News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Wednesday, 7 September 2016
Starting today, in Guangzhou: the Second Investing in Africa Forum
The Forum (7-8 Sept) is one of important outcomes of the first IAF held in Addis Ababa in July 2015. It aims to promote experience sharing between China and Africa and build accelerated investment in Africa. Under this overarching goal, the Forum will address five themes, namely: Agriculture and agribusiness; Cooperation to expand capacity in manufacturing and industrialization; Infrastructure development, regional connectivity and renewable energy; Skills development, vocational training and job creation; and Trade and tourism. The Forum will be predominantly forward-looking and results-oriented, and will also showcase a number of projects in Africa with committed or prospective investments from China as well as Guangdong Province. The Guangdong Province is in the frontier in China’s economic reform and opening up process. It is also the fastest growing economy in the country for over three decades and has long been a champion for cooperation with African countries with bilateral trade totaling over $ 40bn a year. [Download the themed background papers]
5th Macau Forum Ministerial Conference between China and Portuguese-speaking countries: update
The ministerial meeting (11-12 October) is based on the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and focuses on the highest common denominator, i.e. development, in order to promote economic and trade relations between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, whilst also supporting Macau in building the region up as a Service Platform for Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. During the ministerial conference the Action Plan for Economic and Trade Cooperation (2017-2019) and other documents will be signed, which set out the key areas and guidelines for development of economic and trade cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking for the next three years.
Kenya: Sign long term deals, Chinese firms urged (Daily Nation)
Chinese firms have been urged to adopt long-term strategies and engage the local workforce and partnerships if they are to gain greater acceptance in the Kenyan market. Guangdong Chamber of Commerce in Kenya Chairman Liu Yanmei told a private sector delegation from Foshan city in central Guangdong province, visiting Nairobi to go for the long haul. “Short-sighted prospects have failed so you need to think long-term, and you have to fit in with the local people. In Guangdong, Peugeot was unfriendly with the locals and was not successful but when Honda came, their attitude helped them; they respected the locals and fit in and were very successful,” said Mr Liu.
Rebalancing in China: progress and prospects (IMF)
China is transitioning to a greener, more inclusive, more consumer and service based, and less credit-driven economy. This paper defines a framework for assessing rebalancing, reviews progress, and discusses medium-term prospects. The service sector will continue to gain importance, helping reduce the carbon intensity of output and increase labour’s share of national income and household consumption. Reducing the credit intensity of growth is likely to progress slowly unless decisive corporate restructuring and SOE reforms are implemented. [The analyst: Longmei Zhang]
Why Africa should be keen on the Tripartite Free Trade Area (New Times)
The words ‘Tripartite Free Trade Area’ were among the most commonly used phrases at the Global African Investment Summit, which closed yesterday, at the Kigali Convention Centre. In the negotiation process, insiders say that there is fear among countries that by being part of a larger bloc, their local industries would be stifled due to competition from imports. However, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni moved to reassure countries that their local industries will not be stifled by opening up their market to fellow members of the proposed bloc. He said that to protect their local industries, the bloc would adopt a common external tariff which will ensure that local industries in the various member countries remain competitive.
GAFI pledges to support Egypt’s private sector to broaden its business in Africa (Daily News)
Executive chairperson of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed Khodeir pledged to grant Egypt’s private sector the necessary support and information to enable it to play a greater role in investment in Africa, and to provide it with the available investment opportunities for discussion. Egypt’s government is concerned with developing economic and investment relations with Africa as it believes in the importance of continuous integration and ongoing cooperation among all African governments to achieve sustainable development for all African countries, Khodeir said on the sidelines of the Global African Investment Summit which currently is underway in Kigali, Rwanda.
Kenya: Ease of Doing Business Index for counties key to investment growth (Business Daily)
Trade and investment opportunities that were initially held at the national level have now been devolved. Counties now compete with each other to attract investments. This has led to increased trade and investment promotion at the county level. This sub national index similar to the one that the World Bank did for Russia, Mexico and Nigeria will be an invaluable guide to investors seeking to set-up or expand their businesses to counties. The move by World Bank to partner with Kenya to fund this research geared towards ranking the 47 counties on the ease of doing business will go a long way in opening up counties for real economic growth and help Kenya to climb to a higher rank on the ease of doing business globally. [Governors adopt plan for regional trade blocs]
World Manufacturing Production: statistics for Quarter 2 (UNIDO)
Manufacturing output in developing and emerging industrial economies slightly increased compared to previous quarters by 4.9% in the second quarter of 2016. Despite this improvement, the risk of another slowdown looms over developing economies as long as economic and political instability persist in industrialized countries. Growth performance varied considerably between the regions - Asian economies persevered, while manufacturing output in Latin America dropped yet increased in Africa compared to the second quarter of 2015. Manufacturing output in Africa rose on account of a significant strengthening of South African manufacturing in the second quarter of 2016. On the contrary, a sharp plunge in production was observed in Brazil as a result of the economic recession which dragged down the overall manufacturing performance of Latin America in the second quarter of 2016.
G20 Inclusive Business: report for the G20 2016 Summit
Leaders at the G20 Leaders Summit in Antalya, Turkey issued a call to action to public and private sector representatives, international organizations and civil society to advance the ability of businesses around the world to integrate low-income people into their value chains. The following report was prepared for the G20 Leaders Summit. Findings discussed include: how inclusive business can support the Sustainable Development Goals established in the 2030 Agenda; the obstacles for businesses looking to work with the base of the economic pyramid; and policy and financing approaches to fostering inclusive business.
South Africa: Economic cluster to accelerate implementation of the Nine-Point Plan (GCIS)
The Economic Cluster is at an advanced stage in preparing for the implementation of 40 high-impact investment projects in Agriculture and Agro-processing, Agri-parks, Energy, Infrastructure, Beneficiation and Manufacturing subsectors. Of these 40 projects, 10 have been assigned high-priority status and will be fast-tracked and monitored by the Investment Inter-Ministerial Committee. Across the 40 projects, InvestSA is co-ordinating the completion of feasibility studies, and the provision of regulatory and incentive support. [Economic indicators spoil SA’s GDP cheer]
Tanzania: July 2016 Monthly Economic Review (pdf, BoT)
The performance of exports of goods and services slightly improved to $10,096.9 million compared with the $9,310.6 million in the year ending June 2015 due to a diverse domestic and external factors. The improvement, however, was manifested in non-traditional export commodities and services receipts. In fact, a large part of the improvement occurred in travel (which is mainly tourism), manufactured goods and gold. Foreign exchange earnings from traditional exports were lower than in the corresponding period in 2015. The value of traditional exports dropped by 8.8%, to $828 million, driven by volume and prices.
Nigeria: Exports grow by 63% in Q2 (National Bureau of Statistics)
The total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade in Q2, 2016 was ₦3,942.0bn. This was 49.0% more than the value of ₦2,645.5bn recorded in the preceding quarter. This development arose from a rise of ₦725.6bn (or 63.3%) in the value of exports (largely due to exchange rate gains) combined with a rise of ₦570.8bn (or 38.1%) in the value of imports against the levels recorded in the preceding quarter. The current trade position brought Nigeria's negative trade balance to - ₦196.5bn during the period under review. This shows a ₦154.8bn reduction in the country’s trade deficit over the previous quarter.
Kenya: Tea farmers set for windfall earnings as industry income hits Sh84 billion (Business Daily)
At Sh84 billion, the earnings are Sh21 billion more than last season’s income that stood at Sh63 billion, according to the Kenya Tea Development Agency. The growth in earnings has been attributed to a stable exchange rate and high pricing of the tea in the global market arising from depressed output from major tea growing nations such as Sri Lanka. The outstanding performance means that growers affiliated to the KTDA are set to share Sh44.72 billion in the second round of the payments, popularly known as bonuses -- a major increase compared to the Sh28 billion they earned in a similar period the previous year.
Tony Elumelu: Role of private sector in fighting poverty (ThisDay)
This October, we will host another class of 1,000 budding entrepreneurs from 53 countries in Africa, at the Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum in Lagos. The programme and the forum will aim at empowering them, inspiring them and, most importantly, teach these young African men and women how to become fishermen. I am proud to tell you that in the Class of 2015, Nigerian entrepreneurs numbered 480, and all 36 states were represented. This year, Nigerians make up 601 (or 60%) of the top 1,000, bringing the total number of Nigerian entrepreneurs in our programme to 1,081.
ECOWAS, Elumelu Foundation sign MoU on youth empowerment (ThisDay)
The MoU, which has been endorsed, is for a period of two years. It allows both organisations to leverage their respective capacities and sharpen their focus on entrepreneurship as a tool of development. Specifically, a statement explained that the collaboration is expected to help formalise and instill competitiveness in the West-African entrepreneurship ecosystem by developing and implementing a Regional Strategy and Charter to promote best practices in MSME governance, better access to finance, access to regional and international markets, and capacity building.
Tanzania: DRC to review visas procedure for local truck drivers (IPPMedia)
At a meeting held yesterday in Kinshasa between Central Corridor Transit Facilitation Agency delegation led by Executive Secretary, Captain Dieudonné Dukundane, DRC’s Director of Immigration, Francois Kasonga promised to look into the problem saying concerns raised by Tanzanian truck drivers will swiftly be addressed. The CCTTFA said the meeting was part of implementation of the TTFA Inter-Ministerial Council of Ministers’ directive last August to follow up on solving the visa issue with authorities in DRC.
Uganda: Traders want equal access as Kenya opens new terminal (Daily Monitor)
The spokesperson of the Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita), Mr Issa Sekitto, has called for equal treatment and access to systems of clearance as Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) launched a new terminal at Mombasa port. “Equal accessibility to the tax system will help speed up the clearing process for goods. Uganda’s tax system ESCUDA is open to the Kenyans unlike the SIMBA, clearing system which is only accessible to Kenyans,” he said. “As long as the issues are not addressed, we shall only benefit from the increase in capacity at the port but will still face challenges trying to clear the goods,” Mr Sekitto said.
Uganda MPs give foreigners in retail trade 3-month ultimatum to close shop (The EastAfrican)
Uganda has given foreigners operating retail outlets in Kampala a three-month ultimatum to either invest in bigger businesses or return to their home countries. The decision was reached Monday during a meeting between the members of the parliamentary Trade, Industry and Cooperatives committee and Kampala traders after the latter petitioned Parliament about the influx of foreigners in retail business.
Accra hosts 2-day African Ports Evolution, West African forum (News Ghana)
Port of Antwerp invests in West Africa (Maritime Executive)
ECOWAS Ministers adopt Action Plan to address illicit drug trafficking, organized crimes
