PAN Africa Exchange (PANEX) is next month expected to launch live trading in bond and derivatives in Zambia, company chief executive officer Jacob Maaga has said.
PANEX is a fully electronic marketplace designed to trade bonds, equities and derivatives and it is the first demutualised, fully electronic multi-asset exchange.
This is after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the exchange with a trading licence.
“We are excited to inform you that PANEX is now licenced as an exchange in Zambia by the SEC. As we look forward to opening our doors and launching live trading over the next few weeks, we will start accepting applications for membership from May 2, 2016,” he said in an email yesterday.
Mr Maaga said the company expects to create fair and transparent markets by providing innovative solutions to improve fairness and transparency for price discovery and trading between small-scale farmers, traders and agro-processors.
The company provides hedging mechanism which is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset and remove counter-party risk in agriculture while also facilitating financing through electronic warehouse receipt.
It also facilitates efficient allocation and flow of capital between issuers and investors.

Article Posted in Zambia Daily Mail/ Business on April 27, 2016 by Web Editor
Lusaka City centre
NKOLE MULAMBIA, Ndola

The World Bank has raised its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to Sh4,100 ($41) from the current Sh3,700 ($37) per barrel. The forecast, carried in its latest Commodity Markets Outlook, comes amid improving market sentiment and a weakening dollar. The crude oil market rebounded from a low of Sh2,500 ($25) per barrel in mid-January to $40 per barrel in April following production disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria and a decline in non-Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) production. A proposed production freeze by major producers failed to materialise at a meeting in mid-April. “We expect slightly higher prices for energy commodities over the course of the year as markets re-balance after a period of oversupply,” said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of the Commodities Markets Outlook.
“Still, energy prices could fall further if Opec increases production significantly and non-Opec production does not fall as fast as expected.” All main commodity indexes tracked by the World Bank are expected to decline in 2016 from the year before due to persistently elevated supplies, and in the case of energy, metals, and agricultural raw materials, weak growth prospects in emerging markets and developing economies.

By Protus Onyango
Wednesday, April 27th 2016
Source: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke

Tanzania wants an 8 per cent stake in Uganda’s planned oil refinery, a Ugandan minister said on Friday, a move that could be designed to boost Tanzania’s bid to secure a pipeline route for Ugandan crude over a rival pitch by Kenya.
Uganda has been discussing plans for a refinery for about seven years. It would process some oil from fields it is developing, although most crude would be exported. Kenya, with its own oil fields under development, wants a joint pipeline. But Uganda, which initially said it had picked the Kenyan route, has since said it would pursue a pipeline through Tanzania. Nairobi has been pushing for Kampala to switch its plans. Government plans to begin construction of a refinery have been delayed repeatedly by spats with oil companies over the whether Uganda needed it and by a protracted tendering process. “Tanzania has offered to take its full share of the 8 per cent offered in the refinery,” Irene Muloni, Uganda’s energy minister, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference. She said she was awaiting written confirmation. The $2.5 billion project is to be developed as a public-private partnership. Last year, the government picked a consortium led by Russian firm RT-Global Resources to acquire a majority stake, develop and operate the plant. The Ugandan government has previously said the private developer would acquire 60 per cent, with 40 per cent shared between regional states which were interested. Uganda discovered crude near its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo 10 years ago, but has yet to start production after repeated delays. Choosing a route to export the crude from the land-locked nation is a vital step.
France’s Total, London-listed Tullow Oil and China’s CNOOC have been pushing for a decision on a pipeline. Total backs the Tanzanian option. Tullow wants the pipeline to run through Kenya where it has other oil interests. – Reuters

Source: http://www.standardmedia