Top news items in major Zambian media outlets

The following are the highlights of Zambia's major media outlets on Friday.

-- Zambia's power utility has signed an agreement with South Africa's power utility for the importation of 300 megawatt of electricity to ease a power deficit the country has been facing since June last year.

The move will result in a reduction in electricity rationing of between eight hours in a day consumers have been subjected to. The electricity the country was currently generating was not enough to meet demand due to reduce waters in major reservoirs. (ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL)

-- A court in Zambia has overturned a two-year jail term against a former head of Zambia's mining conglomerate.

The court has overturned the jail term slapped on Francis Kaunda, former chairman of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), which was running the mines on behalf of the government before privatization.

DAILY NATION)

-- The Zambian government has launched its first public private partnership for the construction of two modern prisons in order to reduce congestion in the country's correctional facilities.

President Edgar Lungu, who commissioned construction works in Lusaka, the country's capital, said the government has partnered with the private sector to construct a correctional center with a capacity of 1, 500 and another with 1, 800 at a total cost of 21 million U.S. dollars. (ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL)

-- Zambia's annual rate of inflation for May dropped by 0.5 percentage points to 21.3 percent from 21.8 percent, the country's statistics agency said.

The Central Statistical Office (CSO) attributed the decrease to reduction in prices of food and non-food items.

Last week, the country's central bank said annual inflation was projected to drop to 8.7 percent before the end of this year due to improved supply of food during the harvest season and relative stability in the exchange rate. (THE POST) Endit