By HELEN ZULU –
THE Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has said it contributed about US$200 million to Zambia’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through merger transactions in 2015.
CCPC acting executive director Brian Lingela said the commission contributed approximately $203,490,782 to Zambia’s FDIs with 332 indirect jobs created and some maintained through merger transactions last year.
Mr Lingela said the commission received 39 merger notifications against the set target of 30 in the year under review, representing an increase of five per cent compared to 37 mergers received in 2014.
He said out of the 39 merger notifications received, 35 were closed while four were yet to be considered by the Board of Commissioners.
Mr Lingela was speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
“The commission was able to contribute approximately $203,490,782 to Zambia’s FDI through merger transactions in 2015,” Mr Lingela said.
“We received 39 merger notifications of which 35 were closed, representing an increase of five per cent compared to the year 2014 when 37 merger notifications were received and 34 were closed.”
Mr Lingela said of the cases concluded in 2015, a large number were in the agriculture, manufacturing and banking and financial services sectors.
He said the agriculture sector continued to receive the highest number of mergers with eight recorded in 2015, while the services sector recorded seven.
Banking and finance recorded four, construction, mining, transport, communications, wholesale and retail sectors recorded the lowest of mergers with one case each.
Mr Lingela said 2015 saw an increase in the number of restrictive business practice (RBP) cases handled.
He said out of the targeted number of 16 complaints that were to be handled, 30 complaints were received with investigations launched on 22 complaints after a preliminary review showed compelling evidence that there could be violation of the Act.
“Out of this number, the commission managed to close 15 of the total cases reported. The cases were received from various sectors, among them, construction, energy, manufacturing and services,” he said.
Mr Lingela said in terms of sanctions, the commission fined and prosecuted 15 firms for breaches of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act in 2015.
He said one company was prosecuted for selling expired products contrary to Section 52 (1) (2) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act while seven were fined for various offenses relating to unfair trading practices.
The commission also fined eight firms for display of disclaimers contrary to Section 48 (1) of the Act.