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Zambia’s kwacha fell as much as 1 percent against the dollar on Tuesday, dragged down by worries about job losses in the local mining sector as well as concerns about the impact of waning Chinese growth.
The currency of Africa’s second largest copper producer fell to a session low of 9.9400 to the dollar and was last trading 0.9 percent weaker at 9.9300.
“Specific to Zambia was the news that Mopani is going to be laying off more than 4 000 workers, and Mopani being one of the big producers of copper in the country, this sent a bit of shockwaves in the market,” said John Mapiye, head of Treasury at BancABC.
“What we are seeing here is just some panic buying of dollars,” Mapiye said, adding that weak industrial output data out of China had also weighed on sentiment.
REUTERS
