Business, markets, technology and politics — the Zambian economy, reported plainly.
Fourteen candidates are on the ballot for Zambia’s 13 August presidential election. The Tonse Alliance’s Brian Mundubile leads a fragmented opposition against an incumbent running on continuity.
Growth is up 7.7%, inflation is in target and the debt workout is nearly done. The government’s next move — a fresh IMF programme it wants sealed before year-end — waits until after 13 August.
Zambia has doubled its Chisamba solar plant to 200 megawatts with a second 100 MW phase commissioned on 21 July 2026 — the clearest sign yet of a drought-driven pivot from hydropower to solar.
Zambia is issuing mining rights at pace and chasing three million tonnes of copper. The quieter shift — ZCCM-IH moving from dividends to royalties and bigger stakes — decides how much the country keeps.
A powerful El Niño is forming in the Pacific: good for the copper price Zambia’s budget leans on, bad for the rains its maize and hydropower depend on. It points both ways at once.
The IEA says the world faces a copper shortfall of about 25% by 2035. For Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest producer chasing a million tonnes, the deficit is the windfall its recovery is banking on.
OpenAI says one of its AI models broke out of a controlled security test and hacked another company on its own — an early test of the AI rules Zambia has spent two years building.
France has become the first EU country to ban under-15s from social media. Zambia has the data and cyber laws to follow — but no age rule and no clear way to enforce one.
As TAZARA turns 50, landlocked Zambia is weighing two rival routes for its copper: east to the Indian Ocean via a rebuilt TAZARA, or west to the Atlantic via the Lobito Corridor.
The Zambia Revenue Authority says digital transformation is vital to revenue collection, pointing to its mandatory Smart Invoice e-invoicing platform, according to statements published by ZRA.
Zambia's Muzala Samukonga ran a season's best 44.02 to win the 400m at the István Gyulai Memorial in Budapest, according to World Athletics, beating home favourite Attila Molnár into second.
The Lusaka City Council says work to widen Twin Palm Road from a single into a dual carriageway is progressing and due for completion in September 2026, part of a 40.17km, K1.8 billion township roads programme funded by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
An analysis of Zambia's 13 August election as a referendum on President Hakainde Hichilema's economic record, drawing on Reuters wire reporting, the International Monetary Fund, S&P Global Ratings and official debt-restructuring figures.
Brian Mundubile has pledged more than 300,000 jobs through 12 farming blocks as the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance brings the campaign to Lusaka, drawing on rally reporting and analysis by The Zambian Observer and allAfrica.
Former Zambian Vice-President Guy Scott has died at 82 after an illness. President Hakainde Hichilema has accorded Scott a state funeral, State House said, with the funeral and burial programme to be announced.
President Hakainde Hichilema told rallies across Muchinga Province that four years of development would deliver a bigger UPND vote on 13 August, according to ZANIS, The Zambian Observer and CNBC Africa.
The Bank of Zambia has told the Lusaka High Court that its liquidation of Investrust Bank was lawful and necessary, after 155 former employees sued over unpaid redundancy benefits. A Bank of Zambia press statement says claims will be settled strictly by the statutory order of priority.
African leaders endorsed ATIDI — the pan-African insurer Zambia belongs to — as a cornerstone of a new African-led financial architecture, as the body marked 25 years with record 2025 results and a call to recapitalise it to US$2 billion.
ZamStats told a panel at the 60th Zambia International Trade Fair that GDP will be rebased from 2010 to 2023, capturing sectors like ICT, tourism and renewables that barely existed in the old baseline.
An African Business analysis argues AI could deepen Africa's technological dependency as easily as it closes the gap. Kwacha News examines what that means for Zambia's mobile money, e-government and its own AI data-centre deal with Huawei.
Kasama Municipal Council says a K11.4 million road rehabilitation programme funded through the 2025 Constituency Development Fund has completed St Theresa Road and is now grading Chiba Road, with Chanda Mukulu Road still to start.
South Africa's freight-rail reforms, the Lobito Corridor and a revived TAZARA line are redrawing Southern Africa's transport map, as President Hichilema pledges a further $1.6 billion recapitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia railway.
Zambia has reaffirmed its commitment to deeper economic cooperation with Burundi, with government citing scope to expand trade, investment, agriculture, mining, energy and tourism between the two countries.
President Hakainde Hichilema campaigned across the Copperbelt on jobs and free education, and pressed a contractor on stalled Kabwe roads, in a two-day swing before Zambia's 13 August general election, according to State House and Zambia News and Information Services.
Vice-President Mutale Nalumango opened the 60th Zambia International Trade Fair in Ndola on President Hakainde Hichilema's behalf, delivering his appeal for Zambian businesses to back local content.
President Hakainde Hichilema pledged in Kapiri Mposhi that the recapitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority will be actualised at a cost of US$1.6 billion once he is re-elected, alongside a new dry port and long-promised road and water upgrades.
President Hakainde Hichilema has pledged that a re-elected government will supply mining equipment to registered small-scale gold-mining cooperatives in Chitambo district, Central Province, part of a wider campaign push to formalise artisanal mining ahead of the 13 August election.
Zambia's tuberculosis laboratories are validating new diagnostic devices, including the swab-based MiniDock, before wider rollout, health officials say, as GeneXpert costs and thin facility coverage strain the testing programme.
Morocco go into their World Cup quarter-final against France unbeaten in 34 matches, extending the continent's strongest showing at the tournament since the Atlas Lions reached the 2022 semi-final.
A group of 25 former mayors and council chairpersons, led by Duncan Kaonga, has filed a lawsuit in the Lusaka High Court seeking more than K153 million in alleged unpaid salaries, allowances and benefits from their time in local government office.
Zambia Police Service says a 32-year-old Kitwe driver has been arrested after a Chinese national supervising an AVIC construction site was assaulted on the Mufulira–Mokambo Road on 28 June.
President Hakainde Hichilema has warned that illegal and unsafe mining risks fuelling armed militias in Zambia, as Zambia Army Special Forces are deployed to Kikonge Mine in Mufumbwe District in a crackdown on illegal mining.
A treatment trial has begun in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak, where WHO figures reported by the BBC put confirmed cases at 1,406 and deaths at 438, with a further 301 cases suspected.
Government has released K1.4 billion for the Social Cash Transfer programme’s May–June 2026 payment cycle, Permanent Secretary Angela Kawandami says, describing it as the latest in a series of disbursements this year.
Zambia's Under-17 Women's National Team hosts Ethiopia at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Saturday in the first leg of the final round of 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup qualifiers, with kick-off at 15h00.
The Ministry of Agriculture is preparing to roll out the Farmer Input Support Programme's E-Voucher system across all 116 districts for the 2026/2027 season, requiring agro-dealers to submit full documentation for vetting ahead of provincial training in July.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia says presidential ballot printing is on track at about 4.7 million of a targeted 9 million papers, and has dismissed allegations that extra, pre-marked ballots are being printed for selected constituencies ahead of the 13 August general election.
President Hakainde Hichilema urged Zambezi District residents to vote for the UPND in the 13 August election, saying the party's economic record — debt restructuring, a return to growth and a steadier kwacha — is reason to sustain it in government.
The Copper Queens will camp in Algeria and play two friendlies against the hosts on 19 and 22 July, the Football Association of Zambia said, sharpening Nora Häuptle's squad for a WAFCON 2026 run in Group C that carries a direct 2027 World Cup pathway.
President Hichilema has announced plans for a University Teaching Hospital and a public university in Solwezi, which would be North-Western Province's first tertiary teaching facility. No cost, bed capacity, timeline or funding partner has been disclosed.
Citi says global investors have regained appetite for Zambia after the country exited default, with fresh interest in copper, energy and agriculture and new buyers arriving from the Middle East.
The South African public broadcaster Channel Africa reported that two people were killed in separate campaign-period incidents in Zambia, drawing a condemnation from President Hakainde Hichilema and a police pledge to enforce the law without fear or favour.
President Hakainde Hichilema carried the UPND re-election campaign into Mwinilunga and Solwezi on 1 July 2026, pressing a jobs-and-roads record and warning supporters not to back independent candidates ahead of the 13 August general election.
The Japan-Zambia Investment Agreement will enter into force on 30 July 2026, extending treaty-level protection to Japanese investors in Zambia's copper and cobalt sectors and adding a de-risking layer as Lusaka races to triple copper output by 2031.
Morocco beat the Netherlands 3-2 on penalties in Monterrey to reach the 2026 World Cup last 16, coming from behind to keep African hopes alive in the tournament.
Zambia's Ministry of Education has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kenyan organisation Food 4 Education to provide technical support and strengthen the national school feeding programme.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has banned mass gatherings in its capital to curb an Ebola outbreak, a move that raises the regional health alert and that the opposition says doubles as a way to block a protest.
Yango Zambia and the Zambia Road Safety Trust have expanded their Safer Journeys to School scheme, which now reaches 32,000 children in Lusaka with road-safety training and safer crossings.
Trading in Zambian government bonds stayed active in late June, with K479.3 million in nominal value changing hands on the secondary market on Friday alone, as yields held in the mid-teens.
Zambia has scored 81 out of 100 and earned a 'very good' rating in its third validation under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the global standard for openness in mining revenues.
The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development has rejected as misplaced a claim by opposition figure Brian Mundubile that the government is deploying soldiers to intimidate miners.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia has begun printing ballot papers in Dubai for the 13 August 2026 general election, starting with presidential papers, and has taken stakeholders to verify the process.
South Africa, Egypt and Cape Verde lead Africa's surviving nations into the 2026 World Cup round of 32, with knockout fixtures now set across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
ATIDI marks 25 years and convenes its 2026 Annual General Meeting in Nairobi from 30 June to 3 July, drawing African leaders, investors and development financiers — a body whose risk cover touches Zambia's trade and energy plans.
Zambia is drafting an Innovators and Inventors Bill to protect inventions and intellectual property and support the growth of its artificial intelligence and technology sector, the Ministry of Technology and Science says.
Opposition presidential candidate Brian Mundubile has pledged to retain Zambia's free-education policy if he wins the 13 August 2026 general election, signalling continuity on a flagship UPND reform.
The High Court has set aside an Electoral Commission of Zambia decision barring the Candle symbol from 2026 ballots, resolving a dispute Kwacha News earlier reported when a court stayed the order.
President Hakainde Hichilema has launched his re-election campaign for the 13 August 2026 general election, standing as the UPND candidate with Vice-President Mutale Nalumango as running mate.
US President Donald Trump has vowed a 100% tariff on any European country that taxes American technology giants — a precedent African revenue authorities, including Zambia’s, will watch as they weigh their own digital-services taxes.
Tanzania’s government has suspended political rallies nationwide until further notice, citing security threats, three years after President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted a six-year ban — a reversal opposition parties call unlawful, set against Zambia’s open campaign before its 13 August 2026 election.
A new Transition Minerals Tracker from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre finds human-rights abuses linked to mining copper, cobalt and other transition minerals are rising sharply across Africa — a governance test for Zambia’s copper-led, responsible-supplier strategy.
Cape Verde, a nation of just over 500,000 people, has become the tiniest country ever to reach a World Cup knockout and is drawn to face holders Argentina in Miami on 3 July, while Egypt also advanced as the Round of 32 line-up was confirmed.
Vice-President Mutale Nalumango said the government has stabilised Zambia’s economy and is now shifting focus to growth and jobs, a message delivered seven weeks before the 13 August general election and set against first-quarter GDP growth of 7.7 percent, easing debt and cooling inflation.
Africa holds under 1% of global data-centre capacity. As artificial-intelligence compute spreads across the continent, Zambia must decide whether to host it or import it.
Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane and opposition candidate Mundubile have clashed over the value of Zambia's forex reserves, with the economy now the campaign's battleground.
The Bank of Zambia has retired the cheque, with 26 June 2026 the final day for interbank clearing as the regulator pushes households and firms onto electronic payments.
Zambia's gross domestic product grew 7.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the Zambia Statistics Agency said, up from 4.5% a year earlier.
Zambia's annual inflation slowed to 6.5% in June 2026 from 6.6% in May, the lowest since February 2018, the Zambia Statistics Agency said.
South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has set aside an order that would have let Zambia repatriate Edgar Lungu for a state funeral, ruling that the burial decision rests with his family. The government says it disagrees but will not appeal, ending a year-long dispute.
Anthropic has accused China's Alibaba of an illicit attempt to copy its Claude AI models, in a letter to US senators that calls it the largest known distillation attack on the company to date. Alibaba did not immediately respond.
Dubai-based Spiro has closed a $270m equity round, capped by a $55m investment from Chinese fund NewTrails Capital. The electric-motorcycle and battery-swap operator is heading for DR Congo and Malawi, bringing the wave to Zambia's doorstep and to its copper and cobalt.
Public debt has fallen to 94% of GDP from a 2021 peak near 129%, reserves have rebuilt to US$5.5bn and bond yields have eased, according to Ministry of Finance data. The recovery is real but unfinished.
Zambia coach Nora Häuptle has named a 28-player provisional squad for a home-based WAFCON 2026 training camp, recalling Saudi-based midfielder Hellen Chanda as the Copper Queens build towards Morocco and a 2027 Women's World Cup place.
Africa CDC has reinforced cross-border surveillance against Ebola after an imported Bundibugyo case in France, with DR Congo reporting 1,048 confirmed cases and 267 deaths. Zambia, which shares a long border with DR Congo, sits among the countries the agency lists as at risk.
The European Union will deploy more than 70 observers to scrutinise Zambia's 13 August general election, its sixth such mission and a marker of deepening EU interest in the Copperbelt.
South Africa beat South Korea 1-0 in Guadalupe on 24 June 2026 to reach the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time, setting up a round-of-32 tie with co-hosts Canada in Los Angeles on 28 June.
Zambia’s Road Transport and Safety Agency and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts have signed a memorandum of understanding to license young motorcyclists, teach road safety and curb unregistered machines, against a road toll the WHO puts above 3,000 deaths a year.
Zambia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a statutory residence-permit requirement is invalid where it narrows the constitutional definition of “ordinarily resident” under Article 266, reaffirming that an ordinary Act cannot amend the Constitution.
Ethiopia's National Election Board says Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Prosperity Party won 438 of 501 House of Representatives seats in the 1 June 2026 election — a vote marred by insecurity that shut 143 polling stations and by the exclusion of Tigray.
Egypt beat New Zealand 3-1 in Vancouver on 21 June 2026 for the country’s first-ever World Cup win in 92 years, with Mohamed Salah scoring and assisting, while debutants Cape Verde fought back to draw 2-2 with Uruguay in Miami.
Zambia’s Ministry of Health has launched a national STEPS survey, gathering behavioural, physical and biochemical data from about 5,762 adults across all ten provinces to measure the risk factors behind noncommunicable diseases.
The Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board has rebranded, with Vice-President Mutale Nalumango touting a fund that grew from K2.5 billion to K6.6 billion in three years and now eyes K10 billion on the back of roads, fertiliser and energy bets.
Fourteen presidential candidates have been validly nominated for Zambia's 13 August 2026 general election, run under the 50%-plus-one rule with a run-off if nobody clears the threshold. An explainer on the field, the law and the campaign period.
Zambia’s pension fund has defended its US$300 million stake in the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway as a commercial call backed by due diligence, not a government directive, as the US$650 million PPP road to the Copperbelt pushes past a third complete.
Northern Province has commended ZICTA for upgrading communication towers from 2G to 4G to widen rural internet access, as the regulator tours Universal Access and Service Fund projects across northern Zambia and presses a national rollout of solar-powered 4G towers.
SEC Zambia’s daily trade summaries show GRZ bond turnover easing from K830m to K592m between 17 and 18 June 2026, with yields spanning 8.6% to 20%, even as year-to-date secondary trading crossed K64bn across more than 3,900 trades.
MTN Zambia and Huawei have unveiled in Lusaka what they call the world’s first commercial deployment of a five-band LampSite indoor 5G unit, positioning Zambia as a global reference site for indoor connectivity.
Zambia’s Supreme Court has dismissed Lumwana Mining Company’s appeal, affirming that an employer must consult and negotiate with workers before a redundancy and upholding twelve months’ salary in damages for ten workers made redundant in 2019.
On 11 May 2026 Zambia’s Constitutional Court declared Sections 56 and 57 of the Local Government Act unconstitutional, ruling that the Minister of Local Government cannot suspend elected councils and install an unelected administrator in their place.
KoBold Metals broke ground on shaft construction at the Mingomba copper project in Chililabombwe on 29 April 2026, an investment exceeding US$2 billion billed as Zambia’s largest-ever private investment.
Zambia has launched a debt-for-energy conversion, using a US$600 million African Development Bank loan to buy back its US$1.36 billion 2053 Eurobond and channelling up to US$275 million into a national grid resilience programme.
Zambia vaccinated more than 3.8 million children under five against polio from 2 to 5 June 2026, in a second-round drive across six provinces that responded to vaccine-derived poliovirus found in Lusaka wastewater, with no paralysis cases recorded.
The Bank of Zambia cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to 13.25% on 13 May 2026, its third consecutive cut, citing a favourable maize harvest and a strong kwacha, with inflation inside the 6–8% target band.
Western Province’s Tapo-Lulambo feeder road in Mongu has reached about 9km of a 40km target, part of a 150km rural-roads push that officials say will improve access to markets and government services.
Water minister Collins Nzovu toured the WARMA-hosted regional water-quality laboratory under construction in Lusaka’s Ibex Hill on 6 May 2026, finding it about 50% complete and rebuking the contractor over materials and progress.
The Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company is doubling the Chunga treatment plant and building a new 54-million-litre plant at Ngwerere under the US$300 million Lusaka Sanitation Programme, backed by German and European Investment Bank finance.
President Hakainde Hichilema has assured the nation that Zambia’s tradition of peaceful, fair and credible elections will hold for the 13 August 2026 general election, speaking at a Seventh-day Adventist Church fellowship in Lusaka.
South Africa’s intensifying crackdown on undocumented employment is dividing Johannesburg’s inner city, with proposed fines, thousands of new inspectors and vigilante raids falling hardest on informal trade and migrant workers, Al Jazeera reported.
Africa’s 2026 World Cup hopes narrowed at the weekend as Tunisia and Ivory Coast were eliminated in the group stage and South Africa lost their opener, while Egypt and Mohamed Salah fought to keep their campaign alive.
An Electoral Commission of Zambia advisory requiring presidential candidates to campaign by an official timetable has drawn a legal caution from the Law Association of Zambia and defiance from the Tonse Pamodzi Alliance, whose Chipata rally was blocked by police.