The last market event before Friday's budget speech is a Treasury bill auction. Zambia Monitor reported on Monday 26 October, citing a market commentary from Access Bank, that the Bank of Zambia will offer K2.2 billion of bills, about US$109 million, on Thursday 29 October, for settlement on Monday 2 November. The offer is split across four tenors: K440 million at 91 days, K500 million at 182 days, K530 million at 273 days and K730 million at 364 days, so that roughly a third of the paper is one-year money.
The bank's note, as Zambia Monitor reports it, frames the sale as a gauge of investor appetite for government debt at a time when the authorities are preparing a supplementary budget. Lusaka Brief reported on Friday 23 October that the Finance Minister has asked Parliament for K19.9 billion more for 2026, most of it to pay farmers for maize bought by the Food Reserve Agency, and that most of the extra spending is to be met by domestic borrowing. Access Bank says investors will be watching the bid-to-cover ratios and the yields accepted at the auction.
Liquidity, inflation and the rains
The commentary makes three further points. Payments under the Farmer Input Support Programme and to the Food Reserve Agency are about to inject kwacha liquidity into rural areas, which, depending on how they are financed, could expand the money supply and put marginal pressure on the currency. The decision to stockpile food after a strong harvest is, in the bank's words as reported, prudent, and should keep inflation subdued in the near term, but it adds to the strain on public finances at a time when growth expectations are being revised down. And the main risk period is 2027: an unfavourable rainy season would cut agricultural output, electricity generation and growth at the same time. The Government activated its El Niño preparedness plan last week, as Lusaka Brief reported on Sunday.
A thin week on the exchange
On the Lusaka Securities Exchange, The Mast reported, citing the Stockbrokers Zambia weekly equity and economic report, that turnover for the week of 9 to 16 October fell to K2.17 million on 490,591 shares, from K5.38 million on 672,307 shares the week before. CEC Plc accounted for 46.37 per cent of turnover, just over K1 million, with Airtel Networks Zambia second. Dot Com Zambia led the gainers, up 11.79 per cent to K27.50; Zanaco slipped 0.22 per cent to K8.95, and Zambia Sugar and Chilanga Cement closed marginally lower at K67.99 and K60.98. The Mast notes that CEC's share price had drifted down to K15.01 by 21 October, and attributes part of the decline to the kwacha's appreciation over the year to the third quarter, since the company earns mostly in US dollars; it reports the Securities and Exchange Commission as describing price fluctuations on the exchange as normal.
The sequence for the week is therefore the auction on Thursday, the budget on Friday and settlement on Monday, by which time the market will know both the price investors put on the government's paper and the size of the borrowing requirement the Finance Minister intends to put before them in 2027.
Sources: Zambia Monitor, “Access Bank says K2.2bn treasury bill auction to gauge investor appetite” (26 Oct 2026); The Mast, “CEC tops LuSE trades with K1m turnover” (26 Oct 2026).