Government has banned the export of maize and maize products with immediate effect. Agriculture Permanent Secretary Julius Shawa says the ban is aimed at stabilizing mealie meal prices across the country.

Government has established an Inter-agency Team to undertake a verification exercise to ascertain the actual quantities of maize that is held by the Food Reserve Agency, the Grain and Millers Associations of Zambia and some members of the Zambia National Farmers Union.

Mr. Shawa says the ban is for a period of a week but may be extended depending on the outcome of the verification exercise. Meanwhile Mr. Shawa said Government will soon issue a Statutory Instrument to ensure that the measures taken to safeguard national food security are backed by a legal instrument.

Visiting investment consultants from the United States of America and Canada have implored Zimbabwe to consider setting up a gold reserve bank and introduce a gold currency with a view to attract international capital. Apart from bringing money into the country, the use of gold as a currency could also increase confidence in Zimbabwe’s currency, financial system and ultimately economy.

Local economists, however, said that the lack of reliable information from mineral exploration makes it difficult to use gold to back currency. Another challenge would be the value of the gold which is determined on the world market, which may make the gold backed currency volatile.

An economist with the Africa University, Mr Thomas Masese said that instead of a gold bank to resuscitate or grow the economy, Zimbabwe needs to work on economy hygiene issues such as the cost of doing business, boost production, etc.

Lands, Natural Resources and Environment protection Deputy Minister Davies Mwango says government has simplified the land acquisition process for Zambians living in the Diaspora.

Mr. Mwango says the simplified process will enable Zambians who are living abroad to easily access land at home, and the government is in the process of revising Land policy adding that government is currently receiving inputs from different stakeholders including government ministries.

Meanwhile Ambassador Susan Sikaneta says the African Union is grateful to the Zambian government for the 10 acres plot land given for the construction of the new headquarters of the ECOSOC Secretariat and another piece of land for the construction of the new COMESA headquarters in Lusaka. She says this will be valuable use of land whose benefits will remain forever and add to the beauty of the city of Lusaka.

Shelter and pipe products manufacturer, Turnall Holdings’ turnaround process which began in September 2014 has begun to pay dividends as it returned to profitability in the year to December 31, 2015. The group posted a profit of $106 938 which was a recovery from a loss position of $11, 9 million in the prior year. The performance was largely due to the group’s decision to diversify its suppliers which resulted in significant cost saving on key inputs especially chrysotile fiber.

Other strict cost control measures include aspects like cost of sales lower at $22, 4 million from $32, 3 million; administration expenses at $3, 8 million, 71% below prior year; financing cost decreased by 6%.

The group is also expecting to reap further rewards from a combination of rightsizing the business, further cost reduction and capturing market opportunities.

Reuters reports that Glencore’s plan to invest over $1.1 billion in Zambia to sink three copper mine shafts with new technology that will extend mine life by over 25 years, is pushing the kwacha to its highest in two months.

“The news from Glencore obviously sent a positive signal but overall we are seeing a lot of dollar supply with very little demand,” analyst Maambo Hamaundu said.

Glencore plans to make the investments between now and 2018 and it was expected that Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) would be turned into a world-class mining operation by 2023.

The government of Zimbabwe plans to establish 32 gold processing centers in small-scale mining areas around the country to increase their contribution to the national output, a senior government official has said. The centers would offer various services such as gold milling, collection points as well as assisting with Environmental Impact Assessments. Mines and Mining Development deputy Minister Fred Moyo said the centers would be equipped with machinery acquired from China under a Chinese Export and Import Bank credit facility.

“But, freight is on our account, so we are deliberating with the Reserve Bank to see whether they and the Banks Association can come together to raise an amount of $1.5 million which we will use to move the equipment worth $5 million from China to Zimbabwe.”Deputy Minister Fred Moyo said.

He also said Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Midlands and Matabelel South provinces would get the bulk of the gold centers and equipment.

Minister of Mines, Christopher Yaluma, says Zambia is politically stable and has assured investors that their investments are safe even when the country goes to elections in August this year.

And the Minister held a meeting with the Oil and Gas Council in the United Kingdom to discuss on how the entity could collaborate with Zambia to explore and extract the vast potential petroleum resources in the country. During which Mr. Yaluma said Zambia has maintained a reputable record of peaceful and democratic elections which makes the country a conducive place for doing business.

He said the London meeting was a success, and expressed optimism that it would attract more investment into Zambia for the benefit of the people.

GOVERNMENT has urged suppliers of alternative sources of energy to reduce their prices for the commodities to reduce the demand for hydropower supply and ultimately mitigate load shedding.

Livingstone District Commissioner Omar Munsanje said there was need for suppliers of alternative sources of energy to reduce their prices for the commodities so that more people could access the tools.

Livingstone based environmentalist Benjamin Mibenje said there was need to discourage the use of charcoal as an alternative source of energy because the practice was contributing to climate change.

Zimbabwe’s cash crisis is so severe that some banks are no longer supplying US dollars and are only dispensing South African rand, the main Movement for Democratic Change opposition party has said.

Cash shortages, a feature of Zimbabwe’s 2008 economic and political crisis, resurfaced at the beginning of March. Calling the crisis “debilitating”, the MDC said on Saturday that some banks had restricted cash withdrawals from ATMS and tellers.“Clients attempting to secure cash for day to day needs are now confronted with reduced daily limits at ATM’s and tellers in Banks,” party spokesman Obert Gutu said in a statement.

“Some Banks are unable to supply US dollars in cash and instead offer cash Rand. When they do so clients must pay for the cost of exchanging Rand for USD balances and then when they attempt to use the Rand in local markets, they find that they are offered goods at a significant premium to the USD prices.“

Significant job losses in 2015 and a slowdown in industrial activity has meant fewer people are using banks in the southern African country.

The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC said illegal money changers had resurfaced on the streets, charging stiff premiums for anyone wanting to buy US dollars, the party charged.

“All of these developments point to an emerging cash crisis which is likely to become much worse in the next few weeks,” said Gutu.

AGRICULTURE Minister Given Lubinda accused opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema of issuing false statements to the international media that Zambia was going to run into an acute food deficit.

“Zambia currently has 594,000 metric tonnes of maize in the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) reserves and that is more than enough food for the next six months or more.” Mr Lubinda said.

He said President Lungu was misquoted by Mr Hichilema on the possible importation of maize as one of the alternatives and explained that at no time did President Lungu say importing maize was a must but that it was just one of the three alternatives if things went to the worst situation that is most unlikely to happen.

The minister said the Government was working round the clock to ensure that whoever was involved in such activities was exposed.