital imports.

He added that some companies where demanding double refund on the same certificate leading to a strain on the treasury hence the introduction of sales tax will help remedy some of these challenges. He noted that every tax law is aimed at contributing to the treasury and not working as a cost on the part of government.

ZBT is yet to get the official position of the top 5 Copper Mines who have been the biggest claimants of VAT refunds and will be the highest impacted by this law. The bill is also yet to clarify on what happens to sectors that were initially VAT exempt such as Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals and others.

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A Deloitte Zambia tax expert  has expressed

Markets

The Lusaka Securities Exchange – LuSE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding – MoU with the Policy Monitoring and Research Center – PMRC aimed at promoting increased levels of financial and capital mobilization for industrial growth at every level of economic activity.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU between LuSE and PMRC in Lusaka on 6th May 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, LuSE Chief Executive Officer Pricilla Sampa said the partnership will energize the growth of the stock markets which will benefit the economy.

Sampa said much will be achieved in directing and promoting public understanding of the stock market through research adding that meaningful economic development and industrialization will be achieved.

Speaking at the same event PMRC Executive Director Bernadette Deka – Zulu said capital markets are important for inclusive growth specifically in wealth distribution and ensuring that capital markets are safe for investors.

Deka – Zulu said it is a well know factor that a well-developed capital market creates a sustainable low-cost distribution mechanism for multiple financial products and services across the country and further increases mobilization of savings and improve efficiently the volume of investors.

She said the partnership between the two will enhance understanding and comprehension of capital and financial markets as well as financial literacy among the citizenry. “In the financial sector we are aware that government policy is aimed at ensuring stability in the banking and non-banking sectors, including enhancing financial markets deepening to stimulate increased access to financial services to support economic growth, in this view we cannot overemphasize the critical role that capital markets play in any economy,” she said.

LuSE has struggled to attract especially small and medium enterprises – SMEs to list on its alternative investment market that was launched as an answer to capital raising which has been a major missing ingredient in Zambia.

The government in 2019 through the Industrial Development Corporation – IDC has announced that two of its state owned companies (Zambia State Insurance Corporation and ZAFFICO) will he listed on LuSE which is expected to breath some new levels of relevance into the local bourse. However, the challenge remains that its attractiveness remains questionable as seen by the low levels of listing and transaction volumes on already listed stocks.

More needs to be done by LuSE to join the league of frontier African bourses in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. There is need for the management at LuSE to benchmark their performance against the leading African countries at the minimum to ensure that Zambia is not left behind in terms of financial markets development.

Many are the times that we talk of slower rates of private sector development and its institutions like LuSE that can act as game changers to the ability to efficiently allocate capital, that can then be applied to diversify the economy and improve exports for Zambia.

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The Lusaka Securities Exchange – LuSE has

Markets

The rebasing of Zambia’s Gross Domestic Product – GDP value this year may fail to take off due to slow implementation and delayed release of funds by the treasury,  a source has told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT.

GDP rebasing was lauded as a way to recalibrate and measure the current size of the economy as well as improve efficiencies such as revenue collection (tax to GDP ratio) as well as support key country ratios such as debt to GDP ratio that is used as a key parameter in assessing a country’s debt load.

Last year, Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe during the budget speech announced that Government will undertake an exercise to rebase the country’s GDP in 2019, an exercise last conducted in 2012. This exercise was later supported by institutions such as the Economic Association of Zambia – EAZ and some independent financial analysts.

“Mr. Speaker, in 2019 Government will undertake an exercise to rebase the Gross Domestic Product, an exercise last conducted in 2012. The rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product will provide reliable and updated information on the current size and structure of the national economy. The rebasing will also provide Government with an opportunity to update and develop appropriate social and economic indicators to measure progress in achieving the objectives under the National Development Plans and the Sustainable Development Goals,” she said.

However, a source whose identity has been withheld has told ZBT in an exclusive interview that no funds have so far been released for the rebasing exercise as earlier announced by the finance minister. The last update that the ZBT got was that about $5 million is needed for the rebasing exercise to be a successful and completed on time.

“The pronouncement by the minister of finance that government has set aside funds for the rebasing of the country’s GDP is just mere words. In reality government has not released the requisite funds. The source indicated that multilateral partners such as the IMF, World Bank or African Development Bank can be called upon to assist with the required funds for the conducing of the rebasing exercise before its too late,” the source said

The source stated that its un-disputable fact that knowing the accurate size and structure of the economy is as important as the economy itself. It is an invaluable input in national development planning and helps the government know whether or not the country is growing or contracting and which industries are the key drivers and which ones need tinkering.

In addition, knowing the size and structure of the economy helps government assess its performance by disaggregating the source of economic performance.

We may all recall that Nigeria’s GDP was rebased from about US$270 billion to US$510 billion for 2013 with the increase of about 90% attributed to new sectors of the economy such as telecommunications, movies & performing arts industry, and retail which were previously either not captured or under-reported. As a result of the rebasing, Nigeria is now the largest economy in Africa beating South Africa which had dominated the top slot for many years.

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The rebasing of Zambia’s Gross Domestic Product

Lifestyle

The Ministry of General Education has renewable a Memorandum of understanding – MoU of the peace corps project with the United states of America to assist in the developed of education in rural parts of the country.

In 2004 the Ministry of General Education through the Directorate of Open and Distance Education-DODE signed an MoU with the United States Peace Corps in Zambia to support ” Learning at Taonga Market ” interactive Radio Instruction initiative.

In 2006 the project was extended to include all rural education at the zonal level and was renamed the Rural Education Development – RED.

Speaking during the signing ceremony of the MoU at Peace corps offices in Lusaka on April 17th, 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, U.S Ambassador Daniel Foote disclosed that peace corps currently has over 300 volunteers in Zambia of which 66 are education volunteers who are placed in 7 provinces and reaching more than 3,600 students to improve skills is English.

He says the American government through the Peace Corps Zambia’s education volunteers are committed to working with their teacher counterparts to realize the goal of having every child attain the right to education in rural Zambia.

And Ministry of General Education permanent secretary Dr. Jobbicks Kalumba said the MoU is an indication of a continued cordial relationship between the American government and the Zambian government for it is directly feeding into the ministry’s priority of improving education quality.

Dr. Kalumba said the ministry is committed to making this partnership work better to increase the quality and access to education for all Zambians adding that the project has grown to impact many more young lives in different schools and communities.

“It is the ministry’s hope that the signing of the MoU will help enhance the groups covered under the peace corps Zambia Rural Education Development – RED project which places peace corps volunteer English teachers where they can best support pupils and teachers in the difficult transition from local language to English as the medium of instruction,” he said

The Peace Corps is one of the smallest instruments in the foreign policy toolkit of the United States. It is a “boutique” agency with a superb reputation. The Peace Corps was born during the cold war, it was created to win hearts and minds in the non-aligned developing countries

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The Ministry of General Education has renewable

Companies

The Water Resource Management Authority (WARMA) has announced that the timeline for the registration of boreholes which elapsed on the 31 of March 2019 has been extended by nine months to 31 December 2019.

The authority has advised that the announced extension only applies for domestic boreholes only owing to the notable challenges faced by the members of the public in their efforts to register their boreholes. The nine months extension was announced by water development minister, Dennis Wanchinga.

“Any possible extensions will be restricted to domestic boreholes only”. This is contained in a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT issued by WARMA Acting Director General Lemmy Namayanga.

Namayanga says illegal commercial borehole owners will be penalized if they have not registered their boreholes and obtained the requisite water permits for their commercial harvesting of ground water. Members of the public are still being allowed and urged to register their boreholes at WARMA or any of the Catchment officers or indeed through the online platform so that by the end of this extension, all members of the public are covered.

To date, 27,287 existing boreholes have been registered while 77 Drilling companies have been licensed out of the 96 currently registered. A total of 10, 736 applications to drill boreholes were made of which 18 were rejected. The latest full list of drilling companies will soon be published.

Only licensed drilling companies will be operating legally, failure by any drilling company to obtain a license but found drilling will be dealt with according to the law.

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The Water Resource Management Authority (WARMA) has

Politics

The UK government has commended the Zambian government’s move to call for self-regulation of the media as opposed to government’s regulation saying is it a positive step towards Press Freedom.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK government stands ready to assist the Zambian government with technical support in the formation of the media regulatory body because actualizing media self-regulation even in countries like UK is not an easy undertaking.

Hunt said self-regulation of the media is a better option as opposed to the media being regulated by the state. “We have this same system in UK, I must hasten to say that self-regulation is not an easy process. In instances were media freedoms have been abused in UK, we have seen the same media people raise up to condemn those that abuse their press freedom, this way the media takes responsibility for mistakes made by fellow media practitioners,” said Hunt.

He was speaking in a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by First Secretary Press and Tourism at the Zambia Embassy in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. And Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed said UK has been committed to fostering media freedom as could be seen from the 2019 UNESCO media ranking that has now imprisoned journalists, unblocked over 2000 blogs and reopened Newspaper and Radio stations that had been closed by the state.

He said media is a watchdog of democracy and good governance and that the African Union Flagship programmes such as Agenda 2063 cannot be achieved without the media. “We cannot underestimate the role that the media plays in good governance and accountability of African government. A free and independent media is critical to the attainment of Africa’s Aspirations, “he said.

Today the 3rd of May 2019, Zambia joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Press Freedom Day under the theme “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in times of Disinformation” the World Press Freedom Day raises global awareness on the role the media plays in every society. Journalism sometimes referred to as the 4th Estate is critical in shaping the nation as it acts as a mirror and communication channel between the governors and the governed.

In Zambia, we have the Independent Broadcasting Authority – IBA which is responsible for regulating the broadcasting industry in Zambia, by ensuring the promotion of a pluralistic and diverse broadcasting industry. The functions of the IBA include among others, to grant, renew, suspend and cancel radio and television broadcast licences.

The IBA is also mandated to set standards to be followed by radio and television stations as well as monitor licensees to ensure that they are compliant. In order to achieve this, the IBA has set up an Inspectorate as well as a Consumer Affairs unit that will receive all complaints that the public may have, concerning radio and television stations or content that the stations churn out.

The UK has two new press regulatory bodies, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which regulates most national newspapers and many other media outlets, and IMPRESS, which regulates a much smaller number of outlets but is the only press regulator recognised by the PRP.

Ofcom also oversees the use of social media and devices in the United Kingdom. TV, radio, telecommunications, and postal services are also regulated by Ofcom

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The UK government has commended the Zambian

Agribusiness

The Cotton Association of Zambia – CAZ says there is need for Zambia to revamp the spinning mills and companies that existed previously on the Copperbelt, Central and other parts of Zambia to support the resurgence of adequate local supply of yarn.

This would enable the local cotton farmers to be sustained in their production of cotton and lead to value chain development in production and manufacture of various fabrics, said CAZ Board Chairperson Christopher Mweetwa. Zambia is currently spending huge sums of forex in importing even simple clothing and apparels that can be made locally.

Mweetwa was speaking during the training of cotton farmers in business networking and market penetration under the Regional Integration Capacity Building (RICB) project under phase II. He said that revamping the spinning companies would enable the sector to grow and create more local jobs.

“The challenge of shortage of yarn supply by farmers has been affecting the sector so much, what needs to be done is to revamp the spinning companies that existed previously especially those on the Copperbelt and support these with relevant legislation regarding fabric and clothing imports,” Mweetwa said.

CAZ national coordinator Joseph Nkole said the RICB project was targeting to support about 12,000 farmers in Mumbwa District and so far over 9,000 have benefited.

He said since the coming of the Mumbwa Farmers Ginning and Pressing Company Limited (MFGPCO), the sector has recorded unprecedented increase in production of cotton since farmers are being encouraged to produce cotton due to the favorable prices the company was offering for the cotton.

“Mumbwa has close to 55,000 farmers and this programme is targeting 12,000 cotton farmers. Since the lunch of the program in 2014, we have trained men and women who are now proficient spinners and weavers,” he said.

And ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Kayula Siame said there is need to build and strengthen the cotton value chain to move from cotton to fabric. Siame said Government was committed to finding ways and means to support the growth of the cotton value chain through various partnerships with other stakeholders.

She said farmers should work hard to ensure that they produce quality products and also consider cotton farming as a business to be able to make more money to sustain themselves and their families.

Siame further called on CAZ to help the farmers to register their businesses so that they could be recognised in the country. “There is ready market for your products but what you need to do is to make sure that you produce quality products that will be able to meet international standards, we want to see you grow as a government that’s why we are implementing this project.” Siame said.

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The Cotton Association of Zambia - CAZ

Companies

Pick and Pay – PnP stores  across  Zambia now Stock about 80% locally produced goods. Speaking at a high-level meeting on access to markets for Agricultural and local businesses held with the Zambia Development Agency – ZDA, PnP General Manager Mark Vickery said the store has 80% locally produced goods with 21 local suppliers and has over 2,000 residents employed in the 19 stores across the country.

He has however stressed challenges faced with suppliers, which include packaging, quality issues and inconsistency among others. He added that PnP is committed to continue engaging and educating local suppliers till they meet the required standards.

ZDA has launched an incubation support program aimed at consolidating the partnership arrangement that the Agency has developed with the markets to facilitate access for smallholder farmers, cooperatives and Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises – MSME’s.

Speaking during a high-level meeting on access to markets for Agricultural businesses held in Lusaka on May 2nd, 2019 attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ZDA Board Chairperson Mary N’cube said the Agency believes that for sustainable investment to be a reality, there is need to ensure that local entrepreneurs participate.

She said is it important for entrepreneurs to adhere to the required quality standards for the products in order to enhance competitiveness, reduce technical barriers to trade and facilitate access to markets.

“I am confident that through the incubation support program that is being launched today the performance of our MSME’s will be enhanced and maintaining the quality that the market demands will sustain MSME’s business through order,” said N’cube

And Ministry of Commerce Permanent Secretary Kayula Saime said the ministry has noted challenges faced by the chain store and suppliers hence its keen to facilitate and manage linkages among local producers so that their supply to chain stoles can increase.

“I am impressed that there is an increase in the number of locally produced foods being sold in chain stores operating in the country, and I can also assure you that ministry is also working at exporting local products through chain stores,” Siame said.

She added the ministry will work with the corporative and local businesses to assist producers increase their production so that they can provide enough quantities to chain stores adding that it will also ensure that local products are well packaged to meet international standards.

She reiterated that the ministry will put measures and address challenges faced by local producers which include quality of goods, consistence of supply and packaging.

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Pick and Pay - PnP stores  across

Mining

First Quantum Minerals – FQM, Zambia’s largest copper miner has recorded a 15% increase in copper production at its Sentinel Mine at Kalumbila in the first quarter (January to March) of 2019.

Overall, the group which has two mines in Zambia has reported a drop of 3% in revenue to US$857 million while gross profit grew by 2 percent to US$185 million for the three months to March 31, 2019, compared with the same period last year.

Production at the company’s Kansanshi Mine in Solwezi has been impacted by the planned processing of lower grade oxide ore and lower throughput.

The initial forecast for 2019 was that the country’s mining sector would record a moderate increase in production but due to changes in the fiscal regime, the import of concentrate from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been scaled back by other Zambian processors resulting in reduced output.

FQM sources concentrate locally from its two mines hence the recent import tax on concentrate has had less impact on production at its Kansanshi smelter.

FQM’s Sentinel mine delivered another strong quarter with copper production of 57,716 tonnes, a record for the first quarter.

“Our first quarter financial results reflect solid operational performance despite the rainy season in Zambia and lower production from Las Cruces resulting from the land slippage early in the year. We expect operational results to improve through 2019 as the ramp-up at Cobre Panama accelerates. In the coming years, we will be able to deliver on our commitment to deleveraging our balance sheet,” said Philip Pascall, FQM’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Pascall explained that the refinancing announced earlier in the year was a step towards improving liquidity and pushing out debt maturities and that the company would continue this effort throughout the year with further progress expected in 2020 as Cobre Panama starts to meaningfully contribute to cash flow, while also consolidating work done on its project pipeline to enable future growth.

“As ramp-up progresses, Cobre Panama will allow us to deliver on our stated objectives of increased geographic diversification and increased copper production. We are now realizing the benefits of good design and quality assurance in construction,” he said

FQM has recorded a significant milestones achieved at its Cobre Panama mine. The project remains on schedule to deliver between 140,000-175,000 tonnes of copper in 2019 with approximately 80% of total production expected in the second half of the year and is expected to be running at an annualized rate of 72 million tonnes per year by year end.

According to the 2018 full year results, the FQM group generated over 70% of its group copper production from its two mines in Zambia.

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First Quantum Minerals - FQM, Zambia’s largest