COMESA SG attributes economic challenges in the region to lack of fiscal discipline by government

Central Bank Governors in the region are failing tell off politicians that they lack fiscal displine hence the economic impasse. THE Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) has noted that lack of fiscal displine is the major contributor is the major contributor to economic challenges that most countries in the region are faced with. COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya says many Central Bank Governors in the region are aware that lack of fiscal discipline is the core problem in the economic challengs which have led to currency depreciations but are failing tell off politicians. “I am not answerable to politicians so I can easily and freely say that most governments in COMESA lack fiscal displine and this is what has partly led to the prevailing economic challenges,“ Mr. Ngwenya said. He has also stated that while exchange rate stability remains a bigger issue with politicians and stakeholders calling for Governors to address this, nothing much has been done toward archieving economic diversification and structural transformation for many economies. The regional block chief has commended Central Banks and Ministries of Finance in the region having technically competent professionals unlike Ministries of Trade whose focus is the language in trade agreements without focusing on benefits. “Copper producing countries like Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo can become part of the global value chain if they were for instance producing wire mesh for the automotive industry which is a by product of copper if they were to invest in value addition unlike is the current situation where they just export raw copper,“ said. Mr. Ngwenya was speaking when he officialy opened the 21st Meeting of the COMESA Committee of Governors of Central Banks in the Zambian capital Lusaka on Thursday November 19th 2015.

Kwacha rebasing affects Cavmont Bank ATM roll out.

It is meant in good faith, but the rebasing of the kwacha has led to pushing further Cavmont Bank’s ATM roll out. Cavmont Capital Bank has revealed plans of rolling out its own Automated Teller Machines –ATMs- across the country. Bank Managing Director Johan Minnar tells ZNBC News in an interview that the exercise will be done this year as the company is currently using Visa Electron Cards for its clients. He says Cavmont had planned to roll out the ATMs last year but the rebasing of the kwacha affected plans as the firm had to spent over Kr 6,000,000 to upgrade its system in readiness for the rebasing of the currency. “If it was not for the rebasing we would have rolled out our ATMs across the country so that we get even more closer to the people…..but the rebasing was law so we could not avoid had but just push our rolle out plan to 2013,” he said. Mr. Minnar says the rebasing involved changing the bank’s operating systems beyond servicing clients but payroll systems for employees among others. Meanwhile Mr. Minnar says the bank recorded growth in its balance sheet last year owing to introduction of new products such as those meant for SME development. He says Cavmont is committed to developing SMEs in the country and will continue doing so in-light of plans of further recapitalization this year. The new rebased kwacha took effect on January 1st 2013 almost a year after a statutory instrument was issued providing for the need to rebase which involved dividing it by K 1,000. A six month transition period running until June 2013 has been provided and during this period both currencies will be used side by side. After that people will only be able to change the old currency over the counter in banks until 2015.

Government ties education to poverty alleviation

Increasing access to education is key to poverty alleviation efforts in Zambia Government says it has highlighted education as one of the key sectors that is critical in poverty alleviation efforts. Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary Patrick Nkulukusa says education is a cornerstone of making a nation self reliant and an engine of modernity.

Speaking during a signing ceremony of the education joint financing arrangements between government and its cooperating partners in Lusaka today, Mr. Nkulukusa thanked the cooperating partners for continued support despite financial challenges in their countries. He says the joint Financing Arrangement is intended to provide external support to the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education toward funding of the National Implementation Framework from 2011 to 2015. “The signing of this Joint Financing Arrangement today is a clear demonstration of the confidence and belief, which the likeminded Cooperating Partners in the Education Sector have in the government of the Republic of Zambia to deliver quality education for all,” said Mr. Nkulukusa. This will be in excess of 40-million US Dollars annually. Under this arrangement Zambia’s Ministry of Finance and National Planning will manage finances for the Ministry of Education. And speaking on behalf of the Cooperating Partners Irish Embassy Head of Development Patrick MacManus says the donor community is happy with President Michael Sata's consistency with massages on financial management and performance. He has since pledged the cooperating partners' continued support to government in social and economic development. Other cooperating partners who signed are Japanese Embassy and DfID.

AIRTEL MONEY to transform mobile commerce in Ghana

Development of the mobile telecommunication industry has enhanced transactions of various nature; Airtel Money is one such venture.

Airtel Ghana yesterday December 21st re-launched its award winning mobile money platform, under a new brand name Airtel Money, which is better positioned to provide customers with an efficient alternative to cash transactions and provide millions of subscribers with access to banking services for the first time.

Airtel Money includes the most comprehensive package of m-commerce and payment features currently available on the Ghanaian market and it seeks to empower its customers with access to a convenient, secure and readily available way of making payments through the mobile platform.

A media statement states that Airtel is already in partnership with leading international and regional banks including Ecobank, GT Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Unibank, United Bank of Africa, Zenith Bank, Energy Bank and Databank to provide customers with more convenient ways of conducting mobile commerce service, deposit and withdraw cash, money transfers, banking services, paying bills, contributing to investments.

There are more than 500 Airtel Money dealers, ensuring the widest availability of Airtel Money throughout Ghana.

Kola Sonola, Mobile Commerce Director at Airtel Ghana explained at the official launch of Airtel Money that the service, which previously was mainly a mobile money platform, had fully evolved into a mobile commerce platform, offering four major services, namely mobile money mobile top-up, money transfer, mobile banking and financial services for micro-finance, micro insurance and B2B services.

Customers, according to him, could therefore pay their utility bills, DSTV subscription fees, buy Airtel credit, pay for goods, servicesand loans through Airtel Money as well as make corporate batch payments and deposit or withdraw cash from a bank.

“Airtel money provides customers with a “mobile wallet” which allows them to use their mobile phones in much the same way as a bank debit card. It provides customers with increased security and flexibility, reducing the need to carry cash and ensuring prompt payments of bills, goods and services”, he stated.

Kola Sonola added that the uniqueness of Airtel Money also allowed customers on other networks to also enjoy the benefits of money transfer.

Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah explained that Airtel aimed to deliver relevant and innovative mobile solutions to help customers overcome their daily challenges, stating that the companywas once again offering Ghanaians the tools to feel free and improve their lives. “Our goal as a company is to make communications, banking, payments, retail and infotainment affordable and accessible to all in Africa”, he added.

About Airtel in Africa
Airtel is the new brand name for the 16 Zain operations across Africa which was acquired by Airtel International in June 2010. Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has African operations in: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com

About Bharti Airtel Limited
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice & data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH,turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to carriers. Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by BusinessWeek. Bharti Airtel had over 223 million customers across its operations at the end of April 2011. To know more please visit,

Kenya-Zambia strengthen bilateral ties

Despite the distance and regional blocks, Kenya and Zambia still see the need to tap into each other’s economies for potential investments.

Zambia and Kenya an East African country have continued working on strengthening bilateral ties with the successful hosting of the 2nd Zambia-Kenya Business Forum in Lusaka. The forum held on December 12, 2011 at the Kenyan Embassy and running under the theme “Exploring the untapped potential in the service industry in Kenya and Zambia,” attracted players from various sectors of the economy especially in the service industries from the two countries.

The Kenyan government through its Minister of Information Samuel Poghisio highlighted the vital role that Information Communication Technology (ICT) plays in economic development. Mr. Poghisio revealed that the continent has over the years recorded tremendous development in this sector as evidenced with the laying of optic fibre cables cross cutting the continent. He has however cautioned African nations to exercise care in receiving donations of ICT nature which might be detrimental on the economy.

“It is very clear from the beginning to demand the best in technology and there are many places to benchmark with not to accept technology just because it is being pushed by some one as a donation, technology does not have to be a donation because it can be very dangerous for us,” said Mr. Poghisio.
The Minister further appealed for linkages among African nations in order to foster economic development.
“We have had close relations between Africa and the US, Africa and Europe, Africa and Asia, but what we need is good bilateral relations among African nations,” he added.

And officiating at the occasion Commerce, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Keith Mukata lamented unbalanced trade between the two countries despite being members of the same regional group.

“You may wish to know that Kenya’s exports to Zambia were at US$ 35million in 2010 and Zambia’s exports to Kenya in 2010 were US$ 33million,” he said.
“These figures are not impressive especially that both Zambia and Kenya are members of the COMESA Free Trade Area.”

Mr. Mukata says notes that Zambia has massive investment opportunities in sectors like health, education, banking and communication adding that platforms like the Business Forum are valuable for networking.

“In this way we shall be able to reap the full benefits of Trade and Investment, create jobs and foster economic growth and development,” said Mr. Mukata.
The business forum has seen business gurus from Kenya represnting various service delivery sectors such as health, education, manufacturing and retail among others coming through seeking prospective investment opportunities in Zambia.

ZCF in K 7.5billion fertilizer deal with Nyiombo Investments

While the vision of recapitalizing the coorporative movement is gaining momentum ZCF has scored big in a fertilizer distribution deal.

THEZambia Co-operative Federation (ZCF) has signed a US$ 1.5million (K7.5bn) deal with Nyiombo Investments on Fertilizer Distribution amongst small holder farmers country wide. The deal signed on December, 7, 2011 will see the federation utilize its infrastructure dotted across the country to distribute Urea and D-Compound fertilizer to it’s over 4,500 members.

ZCF Director General James Chirwa says this further increase the contribution that small holder farmers make to the country’s agriculture sector beyond the current 80percent. Mr. Chirwa adds that the project will be a form of supplement on the existing Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) by government. “Farmers have remained small in the country despite having started benefiting from FISP in 2002…we want to avert this situation as a federation through this deal with Nyiombo Investments,” said Mr. Chirwa.

He said the deal provides for a competitive price by Nyiombo to ZCF which will in turn be passed on to beneficiaries across the country with three provinces namely Northern, Western and Southern earmarked in the first phase which commenced on December, 8, 2011. The prices will not go beyond the existing market price of K 200,000 per 50kg bag. Mr. Chirwa was however quick to mention that co-operative members who have already made their K 50,000 contribution toward the recapitalization program from among the federation’s over 4,500 members will be given the farming input at a good price as part of incentives.

“We want to recognize the role that our members have played in the recapitalization program hence we will award them with a good price for the fertilizer so that they can increase on the yield,” stated Mr. Chirwa.

Meanwhile speaking at the same occasion which was held in the ZCF Boardroom, Nyiombo Investments Limited Operations Manager Kwazi Dlamini said his firm was happy with the deal entered into with ZCF. He is optimistic that the fertilizer will reach its targeted beneficiaries the small holder farmers who are the drivers of the country’s economy.

“We are confident that farmers in the rural areas will greatly benefit from this program so that they can be motivated to increase their yields owing to availability of the farming input,” he said. Mr. Dlamini further revealed that Nyiombo Investments is looking at going beyond supplying of fertilizer but also other farming inputs.

The US$ 1.5million between ZCF and Nyiombo Investments will continue beyond the current farming season. Market analysts are expectant that ZCF’s active participation in developing the small holder farmers will further enhance their contribution toward agriculture development making Zambia a regional food basket through successive bumper harvests.

US ISSUES TRAVEL WARNING FOR ZAMBIA AHEAD OF 2011 ELECTIONS

Is this a predication of violence ahead of the much anticipataed 2011 tripartite elections in Zambia?

The United States government is urging its citizens to take precautions when traveling to Zambia ahead of September 20th national and local elections, saying there is a potential for unrest.

The U.S. State Department yesterday urged Americans traveling to Zambia during or immediately following next month’s elections to monitor local news, assess travel routes when making plans, and to avoid all demonstrations. It said even peaceful protests can quickly become unruly.

During the September vote, Zambia's President Rupiah Banda will seek his first full term in office. The president took power during special elections in 2008, after the death of his predecessor, Levy Mwanawasa. During that election, Mr. Banda narrowly defeated rival Michael Sata.

This year’s elections have been marred with a lot of political violence with the country’s major opposition party Patriotic Front being confident of winning.

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