News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Thursday, 21 July 2016
Trade negotiators close to a deal as battle of wording continues (Business Daily)
The developed world is opposed to the strengthening of UNCTAD’s mandate to a decision making organ of the UN and prefers it to remain a technical assistance institution. “The question is how far UNCTAD shall work. Is UNCTAD an advisory body, a capacity building organisation or a law making organisation, that is the issue,” the chair of the European Parliament’s INTA-DEVE Bernd Lange told journalists, adding that the EU’s position is that there is the WTO and there are other bodies that advice on international trade. The Group of 77, a group of 134 developing countries and China, want a stronger UNCTAD with the statistical capacity to measure South-South Co-operation, offer technical assistance and whose analysis translates to concrete policy advice and with a role in driving intergovernmental monitoring and implementation, especially in the developing world.
Developing countries lose 10% of exports on non-tariff measures (UNCTAD)
“These kinds of measures are becoming increasingly widespread,” said UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Joakim Reiter. “For example, measures on the cleanliness and pathogen-free status of food – known as sanitary and phytosanitary measures – cover more than 60% of agricultural trade. Such regulatory measures disproportionately increase trade costs for small and medium-sized enterprises and developing countries, particularly the least developed. We estimate, for example, that the impact of the European Union’s sanitary and phytosanitary measures comes to a loss of about $3bn for low-income country exports. That’s equal to 14% of their agricultural trade with the European Union."
Aiming to enhance transparency on non-tariff measures, UNCTAD also launched on Tuesday a database to list the non-tariff measures of 56 countries, covering 80% of world trade. The database allows policymakers to search by country and product to find out quickly the relevant non-tariff requirements. The African Union has already requested that UNCTAD support them with the Continental Free Trade Area by setting up a similar database. This database will provide the necessary information on non-tariff measures so that negotiators can harmonize their regulations, cutting the costs of trade.
Kenya mulls how to bridge trade gap with South Africa (Business Daily)
Kenya is seeking to offset trade imbalance with South Africa by focusing on services where the East African country has a comparative advantage. Industrialisation secretary Adan Mohamed on Tuesday met South Africa’s minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies to discuss a framework for engagement before the end of the year. According to the Export Promotion Council, Kenya’s imports from South Africa have increased from $287.7m in 2003 to $477.4m in 2007, a rise of about 66% while exports have been decreasing from $51m in 2004. Mr Davies said South Africa was keen on building trade in services with its African counterparts which it has not explored. “We want to have measurable and tangible progress because countries meet sign frameworks but have very little follow-up activity,” he said.
EU legislators push for new EPA deadline to ‘save Kenya’ (Business Daily)
Bernd Lange, the chairman of a joint EU delegation of Trade and Development Committee attending the 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Nairobi, said Kenya would be the biggest casualty should the standoff persist. “Our first proposal is to have the October 1st deadline extended to allow for more time and see whether Tanzania will agree to sign or if Burundi will improve her democratic situation and evade sanction from the European Union. If none of these happen then I expect that Kenya will apply for the GSP [Generalised System of Preferences] Plus and when it is received then we can begin the market access regulations and save Kenya,” Mr Lange said. [Kenya sees regional trade deal with EU on time, despite Brexit: minister]
SADC: Corridor development and trade facilitation (pdf, Southern Africa Business Forum)
This Working Group aims to facilitate regional trade – a prerequisite for economic transformation, value chain development and growth in the region. During the next meeting of the Working Group (26 July), members will be updated on developments in three projects of the Group: (i) Kasumbalesa border cooperation to enhance trade facilitation along the North-South Corridor, (ii) Impact-based industry lobbying at the Beit Bridge Border Post to improve North-South linkages, and (iii) the development of a SADC Simplified Trade Regime to assist small traders. [Related working group meetings: Agro-processing, Pharmaceuticals and health, Mining]
Traders vow to shut down Beitbridge border (eNCA)
The International Cross Border Traders Association on Tuesday warned it would bring the Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe to a standstill. The association, with over 15,000 members, said it would give Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government a week to lift a ban on certain imports. Its president Dennis Juru was addressing the media in Braamfontein together with members of the #Tajamuka movement.
Mozambique: Trade Facilitation Agreement update (SPEED)
Mozambique has actually made a lot of progress on customs modernization and implementing systems to improve trade – but many reforms already on the table may gain momentum and be financed through the TFA process. Partly in order to access such funding, Mozambique recently underwent a ‘categorization process’ – effectively, going through all the various provisions of the TFA and establishing whether they are already being implemented (‘Category A’), easily implementable internally by the government within a certain transition period (‘Category B’) or would require donor technical and/or financial support (‘Category C’). Unsurprisingly, given that Mozambique has been implementing reforms in customs for many years, the country has already reached Category A for a large number of provisions. For 24 out of 41 provisions, the country is already compliant. For a further 7 provisions, the country can become compliant without donor support, within 1-2 years. There are ten provisions that require donor support and will take some time to implement.
Related: Trade facilitation and regional integration in Africa: blog by Jan Hoffmann (UNCTAD), Essays on regional integration dynamics in Africa (GREAT Insights), UNCTAD Transport and Trade Facilitation Newsletter: Second Quarter (pdf, UNCTAD)
East African central banks to rebuild forex reserves (Daily Monitor)
The Eastern African Community central bank governors have agreed on the policy of increasing their foreign exchange reserves to guard against any external shocks/risks facing the region’s economies. In a joint communique issued by five governors of EAC member states at the end of the 20th ordinary meeting of the Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC) of EAC at Kampala Serena Hotel last week, they said global financial and economic developments continue to impact on the EAC economies. “Governors reiterated the need to rebuild international reserve buffers and strengthen their financial sector regulatory frameworks to ensure financial stability,” the joint communiqué reads, in part. [Harmonise economic policies, says EAC]
Thomas Lassourd, Alexandra Readhead: ‘Treasuries in Africa’s mining hubs under pressure’ (IPPMedia)
The bust in mineral and oil prices has left many resource producers with budget shortfalls. The cuts in public spending that are likely to ensue threaten social spending and development plans. With $35bn worth of Eurobond debt maturing between 2021 and 2025, African mineral producers have only a few years to right the ship. As finance ministers weigh options to balance their budgets, they will want to ensure that taxpayers pay their due. But this is easier said than done. Tax administration in many countries is weak, and tax policies suboptimal. This leaves governments vulnerable to manoeuvring by multinational companies – in the mining sector in particular – whose complex corporate structures allow them to make the most of the many loopholes and peculiarities of the global tax system. Subsidiaries of global mining companies in Africa mostly trade with companies with which they are affiliated. [Transfer pricing and tax base erosion in Africa: NRGI report, case studies from Zambia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea]
The 2016 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development closes (ECOSOC)
The 2016 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development concluded with the adoption of a declaration that committed ministers from around the world to leaving no one behind in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through the text, Forum ministers stressed that the 2030 Agenda was a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity that also sought to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. In its final day of proceedings for its 2016 session, the Forum heard voluntary national reviews from 10 countries, spanning many regions of the world. Presenters discussed steps that had already been taken to integrate the 2030 Agenda into national plans, while also outlining challenges they faced in implementing the future development framework.
Bill Gates’s Nelson Mandela Lecture: 'Here are the four things that will determine Africa’s future...'
Young people are better than old people at driving innovation, because they are not locked in by the limits of the past. I was 19 when I founded Microsoft. Steve Jobs was 21 when he started Apple. Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he created Facebook. So I’m inspired by the young African entrepreneurs driving startup booms in the Silicon Savannahs from Johannesburg and Cape Town to Lagos and Nairobi. The real returns, though, will come if we can multiply this talent for innovation by the whole of Africa’s growing youth population. In my view, there are four things that will determine Africa’s future: health and nutrition, education, economic opportunity, and good governance. [Kigali Innovation Village: update]
Unleashing the power of e-commerce for development: UNCTAD ministerial round table summary (UNCTAD)
In the ensuing discussions, a number of participants highlighted the challenges facing developing and transition economies in reaping the gains from e-commerce. These challenges included, for example, poor infrastructure, inadequate logistics, low adoption rates of information and communications technology, outdated legal and regulatory frameworks, and lack of payment solutions and financing, as well as of relevant digital skills. The capacity and ability to engage successfully in e-commerce varied significantly by country. Indeed, the e-commerce divide was even wider than the digital divide. As the digital economy was increasingly part of the real economy, digital and e-commerce divides could readily translate into real economic divides. [Ashly Hope: 'E-trade and electronic payments' (tralac), USTR Froman announces new digital trade working group (USTR)]
The 50 Million Women Speak platform: appraisal report (AfDB)
The project will create and deploy a social media platform, 50 Million Women Speak platform, that will enable women to access business training, mentorship, financial services and locally-relevant business information, while building their own networks of contacts. It will build on the ubiquity and popularity of mobile phones so that the burden of learning and accessing information and services is limited, allowing women to manage their businesses and their social circumstances. Given that the project seeks to cut across three regional economic communities comprising 3 RECs with a population of about 977 million, the impact would be felt. Cross border policy-regulatory and institutional reforms in the financial sector to support the platform coupled with better coordination, harmonization and synchronization mechanisms would create inclusiveness and set the appropriate environment for growth. In doing so, it will address the key development challenges: [Appraisal report: Nelson Mandela Institutes – African Institutions of Science and Technology Project (pdf)]
Tanzania: Chinese bank approves Sh16tr for Central Line (The Citizen)
China Exim Bank has approved a loan of $7.6 billion (about Sh16 trillion) to Tanzania for upgrading the Central Railway Line into standard gauge. China Exim Bank president Liu Liang told President John Magufuli at Chamwino State Lodge in Dodoma yesterday that the loan would finance the construction of the 2,190-kilometre railway. [TAZARA wins another big fuel transport deal (Daily News)]
Rwanda: Coffee export revenue drops by 5% during 2015/16 FY (New Times)
Rwanda’s coffee export revenues dropped by 5.17% to $60.7m last fiscal year, from $64.03m registered the previous year, a new National Agricultural Export Board report indicates. This represents a decline of over $3m in revenue, or 5.17%, compared to the same period the previous year. The year’s earnings were also way below $76.2m target NAEB had projected. The agro-export body attributed the decrease to the drop in global coffee prices over the reporting period. However, the volumes exported increased to 19.6 million kilos over the period, up from 16.5 million kilogrammes exported the previous year.
Somalia: crime and deterrence on the high seas (World Bank)
Mapping rural Mozambique: findings from a World Bank mission (World Bank)
Angola's intention to join SADC Free Trade Zone reaffirmed (Daily News)
Justice ministers, attorney generals discuss SADC legal instruments (Daily News)
Shoprite jumps most since 1997 as African sales growth increases (Bloomberg)
Nile Equatorial Lakes countries: interconnection of electric grids (pdf, AfDB)
tralac’s Daily News archive
Catch up on tralac’s daily news selections by following this link ».
SUBSCRIBE
To receive the link to tralac’s Daily News Selection via email, click here to subscribe.
This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 350 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.
