The selection: Wednesday, 4 November

Underway, in Geneva: the SACU trade policy review (WTO)

As of end 2014, South Africa (on behalf of SACU) maintained definitive anti-dumping measures on imports from 13 WTO Members. In November 2012, the ITAC initiated a safeguard investigation on imports of frozen potato chips, on which it imposed a provisional safeguard measure in July 2013 and a definitive safeguard measure on 11 December 2013.

During the period under review, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland fully enforced their national competition regimes; except for Lesotho, all SACU countries have by now their national competition policies in place. However, a regional competition regime is yet to be adopted. None of the SACU countries is party to the WTO plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement; their government procurement legislations provide for price preferences to local suppliers/products. Except for Namibia where a new Industrial Property Act was passed in 2012, the national regimes on intellectual property rights in SACU countries have not significantly changed.

Although the 2002 SACU Agreement calls for harmonization of agricultural and industrial policies, this has not yet materialized. Therefore, except for customs-related issues, sectoral policies remain country-specific. [Various downloads available]

African Economic Conference: economists aim to strike Kinshasa Consensus (AfDB)

Increasing government spending on healthcare, education and support to vulnerable groups like the elderly has emerged at the top of the agenda for a new deal sought by experts attending the 10th African Economic Conference in Kinshasa, to address rising poverty and inequality in Africa. Amid growing fears that policies to ensure economic growth for all are lacking, economists are seeking a “Kinshasa Consensus” to deal with the possible loss of Africa’s economic gains. The issues proposed for approval in the Kinshasa Consensus include an African Single Currency Federation to cushion the poor from local currency depreciation linked to foreign exchange markets. Local currencies across Africa have weakened by up to 20% against the world’s major currencies since early 2015. Fear is also rising that drought and crop failure will spread food insecurity and poverty. [Other AEC updates]

Carlos Lopes: 'Africa, India, China – an emerging economic Troika' (UNECA)

Cautioning on the one-sided narrative of the India-Africa relationship, he stated that by 2013, 26% of the inward foreign direct investment stocks in India actually came from Africa alone, amounting to $65 billion. “This share of foreign direct investment stocks up was larger than those received by Brazil, China, the Russian Federation or the USA.” He stressed that more must be done to induce further African investments in India with more sustainable and real economy strength than financial markets opportunity.

Nairobi Ministerial: joint statement by African and Indian civil society (SID)

Dr. Biswajit Dhar, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi said that “India and the African countries must coordinate and support each other to ensure that all developmental issues including concerns of the LDCs and the Cotton 4 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali) are adequately addressed in Nairobi.” The letter is signed by 119 organisations and individuals in India and 71 organisations from across Africa. The letter makes some key recommendations;

WTO members agree process and structure for Nairobi Ministerial Declaration (WTO)

At a meeting of all WTO members in Geneva on 3 November, Director-General Roberto Azevêdo presented a suggested process to develop a Ministerial Declaration for the WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December. He also presented a possible structure for the document. Both elements were based closely on the views expressed by members to the three facilitators appointed by the Director-General on 12 October to consult with them on these issues (Ambassador Gabriel Duque of Colombia, Ambassador Harald Neple of Norway and Ambassador Stephen Karau of Kenya). Both elements were accepted by the membership. The Director-General said:

Committee on Agriculture in Special Session: report by the Chair (WTO)

Davies meat assurances disputed by US lobby (Business Day)

The talks with the US over the sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) requirements for the importation of US poultry, beef and pork were substantially concluded, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies assured MPs on Tuesday. However, as has happened on several occasions in the past, the minister’s version of developments differs starkly from that of US stakeholders. Contrary to Mr Davies’ assurances, the president of the Washington-based National Chicken Council, Mike Brown, said that "unfortunately the SPS issues were not yet resolved". [SA irons out technical issues in AGOA]

ECOWAS laments as West Africa’s intra-regional trade sinks to 12% (ThisDay)

The Commissioner, Industry, and Private Sector Promotion, Kalilou Traore, during a technical meeting convened in Lagos by the ECOWAS Private Sector Directorate to consider the draft on the ECOWAS Business House , said, “We need to take more action to strengthen this regional trade and one way to do that is through trade support bodies. We are here to develop the concept of an ECOWAS Business House that will be a business oriented organisation at the regional level to facilitate trade among member countries. Although there are still lots to be done in the area of feasibility study so that we can have all the details of the project in order to involve all the stakeholders at the financial and member state level so that businesses can be created,” he said.

Nigeria: Non-oil export earnings drop by N52.2bn in Q2 (Vanguard)

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has said that the country’s earnings from non-oil exports dropped by N52.2billion ($261m) in the second quarter of this year. The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, attributed the slump in non-oil export revenue earning to the suspension of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and the insurgence in the North East.

Zambia: Maize open border policy to benefit economy – IAPRI (Daily Mail)

A new report by the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute has revealed that the maize open border policy does not make Zambia food-insecure, but will help expand its market for the benefit of farmers, consumers and the economy at large. It says despite experiencing a fall in maize production last year, Zambia has emerged as the largest surplus country in the region, surpassing South Africa, traditionally the region’s dominant maize exporter. “IAPRI’s research shows that keeping Zambia’s borders open at all times would not risk the country’s food security status, but it will help the country expand its market for the benefit of both farmers and consumers and the economy at large. This is because openness to international trade can reduce price volatility and if properly implemented can help mitigate supply shocks,” the report says.

SADC investment drive gains momentum (SATH)

Over the last two months, the Trade Hub has facilitated over 100 meetings across these five SADC member states, which will culminate in national-level workshops where private sector players, public sector leaders, and association heads will come together to establish priorities and articulate plans for moving forward with the policy guidance. The first of these planned national-level consultative workshops was held in Port Louis, Mauritius on Friday, October 23, 2015. Similar workshops have been scheduled in the other four member states for November 2015. All five countries are committed to presenting Way Forward Strategies for implementing the regional investment policy harmonization guidance at the next session of the SADC Investment Focus Group, which is scheduled for early December 2015 in Johannesburg. The Trade Hub will kick off its planned implementation support for a second group of five SADC member states at these December IFG meetings.

SADC industrialisation: mind-set change critical (Zambia Daily Mail)

A policy and strategy expert at the Southern African Development Community secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana, says the region should abandon the ‘business as usual’ syndrome to achieve its industrialisation goal.

Botswana: workshop on the implementation of trade and transit facilitation (UNCTAD)

The three-day workshop (10-12 November) will gather public and private sector trade facilitation stakeholders to identify what will be required to implement the country’s category B and C commitments and initiate the process of building project plans to request donors’ financial and technical assistance. A special session to discuss transit issues is also foreseen.

Botswana's National Enquiry Point (SATH)

The establishment of a National Enquiry Point is an important element of the WTO’s Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. The NEP in Botswana was recently launched in Gaborone with Trade Hub support on September 28, 2015. An NEP helps countries respond to information requests on technical regulations from other nations and traders, as well as to provide relevant documentation regarding technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures.

Botswana’s Choppies seals deal to acquire Ukwala (Daily Nation)

The end-year results confirmed Choppies expansion across Africa after its successful establishment of 73 branches in Botswana, 36 in South Africa and 20 in Zimbabwe. It said that operations in Zambia and Tanzania were going on well adding that it planned to open 35 more stores in various countries by the end of 2016, excluding acquisitions.

Southern Africa: water transfer from the Lesotho Highlands to Botswana (World Bank)

The Project Development Objective is to determine the viability of water resource development options for Botswana to access water from the Lesotho Highlands by assessing engineering, costing, social, legal, environmental, economic and financial information. A Joint Study Management Committee has been established among the three riparian states of Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa to oversee the study in accordance with the MoU between the three countries. The draft report presenting an assessment of the engineering, social, legal, environmental, economic and financial information relating to the possible options was presented at a meeting of the JSMC and Senior Officials in Gaborone on October 13, 2015.

Zimbabwe: Overvalued US$ hits Zim exports (NewsDay)

The US dollar in Zimbabwe is overvalued by 45% thereby affecting export competitiveness, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said. In a working paper, Assessing the Impact of the Real Effective Exchange Rate on Competitiveness in Zimbabwe, RBZ said the country’s real effective exchange rate has been overvalued since the adoption of multi-currency regime in 2009. It said the magnitude of the overvaluation, however, increased significantly starting in 2011. It said the absence of an exchange rate policy to deal with the overvalued real effective exchange rate implies that the country has to undertake fiscal and internal devaluation to eliminate the disparity between the current account norm and the underlying current account deficit.

Namibia: Schlettwein redirects billions to urgent priorities (New Era)

Finance Minister Schlettwein further identified four key macro-critical issues which require immediate policy attention now and over the next MTEF. These are structural challenges of eradicating poverty, unemployment and inequality through targeted developmental intervention measures; the declining public revenue due to contractions in receipts from SACU and downward adjustments in domestic revenue outlook; the widening twin deficits regarding the government budget deficit and the current account deficit as well as the associated weakening of the external trade position driven by the strong historical expansionary budget and high imports growth over exports; and the declining stock of international reserves, which is a consequence of a negative trade balances. [Schlettwein's balancing act (The Namibian)]

Tanzania's Port stakeholders: 'Maritime railways transport ministry urgently needed' (IPPMedia)

Leading Dar es Salaam port stakeholders have advised president-elect Dr John Pombe Magufuli, to create a separate ministry for maritime and railway transport saying doing so was the only optimal solution to address chronic problems facing the industry. Tanzania Shipping Agents Association board director Emmanuel Mallya, the chairman of Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association board of trustees, Otieno Igogo, and Container Depot Association of Tanzania chairman Ashraf Khan to prioritise the plight of the port in his agenda to revitalize the national economy.

Mozambique: The resettlement debate – time for government to decide (SPEED)

Recent events in Cabo Delgado highlight the importance of the government taking urgent measures to clarify the legislation around resettlement and of defining its own position. It is essential that government now takes a proactive role in establishing a clear framework for compensation and resettlement for land-based investments and in ensuring that its’ staff is able to fulfil its role to ensure the best possible outcomes not only for communities and investors but for the country as a whole. To do otherwise will result in ongoing conflict which will hamper development, and damage the country’s reputation as an investment destination. [The author: Carrie Davies]

Towards a framework for the governance of infrastructure: summary (OECD)

Up to now, much of the debate on infrastructure has focused directly on the financing challenges – how to raise funding for infrastructure projects, by using national levers and accessing international markets – whereas the broader public governance dimension has been neglected. However, OECD analysis has shown that substantial benefits can be realised by better managing public investment throughout its “life cycle” and across levels of government; and that the quality of public governance correlates with public investment and growth outcomes, at both national and sub-national levels.

Deborah Bräutigam: 'Don’t get excited, China is not the new aid superpower'

George Wachira: 'Decade of Chinese economic presence in Kenya offers lessons in bilateral ties'

Mozambique to draw up projects eligible for Indian loans

4th India-Africa hydrocarbon conference: update

Mozambique Food Security Outlook

MoZiSa and BOSA transmission lines on the cards - SAPP

Duncan Green/Naila Kabeer: 'Why it’s time to put gender into the inequality discussion'

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This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 300 recipients across Africa and internationally, serving in the AU, RECS, national government trade departments and research and development agencies. Your feedback is most welcome. Any suggestions that our recipients might have of items for inclusion are most welcome. Richard Humphries (Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @richardhumphri1)