By Tawanda Musarurwa

HARARE - The Deposit Protection Board (DPC) could soon commence payments to Interfin Bank creditors with a special meeting of creditors and members of the defunct banking institution set for the Master of the High Court next week Thursday.

DPC chief executive and liquidator of the bank Mr John Chikura said the meeting should see creditor submit-ting 'further' proof of claims.

The development will likely expedite the liquidation of the bank.

"The purpose of the meeting is sub-mission of further proof of claims by creditors," said Mr Chikura.

He however added that creditors that had already proved their claims before the Master of the High Court,

were not required to submit another set of forms, or even attend the meeting.

Interfin, was placed under liquidation at the beginning of last year after it failed to secure $50 million in fresh capital during a three-year curator-ship despite reported interest from several potential investors.

The DPC last year confirmed that it had carried out a forensic investiga-tion on Interfin's failure which showed

that the financial institution had col-lapsed largely as a result of high lev-els of non-performing insider loans.

At the time, DPC had said "additional information" was required to finalise the liquidation process.

To the extent that the bank is suc-cessfully liquidated, the creditors will try and get as much of the money owed to them as possible as they have first priority to whatever is sold off.

But with Interfin Bank's creditors owed $155 million, against the bank's assets estimated at around $39 mil-lion, the former unanimously voted at the last creditors' meeting in June last year to institute legal proceedings against the bank’s directors for the prejudice they suffered.

The bank had been under the man-agement of a curator for two and half years before the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said at the close of 2014 that it would not extend the curator-ship of the bank, paving way for its liquidation .

As at June 30, 2012 the bank had a negative core capital of $92,9 million while its shareholders failed to inject the required $142,9 million in order to comply with the then minimum capital requirement of $50 million.●

News Update as @ 1530 hours, Friday 08 January 2016Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

A step closer for Interfin Bank liquidation

BH242

By Munesu Nyakudya

HARARE - The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) is promoting a market-led production model that will enhance the produc-tion of crops, namely maize, wheat, soyabeans and livestock as a means of boosting agricultural productivity in the country.

The programme will see ARDA bring-ing together local farmers with irriga-ble land but having limited resources, potential investors and agriculture stu-dents from various agricultural colleges and univeristies under a graduation programme.

"During the last 36 months, ARDA has earned her colours with investors, through the Joint Venture Business Model underpinned by PPPs.

"ARDA retains confidence from stra-tegic domestic investors who share a common vision to invest in agricul-

ture for the good of our economy. We require, under the first phase of, at least 25 000 hectares of irrigable land starting with the 2016 Winter Cropping Season," said ARDA in a statement.

"ARDA is targeting to produce maize, wheat, soya beans and livestock. The crops will be grown under a market led production model. ARDA with her Partners will buy the entire produce for value edition, under a tolling facility business model.”

ARDA was formed in 1981 under the Ministry of Agriculture, Development and Irrigation, and its focus is on the development of community farming by providing education and manage-

ment services to small-scale farmers on both communal land and property purchased by the Government.

Presenting the 2016 National Budget last year, Finance Minister Patrick Chi-namasa said Government’s support for farmers is in recognition of the role of agriculture in food security, and pro-moting value chain systems.

“The importance of the sector also lies in its contribution to export earnings of around 30 percent, 60 to 70 percent, and about 19 percent of gross domes-tic product (GDP), that way providing a major source of livelihood for over 70 percent of our population,” said Minis-ter Chinamasa.●

3 NEws

Minister Chinamasa

ARDA develops model for agriculture growth

BH244

HARARE - Zimbabwe’s trade deficit in the 11 months to November last year stood at $3 billion, statistics availed by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) on Friday show.

According to Zimstat, total imports from January to Novem-ber last year stood at $5,51 bil-lion while exports were $2,4 bil-lion, a sign that the economy still largely relies on foreign goods as local industry continues to strug-gle on the back of a number of constraints.

South Africa, United States, Tan-zania, Singapore, India, United Kingdom and China are among the top import sources for the country.

Disposable napkins, tampons, hair pins, type writer ribbons, agricultural produce, among others goods that can be found locally, make up the long list of goods that Zimbabweans are importing.

On the other hand, top export destinations include South Africa,

Mozambique, Botswana and United Arab Emirates with miner-als such as gold and diamonds, fish, agricultural produce among top goods local companies are exporting.

Government has put in measures to curb imports of some goods produced locally, but the efforts are being subverted through smuggling. Low productivity in local industry and a penchant for

foreign goods have been blamed for the continued high imports. This year, it is projected that the trade deficit will remain around $3 billion.-New Ziana●

5 NEws

Zimstat says trade deficit at $3 billion in November, 2015

BH246

HARARE - The Tobacco Indus-try and Marketing Board (TIMB) is pushing for the release of $7 million collected from growers last year in tobacco levies from Treasury.

The tobacco levy on growers was re-introduced at a rate of 1,5 percent of the selling price, with effect from January 1, 2015, with the funds ear-marked for reforestation activ-ities.

The tobacco levy had been scrapped in March 2005 to encourage smallholder farm-ers to produce the crop. Stakeholders welcomed the re-introduction of the levy, especially at a time when the international community is pushing for tobacco that is produced in a sustainable way.

Tobacco buyers now want to purchase the crop from coun-tries that do not practice deforestation in the process of tobacco production.

TIMB public relations man-

ager Isheunesu Moyo told New Ziana that the board had writ-ten to Treasury seeking the release of the fund for onward transmission to farmers so they can embark on re-af-

forestation projects.

“TIMB is in the process of com-piling proposals for affores-tation projects for financing under the tobacco levy. We are pushing the Ministry of

Finance to release the funds to us but we need a directive from them on how to use the levy as well,” he said.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farm-ers Union president Mr Won-der Chabikwa said farmers are getting impatient because the funds were locked up.

“TIMB says the money is with treasury, we want to believe the $7 million is still there and waiting for afforestation pro-jects,” he said.

Government had to introduce the fund because there was an increase in tobacco produc-tion, a development that was threatening the environment.

In recognition of the poten-tial negative impact of the El-Nino induced drought on tobacco production, govern-ment reduced the tobacco levy from 1,5 percent to 0,75 per-cent, with effect from the first of this month. At least 198, 7 million kg of tobacco were pro-duced in 2015.-New Ziana●

7 NEws

TIMB lobbies treasury to release tobacco levy

BH248

HARARE -The mainstream indus-trial index went down a further 0.06 to end the week at 112.16.

On a week-on-week basis, the industrial index lost 2,69 (or 2,34 percent).

Low activity haunted the market today as only two counters traded in the negative territory.

NMBZ shed $0,0037 to trade at $0,0330 and Dairibord retreated $0,0004 to trade at $0,0685 as activity was limited to just nine counters.

No counters traded in positive ter-ritory in today’s session.

The mining index went down by 0.79 to close at 23.48 as Bindura

lost $0,0010 to close at $0,0150.

Falgold, Hwange and RioZim maintained previous price levels at $0,0050, $0,0300 and $0,1040, respectively.

Week-on-week, the mining index lost 0.24 (or 1,01 percent).

- BH24 Reporter ●

ZsE9

Equities close week in the red

Peace of mind is good

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BH2410

MovERs CHANGE ToDAy PRiCE UsC sHAKERs CHANGE ToDAy PRiCE UsC

NMBZ -10.08 3.30

BINDURA -6.25 1.50

DAIRIBORD -0.58 6.85

iNDEx PREvioUs ToDAy MovE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 112.22 112.16 -0.06 points -0.05%

MINING 24.27 23.48 -0.79 POINTS -3.26%

11 ZsE TABlEs

ZsE

iNDiCEs

Stock Exchange

BH2412

13 DiARy oF EvENTs

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

PowER GENERATioN sTATs

Gen Station

08 January 2016

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 546 MW

Kariba 580 MW

Harare 0 MW

Munyati 16 MW

Bulawayo 18 MW

Imports 100-200 MW

Total 1181 Mw

THE BH24 DiARy

JoHANNEsBURG - South Africa's rand recovered against the dollar on Fri-day after hitting record lows in the previous session, but remained vulnerable to con-cerns about the local economy and that of China.

The rand rose a few cents after central bank data showed South Africa's net gold and foreign exchange reserves were up slightly at $40,654 billion in December.

At 0704 GMT, the rand traded at 15,9400 to the greenback, a 0,9 percent gain over Thurs-day's close at 16,0850.

The local currency had slid to a record low of 16,2015 as renewed concerns about China's economy spurred an emerging markets sell-off.

The rand shed a quarter of its value against the green-back last year, undermined by worries about weak domestic growth and a global aversion to emerging markets as inves-tors braced for the advent of policy tightening in the United States.

"With US jobs data looming and the situation in China still perilous, respite (for the rand) will likely only be temporary," NKC African Economics said in a note.

On the South African bourse, the Top-40 index added 0,7 percent while the broader all-share was up 0,56 percent after each dropped more than 2 percent on Thursday.

Government bonds also recov-ered, and the yield for the benchmark maturing in 2026 retreated 4 basis points to 9,575 percent.

- Reuters●

REGioNAl NEws 14

Rand gains, but S.A & Chinese economies pose risks

Oil was swept along by volatility in Chinese markets, rallying from a 12-year low as the country sought to quell losses in its equi-ties and stabilize its currency.

Futures rose as much as 3,2 percent in New York after China suspended a controversial equity circuit breaker system and its central bank set the yuan’s ref-erence rate little changed after an eight-day stretch of weaker fixings. Crude slid Thursday to the lowest since December 2003 as market turbulence reverber-ated across the globe amid con-cern over economic growth in the world’s biggest energy consumer.

While the turmoil in China has contributed to oil’s slide this year, prices are also being weighed down by US stockpiles that remain about 100 million bar-rels above the five-year average. Analysts from Nomura Holdings Inc. to UBS Group AG predict crude may fall to near $30 while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has effec-tively abandoned output limits amid a global glut to defend mar-ket share.

“The China story is dominat-ing all markets at the moment,

including oil,” Ric Spooner, a chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “More volatility is likely. US inventories remain elevated and that means they’re going to be a drag on the extent and timing of any price increases.”

China volatility

West Texas Intermediate for Feb-ruary delivery rose as much as $1,07 to $34,34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was trading at $33,68 at 4:14 p.m. Hong Kong time. The con-

tract slid 2,1 percent to $33,27 on Thursday, the lowest close since February 2004. Total vol-ume traded was 70 percent above the 100-day average. Prices are down 9 percent this week.

Brent for February settlement gained as much as 97 cents, or 2,9 percent, to $34,72 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract lost 1,4 percent to $33,75 on Thursday, the lowest close since June 2004. The European bench-mark crude traded at a premium

of 52 cents to WTI.

More than $4 trillion has been erased from the value of global equities this year amid renewed concern about China. The country abandoned a circuit-breaker sys-tem aimed at stymieing a stock rout after it was triggered by sel-loffs twice this week and baffled investors with a seemingly con-tradictory approach to the yuan, fueling greater anxiety over pol-icy makers’ abilities to manage the slowing economy.

Equities recovered on Friday, and energy companies were among the biggest gainers on the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index. China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. advanced 5,6 percent and Korean refiner SK Innovation Co. jumped 5,7 percent.

A potential initial public offering is under review for Saudi Arabian Oil Co., also known as Saudi Ara-mco, Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince, said in an interview with The Economist. The company controls 261 billions in oil reserves, more than 10 times the amount held by Exxon Mobil Corp., which has a market value of about $317 bil-lion .- Bloomberg●

iNTERNATioNAl NEws 15

Oil jumps from 12-year low as China volatility dominates markets

MultiChoice the Naspers-owned pay TV service and parent company of DStv has welcomed the arrival of VOD service Netflix in Africa because this offers subscribers more options.

In an article published by Fin24 that quoted MultiChoice on the launch of Netflix, the company highlighted the work it is doing to expand its own VOD service, Catch Up which is used by subscribers to some of its DStv packages.

The politically correct #Competition-IsGood response is to be expected. It could have even been a bit genu-ine considering that another Naspers company, ShowMax is also operating in the burgeoning VOD services mar-ket. having a competitor like Netflix would help everyone in that space, ShowMax included, to raise aware-ness on the new TV option.

But that’s a bit of a reach. Naspers isn’t bothered by Netflix because of other fundamentals that make Net-flix and any other VOD services less of a threat for the leading African pay-TV service DStv.

Netflix in Africa means a viewers’ alternative that is carrying hours

upon hours of quality content with the right sort of strategies to churn out more and more of this good stuff. Plus, it has a competitive price. But these two factors don’t seem ade-quate to dethrone DStv in Africa and become the leading pay TV alterna-tive.

The internet as a content distri-bution factor

One of the biggest hurdles fo Netflix and any other IP TV service in Africa is broadband. It’s two-headed mon-ster, presenting challenges through its availability (or absence) as well as the high cost associated with access-

ing it.

Outside Africa’s technology anchor markets (Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt) and the handful of “technologically progressive” econo-mies like Seychelles and Mauritius, the internet is still not viewed as the utility that it is. Africa's internet

16 analysis16 ANAlysis

Why MultiChoice is not too worried about Netflix’s arrival

17 analysis17 ANAlysis

penetration rate stands at 28,6 per-cent against a world average of 46,4 percent.

Getting a decent enough internet connection that will be sufficient for streaming (uncapped with relia-ble speeds) doesn’t come as easily. Options that provide reliable band-width such as Fibre and decent ADSL aren’t commonplace despite all the efforts being made by carriers to change that.

As an illustration, the latest Zim-babwean telecoms industry report showed that there were 4,482 con-nections for Fibre and 57,201 ADSL connections. This is against 5,8 mil-lion total recorded internet connec-tions where 95 percent of those con-nections are made through mobile internet.

This representation can be extended to the majority of African countries where 90 percent of internet connec-tions are through mobile broadband. This form of internet tends to be expensive, making it difficult to rely on it as the primary source for an internet service like streamed video that requires extended connections.

With such feeble numbers for the one channel that carries the Netflix service, market domination isn’t a short or medium term reality.

DStv, on the other hand, works through satellite technology which, to be fair, won’t be the leading ave-nue for distributing content in the future but has so far managed to be a very functional option.

The sports factor

The other important consideration lies in the consumption of sports content. The African market has a healthy appetite for live sports, something that MutiChoice took a lot of time to address meticulously with the SuperSport service.

Rather than being just a sports entertainment service, it has con-sistently improved the delivery of live sports entertainment, fine tun-ing content to cater for the varying tastes across the continent.

This has involved securing the rights to certain sporting leagues and tournaments and being the face of world-class sports content delivery.

All this effort has resulted in a great

service that MultiChoice charges a pretty price for, something that seems to be driven by the fact that consumers of great sports content are willing to pay premium prices for the best delivery.

They thus form a huge quotient of consumers willing to spend dispos-able income on entertainment.

This also gives some sort of addi-tional reason as to why premium sports channels are reserved for the expensive packages (MultiChoice has always justified this through the cost of acquiring the content).

Data on pay TV trends has sug-gested this time and again. One tweet shared in the Twitterstorm on Netflix’s launch showed a survey car-ried out by the Zimbabwe Advertis-ing Research Foundation (ZARF) that indicated how over a 4 week period the most watched channel was Supersport by 23 percent of viewers ahead of other channels like YADAH TV, SABC and National Geographic.

These trends all show one simple truth – sports is a big deal and most of the people that are willing to pay for entertainment want that more

than anything else. MultiChoice has sports content locked and service providers like Netflix do not have the one major type of content that has been driving and maintaining sub-scriber loyalty for the DStv service.

Will Netflix ever be a threat?

MultiChoice might have shrugged off Netflix as another “welcome compet-itor”, but it knows the sort of threat that this service poses. Right now other factors have given MultiChoice some sort of breathing space but it won’t last forever.

Broadband service delivery will improve and more people will have access to Netflix and other VOD services. What sets Netflix apart, though, and the reason why it led the charge on African VOD disrup-tion is its content. It’s so good that MultiChoice had to secure for its own platforms.

As long as Netflix continues to create and curate high-quality entertain-ment it has a shot at snapping up all those viewers that don’t necessarily like sports but want the latest series or movie that is defining television. TechZim ●