Connect with:
Sunday / April 27.
logo
mobile-logo
HomeStandard Blog Whole Post (Page 23)
Companies

Having entered into a Purchase and Assumption (P&A) Transaction with the Bank of Zambia as part of the resolution of Investrust Bank Plc (In Possession), the Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank Limited (ZICB) has welcomed new customers and opened doors to 16 new branch and agency locations taken over from Investrust Bank.

This strategic transaction has transformed ZICB, which has been operating for just under six (06) years, into one of the key players in Zambia’s banking industry.

Speaking after the opening of Levy Business Park Agency on Monday morning, Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank Limited (ZICB) Board Chairman, Danny Luswili said the Bank is excited and honoured to welcome its new customers to ZICB.

“ZICB is on a mission to transform the lives of Zambian citizens by enabling their majority participation in the country’s economic activities through commercialisation and industrialisation of local business enterprises. We are therefore excited at the opportunity to provide effective banking solutions that will drive the development of local wealth and businesses. Being a 100% local bank, our mandate is aligned with the aspirations of our society driven by our new desire for economic independence through citizens’ ownership of commercial and industrial enterprise”, Luswili said.

Further, the ZICB Board Chairman announced that the Bank will be running a customer campaign between July and 30th November 2024 to reward customers who maintain deposit liabilities.

Luswili said, “Over the next four (04) months, ZICB will be rewarding customers across all the 23 branch and agency locations of the Bank. Our customers will win wonderful monthly prizes, including solar home lighting solutions, laptops, and gas cookers. The winners of the grand draw to be held in December 2024 will be rewarded with a Toyota Hilux, a GWM Ora full-electric vehicle, and a ZWM250,000 cash prize. The campaign is a way of appreciating the support that we have received from our customers. The full details of the campaign will be availed by the 26th of July 2024.”

With its six (06) current locations, plus a new branch to be opened in Solwezi before the end of July 2024, ZICB will now be operating a total of 23 branch and agency locations across the country after this transaction.

The 16 branch locations acquired from Investrust Bank Plc (In Possession) include four (04) agencies and three (03) branches in Lusaka, an agency in Lumwana, as well as branches in Livingstone, Choma, Luangwa, Chipata, Kabwe, Ndola, Kitwe, and Chililabombwe.

All these locations are now available to provide convenient banking services to both new and existing customers of the Bank.

0 Comments
0 likes

Having entered into a Purchase and Assumption

Lifestyle

President Hakainde Hichilema – HH has awarded a 20% salary increment to the constitutional court judges.

This is in comparison to the about 7 to 10% (K550 across the board) salary increments awarded to most government employees and civil servants for 2024.

The recent statutory instrument, number 34 of 2024, revealed that President Hichilema has elevated the Basic salary per annum for Constitutional Court Judges to over K420,800.

This marks an increase of about 20% from the previous Basic Salary per annum of K354,695 as of June 2023, as indicated in an earlier statutory instrument number 17 of 2023.

According to statutory instrument number 34 of 2024 seen by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, President Hichilema also raised the Basic Salary per annum paid to Chief Justice Mumba Malila to over K511,500.

This move has however been questioned as it comes at a critical time of austerity for the nation as it grapples with the adverse effects of the prevailing drought conditions and some policy pitfalls.

President Hakainde Hichilema has also signed off and awarded salary increments to the Deputy Chief Justice, the President of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court judges, the Court of Appeal Judges, and the High Court Judges among many others.

The decision to boost the salaries for Judges amidst this challenging period has raised concerns as the country is grappling to find solutions and resources to deal with the current power crisis and generally tough economic conditions for the majority.

Critics argue that President Hichilema and his administration’s focus should be on addressing the pressing issues brought about by the drought, such as food insecurity and agricultural support.

They underscore the importance of prioritizing resources to alleviate the impact of the drought on the population and ensure the country’s resilience in the face of such challenges.

0 Comments
0 likes

President Hakainde Hichilema - HH has awarded

Tech

The International Monetary Fund – IMF who are currently extending an augmented $1.7 billion credit facility to the country has strongly urged the Zambian government to fully implement the Freedom of Information Act as well as improve on transparency in the mining and energy sectors.

According to the IMF mission report after the third review availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT , the Zambian authorities has met most of the benchmarks set.  The IMF stated that ” the program performance has been satisfactory and that all quantitative performance criteria for the third review were met, and all but one structural conditionalities were completed”.

The IMF stated that “Implementing the Access-to-Information Act, reviewing the Anti- Corruption Act in a timely manner, and enhancing transparency and governance in the energy and mining sectors will help reduce policy uncertainty, improve the business climate, and attract greater investments.”

On 26 June, 2024, the Executive Board of the IMF completed the third review of Zambia’s 38-month ECF arrangement and approved an augmentation of about US$386 million. Completion of the review allowed for an immediate disbursement of about US$570 million, bringing Zambia’s total disbursement so far under the ECF-supported program to about US$1.1 billion.

The Access to Information Act was signed into law in December 2023 but there has been inertia to fully impliment it. The statutory instrument for the commencement order was only issued near to the IMF review date but the Ministry of information is yet to issue the required procedures and forms for the media and the general public to apply the law.

The Zambian Business Times – ZBT upon signing of the Access to Information Act received information from a whistle blower over the contract award to PC agency by the Zambia Tourism Agency – ZTA. ZBT proceeded to request for the official information and documentation from ZTA who  to-date, are yet to respond and avail requested documentation.

ZBT further proceeded to escalate and appeal the decision by ZTA to withhold response and requested documents to the Human Rights Commission –  a designated commission for escalation in the Act, but this also proved futile. The same letter was copied to the Minister of Tourism Rodney Sikumba, with all three institutions opting to remain mute despite the serious allegations of impropriety raised.

0 Comments
0 likes

The International Monetary Fund - IMF who

Companies

The road transport in Zambia is facing pressure as about 40 percent of the value of the total export is being transported by the road network.

According to Zamstats report the cumulative total trade from January to May 2024 was K214.4 billion while that of 2023 for the same period was K168.1 billion, representing a 27.6 percent increase.

The total value of exports via all modes of transport for the period of January to May 2024 was K110.4 billion.

Road transport accounted for the highest value at K44.5 billion representing a 40.3 percent share.

Air transport was second with K3.2 billion (2.9 percent) and Rail transport was third with a value of K1.5 billion (1.4 percent).

Other modes of transport accounted for K61.2 billion (55.4 percent).

The total volume of exports via all modes for the period of January to May was 3.7 Million Mt, of which Road transport accounted for the highest volume with 2.1 million Mt, representing 56.5 percent.

Rail transport accounted for 10.2 thousand Mt, representing 0.3 percent.

Air transport accounted for 1.8 thousand Mt (0.05 percent), while other modes accounted for 1.6 million Mt (43.2 percent).

0 Comments
0 likes

The road transport in Zambia is facing

Agribusiness

The Tobacco Board of Zambia has disclosed that it has targeted to procure about 43.3 million kilograms – kg of tobacco this year compared to the 44.4 million kgs procured last in 2023.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Tobacco Board of Zambia Chief Operating Officer, Tyndale Kasongole said the Board has procured about 35 million kgs as of 29th June 2024 valued at about USD$97 million by all the licensed buyers, and all the licensed self flows.

“We have got July, August to buy so you might probably find that we may reach that target or less than that but what has affected production is the same prolonged dry spells as it has not just affected Zambia but also the Sub region in general to an extent that it has affected the yields of tobacco and these other crops,” He alluded.

“The total volume of tobacco purchased as of 29th June 2024 stands at about 27.9 million kg is for FCB tobacco then 7.1 million kg is burn tobacco bringing the total to about 35 million kg of tobacco bought so far as at 29th June.”

“So the total value is $97 million so far and from the targeted volume it’s very difficult to say the value because the value is dependent on the quality of the tobacco so sometimes it fluctuates depending on the value you can have high volume but if the quality is very poor you end up with low value so I we go we keep on monitoring till a certain point.”

“The market usually closes around 30th September so we have about 2 to 3 months remaining.” He said.

Asked if the target is attainable looking at the prevailing drought which has hit hard on on almost all sectors of the economy, Kasongole said, “it has been difficult because of the drought but because tobacco is a bit drought resistant I think with the little rains that we received it picked up. So we might hit or we might be short by 3-4 million kgs.”

“Last year we closed with 44.4 million KGs and that has been the highest in terms of production in the last 10 years. The other 40 million was in 2014 when about 42 million kg was produced and since then we had not produced anything above that until 2023 when we had 44.4 million kg.”

“And our projection before the market and before the effects of the drought were being felt were based on the registration that were carried out, we had projected about 54 million kg but like I had explained we carry out validation to verify our crop forecast and at first when we just registered the farmers around December last year we carried out the crop forecast that gave us the real volume of 43.3 million but was registered was 54 million so we anticipated that we might go beyond what we produced last year but because of the drought we had to cut our projection by about 10% to 44 million.”

Kasongole added that, most exports are done after primary processing as they have just recently started buying the tobacco as of April when they opened and by May that’s when the volume increased as they had now moved towards the peak of the marketing season and processing had commenced by then leading to an increase in exports in agricultural products.

0 Comments
0 likes

The Tobacco Board of Zambia has disclosed

Agribusiness

Chilubi Member of Parliament has attributed the hike in Roller mealie meal prices in Chilubi of the Northern Province of Zambia to lack of a local producers/supplier within Chilubi island making available suppliers to transport it through the lake using passenger boats as they do not have cargo boards that they could use to transport mealie meal.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Chilubi Member of Parliament, Mulenga Fube, highlighted the surge in roller mealie meal prices of about K400 in Chilubi Island, attributing it to the absence of local suppliers and the high cost of transporting the commodity to the island.

Fube emphasized that the lack of a local producer in Chilubi has led to a heavy reliance on private business entities transporting mealie meals from distant locations such as Lusaka and the Copperbelt.

Fube expressed concerns about the difficulties faced by the people of Chilubi in accessing mealie meal, pointing out the absence of ZNS mealie meal in the area.

He urged the government to intervene swiftly to ensure that the residents of Chilubi have sufficient access to mealie meals and are properly catered for.

“The hike in these prices of mealie meal is because one, we do not have a local producer here in Chilubi as the local producer we had, it became very difficult for them to do business because of the high cost of transportation as well as just getting of raw materials like Maize was difficult causing the business not to survive and be sustained. Although the machinery is still there” He alluded.

Fube further alluded that people of Chilubi are only able to access mealie meals through private business entities who are getting it from as far as Lusaka and the Copperbelt bringing it to Chilubi as it is rare for them to get it from places like Samfya, Mansa, Kasama and Luwingu.

“There is no ZNS mealie meal here in Chilubi, no one is supplying ZNS mealie meal in Chilubi a thing I have also spoken with the ministry of defense,” He added.

Meanwhile, Fube has called on the Government to quickly come on board so that people of Chilubi can be able to access enough mealie meals and be catered for properly.

3 Comments
0 likes

Chilubi Member of Parliament has attributed the

Companies

The First National Bank (FNB) Zambia Ltd has unveiled its first fully Solar powered Branch in Kalumbila District of North-Western Province.

FNB Zambia modernised and upgraded its Kalumbila Branch as part of the Bank’s commitment to continuously improve service to its customers and the communities.

The refurbished branch in Kalumbila whose major economic activity is mining considering the fact that the district has got two giant mines, Lumwana and Kalumbila Mine, is the first Solar powered Branch within the FNB Zambia branch network.

Speaking at the launch, Minister of Green Economy and Environment Mike Elton Mposha, who was Guest of Honor, noted that the initiative marked a significant step towards Government and the private sector’s collective efforts in promoting sustainability.

“I commend FNB Zambia for their commitment to environmental stewardship and for setting a commendable example in the banking sector” remarked the Minister.

He further explained that the decision to power the branch with solar energy underscores the importance of transitioning to renewable energy sources, as solar power reduces the country’s carbon footprint and contributes to mitigating climate change, aligning with our national goals of preserving the environment and promoting sustainableenergypractices.

Speaking at the same event, FNB Zambia Chief Executive, Kapumpe Chola, in a speech read on her behalf by FNB Zambia Head of Retail Banking, Mwamba Musambo, stated that, the Bank’s aim is to ensure that the people of Kalumbila have access to modern banking facilities as the district remains akey contributor to the country’s economy.

“With the newly refurbished solar powered branch here in Kalumbila, we will continue to provide our services and products to the district in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way,” said Ms Chola.

She further stated that fully equipping the Kalumbila branch to run on solar power marked the start of the Bank’s initiative to equip all its other branches with renewable energy sources, also enabling the branches to have backups for sustaining operations during grid outages or emergencies.

“We remain steadfast in delivering superior service across all our touch points through the modernization of our branches nationwide in line with our brand promise of providing platforms that are Helpful, Easy, andSafe,” added Chola.

0 Comments
0 likes

The First National Bank (FNB) Zambia Ltd

Tech

HH awards 20% salary increment to CJ Malila

In a move that has generated public attention and questions from some civil servants, President Hakainde Hichilema – HH has awarded a 20% salary increment to the Chief Justice Mumba Malila.

This is in comparison to the about 7 to 10% (K550 across the board) salary increments awarded to most government employees and civil servants for 2024.

The recent statutory instrument, number 34 of 2024, revealed that President Hichilema has elevated the Basic Salary per annum for Chief Justice Mumba Malila to over K511,500.

This marks a significant increase of about 20% from the Chief Justice’s previous Basic Salary per annum of K431,131 as of June 2023, as indicated in an earlier statutory instrument number 17 of 2023.

According to statutory instrument number 34 of 2024 seen by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, President Hichilema raised the Basic Salary per annum for Chief Justice Mumba Malila to over K511,500.

According to the statutory instrument number 17 of 2023 seen by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the Chief Justice’s Basic Salary per annum was K431,131 as of June 2023.

This move comes at a critical time of austerity for the nation as it grapples with the adverse effects of the prevailing drought conditions and some policy pitfalls.

President Hakainde Hichilema has also signed off and awarded salary increments to the Deputy Chief Justice, the President of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court judges, the Supreme Court judges, the Court of Appeal Judges, and the High Court Judges among many others.

The decision to boost the Chief Justice’s salary amidst this challenging period has raised concerns as the country is grappling to find solutions and resources to deal with the current power crisis and generally tough economic conditions for the majority.

Critics argue that President Hichilema and his administration focus should be on addressing the pressing issues brought about by the drought, such as food insecurity and agricultural support.

They underscore the importance of prioritizing resources to alleviate the impact of the drought on the population and ensure the country’s resilience in the face of such challenges.

0 Comments
0 likes

HH awards 20% salary increment to CJ

Companies

Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) Public Relations Manager Sombe Ng’onga says ZRL is undergoing a transformational phase aimed at revitalizing its operations and increasing its capacity through strategic business planning and private partnerships.

The company’s Public Relations Manager, Sombe Ng’onga said the Company is working on a new Strategic Business Plan (SBP) from 2024 to 2028 to address immediate infrastructure needs and improve its overall performance.

Ng’onga said that ZRL is focusing on repairing wagons, addressing Temporal Speed Restrictions (TSRs), and acquiring new rolling stock as part of its efforts to enhance its operations.

He added that the company is leveraging annual railway improvement projects and intensifying engagements with strategic partners and private railway companies to optimize its capacity and efficiency.

According to Zamstats report, the value of goods by various modes of transport, the railway sector is seen as the least developed mode of transport.

“Road transport recorded the highest at K42.3 billion, Air transport was the second at K4.7 billion while Rail transport was last at K0.2 billion” With rail trailing behind Road and Air transport the bigger question is why is this sector with so much potential to contribute highly to the transport and economic sectors of the Country lagging behind.

Responding to a query by the Zambian Business Times (ZBT) Ng’onga admitted that the Company has been facing challenges owing to the poor and old infrastructure.

“We have just developed the new Strategic Business Plan (SBP) to run from 2024 to 2028, ZRL has identified areas of investment starting with immediate term needs, attending to Temporal Speed Restrictions (TSRs), repairing existing locomotives, repairing wagons to convert them to air brakes and acquire some rolling stock, as a stop measure before recapitalization ZRL is leveraging annual railway improvement project that began in 2022, under the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, we have also intensified the engagement of strategic partners such as clients and private railway Companies among others to leverage private sector capacity in terms of rolling stock,” she said.

Ng’onga echoed that through engagements with strategic partners, the Company is implementing private train operations and encouraging its customers to invest in their own equipment or equipment owned by the Company.

She said the recapitalization model has seen the Government currently engaging prospective strategic partners as well as multilateral development institutions to ensure that Rail Transport regains its place as a reliable and efficient mode of transport.

0 Comments
0 likes

Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) Public Relations Manager

Agribusiness

Government has suspended customs and excise duty on the importation of wheat affective 1st April 2024 until 30 August 2024. Wheat and bread product prices have been on a steep rise with the Bakeries Association of Zambia calling for action from authorities to arrest the trend.

According to a statutory instrument – SI signed by Finance Minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane and made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, a total of 21 companies have been allocated specified quantities and will require an import permit to bring in the wheat. The 21 companies have been allocated a total of 100,000 tons to import within the five months period.

Pemba flour mills received the lions share of the allocation to import 15,000 tons, followed by National Million corporation – a seaboard subsidiary which has been allocated an import quota of 13,950 tons. The third highest allocation was granted to Royal milling for the import of 13,900 tons

Other notable companies that received bigger shares of the 100,000 import quotas and suspended import duties were Queen millers with 7,950 tons, while Nyimba Milling and Africa Milling were granted 7,500 apiece.

Zambia has the necessary soils, water bodies and a reasonable winter period that can deliver a number harvest for wheat. However, challenges about especially for local farmers in terms of lack of affordable financing to grow the number and hectarage under wheat cultivation. Moreover, the recorded drought in the 2023/2024 agro season has also affected the water levels available for winter wheat cropping.

0 Comments
0 likes

Government has suspended customs and excise duty