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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Underway, in Abuja: Transfer pricing regional meeting for ECOWAS Member States
The meeting (11-13 October) provides a platform for ECOWAS countries to take stock of the current state of transfer pricing in the region and to determine the direction of further progress. Over 60 participants, including tax administration and tax policy officials from 15 Member States of ECOWAS as well as representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, the EU, WAEMU, the WBG, OECD, ATAF, and the West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF), will attend. Initiatives will be identified to assist member states to address implementation challenges arising from the scarcity of data, information and limited capacity.
Underway, in Entebbe: 2nd Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa Platform meeting
Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the AU Commission, said the objective of the meeting was to track progress of implementing the specific actions identified at the first Partnership Platform Meeting and to assess efforts of the last two years (2014-2016) of implementing PACA activities at continental, regional and national levels in order to capture the attained successes and record challenges, for the development of a clear roadmap for the next two years of implementation, among others. The EAC Deputy Secretary General, Jesca Eriyo, said Aflatoxin was a major barrier to the continent’s agricultural produce accessing export markets since stringent regulations on aflatoxin contamination limits how much produce enters the global food market. It was estimated that losses associated with Aflatoxin in Africa escalate to $450 million each year due to stringent EU standards alone.
A new emerging rural world: an overview of rural change in Africa (CIRAD/NEPAD)
This second, revised and supplemented edition of the atlas A New Emerging Rural World takes stock of rural restructuring in Africa, both North and sub-Saharan. It relates data on demographics, population, urbanization and resource use with spatial and economic dynamics, both on a continental scale and through several regional examples. It is a totally original tool, and is intended to fuel the debate on the main regional and continental development issues.
Guidelines and commentary for co-operation in Value Added Taxes in the SADC region (pdf, SADC)
These Guidelines have been produced for the use of tax officials in the SADC Region as part of regional co-operation in taxation and related matters as mandated by the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investment. In no way must these Guidelines be construed to be law, or an interpretation of the law, or of any policy or practice of any of the Member States or of the SADC region. The accuracy or completeness of the information contained in these Guidelines has not been verified by independent sources and no reliance should be placed on it in any legal or other context.
200 police officers to escort cargo on Northern Corridor (Daily Nation)
Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet has deployed 200 police officers to escort cargo on the Northern Corridor. The officers will work with the Kenya Transporters Association to ensure goods transported on the corridor, mainly from the port of Mombasa, is secured. KTA Chief Executive Officer Alfayo Otuke said transporters will next week meet with the security agencies to discuss how they will work together with the officers. “This follows rampart cases of cargo theft that sometimes led to loss of lives. This situation has seen some transporters rerouting to Tanzania,” he said. The deployment follows President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive last month that a unit be set up to secure cargo on the corridor.
Tanzania: Transport drives growth high as agriculture remains vital (Daily News)
The transport sector recorded 30.6% growth in the second quarter up from 9.4% in the first quarter to drive growth of the second quarter to 7.9% which has put the nation firmly on course to meet the 2016 growth targets of 7.2%. According to Central Bank Governor, Prof Benno Ndulu, growth in the transport sector was boosted by an increased railway transportation after upgrading of the railway infrastructure and fleet modernisation in the Tanzania Railway Limited. Growth in the transport sector was also due to a significant increase of transit cargo volume from Dar es Salaam port to neighbouring landlocked countries of Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, and Uganda contrary to widespread speculations that transit cargo had declined. He said transit cargo volume to Rwanda had increased by 17.5%, Uganda (22.3%), Malawi (14%), Burundi (4.8%) and Zambia (3.7%).
SA to push for greater liberalisation of Africa’s airspace (Business Day)
African countries continue to lag behind in various commercial activities underlying the aviation sector, and SA will push for greater liberalisation of airspace on the continent in order to pursue growth, Deputy Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said. The election of all eight African states that stood for election to the 36-member council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) pointed to a "new era" in aviation in Africa, where passenger numbers were expected to double by 2034, Chikunga said. EO of the African Airlines Association Elijah Chingosho said the target date of open skies — January 2017 — in Africa would be missed, but "the momentum was unstoppable". The increasing liberalisation of African markets over the past few years had allowed African carriers to improve on market share, said Chingosho.
Jan Hoffmann: ‘7 reasons why the Bali trade facilitation agreement needs to happen’ (WEF)
How many trillion of dollars of trade or GDP exactly are generated depends on a number of assumptions, but there is no doubt that the impact is positive. But why exactly? In today’s trade-logistics and development context, trade facilitation has become ever more important. And here are seven specific reasons why.
Uhuru Kenyatta: remarks at a joint press conference with Jacob Zuma (State House)
First, we have agreed to purposely and practically increase trade between our two countries. To turn into reality the immense untapped potential to expand the scale of our commercial relations. We can exploit that potential by progressively removing all barriers to trade. We are glad that South Africa understands the anxiety about non–tariff barriers that prevent us from exporting tea, coffee or soda ash. Mr President, I applaud your commitment to urgently resolving this outstanding matter. Second, I am happy to report that the South African government will consider our request that Kenyan nationals be granted visa on arrival. This is a privilege that Kenya already extends to South African nationals. In our view, there is no reason why both our countries cannot agree on exemption of visas for each other’s citizens.
Beating the slowdown in Zambia: reducing fiscal vulnerabilities for economic recovery (World Bank)
Zambia currently faces an unsustainable fiscal outlook. The economy has been badly affected by the triple shocks of 2015 (copper downturn, poor harvest, power shortages). The shocks have in turn reduced Government revenues. At the same time, public spending has risen as Government has sought to subsidise rising fuel, power and maize prices and the cost of servicing debt has increased. The fiscal deficit is now at historically high levels, and accessing financing to maintain this deficit is becoming increasingly difficult and costly. Zambia faces a real and rising risk of debt distress in the coming decade, particularly if it has to rely on non-concessional and commercial debt to plug budget deficits stretched by growing recurrent expenditure.
Botswana: Decent work and the 2030 agenda (UNDP)
So with this in mind, what has to be done? Multiple things, of course, but allow me to highlight some of particular importance, what you may refer to as a 10+ Action Plan for employment creation with a focus on reducing youth unemployment: [Keynote address by Anders Pedersen (@AndersP_UN) at the HRDC Job Summit]
Uganda: Government releases new oil standards (Daily Monitor)
As Uganda approaches the oil production phase, the government has issued standards that sector players will be required to adhere to. The 195 standards are expected to be adhered to by suppliers, exploration companies, oil companies, the oil refinery and distributors of refined products. The focus of the standards is petroleum and petrochemical products, drilling, development and production equipment materials, petroleum management, refining and transportation, and distribution.
Pradeep S. Mehta: ‘Call for a multilateral competition regime’ (LiveMint)
Fortunately, there have been some positive developments on this front. Competition authorities from BRICS countries have signed a cooperation agreement and patent authorities are having separate meetings. In addition, there is a BRICS food working group to develop suitable strategies. And above all, the theme—“Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions”—of the eighth BRICS summit, to be held in India this month, is very apt in the given situation. All this adds to the suitability of the forum in the present “time and space” to take a lead in developing an agenda for a multilateral competition policy. A suitable approach for BRICS nations could be to first have a plurilateral competition policy among them and then open it for other like-minded countries to join the arrangement. [Pradeep S. Mehta is secretary general, CUTS International]
Global Investment Trends Monitor (UNCTAD)
FDI inflows to Africa could return to a growth path in 2016, increasing by an average of 6% to $55-60bn. This bounce-back is already becoming visible in announced greenfield projects in Africa. In the first quarter of 2016, their value was $29bn, 25% higher than the same period in 2015. The biggest rise in prospective investments are in North African economies such as Egypt and Morocco, but a more optimistic scenario also prevails more widely, for example in Mozambique, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Romola Adeola: ‘Africa has much to do before it starts its own humanitarian agency’ (M&G Africa)
Several proposals were canvassed at the first meeting of the specialised technical committee set up to consider the issues of migration, refugees and internally displaced persons. The most significant was the establishment of an African Humanitarian Agency. The idea isn’t new: it was mooted in 2015 by the East African Regional Consultation on Humanitarian Effectiveness meeting in Arusha, Tanzania. And the AU presented the idea to the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. But can it work? In anticipation of the establishment of an agency, there are certain concerns that need to be addressed. I will discuss the five key ones.
ECOWAS and Germany to consolidate progress in West African integration
William Kavila, Pierre Le Roux: Inflation dynamics in a dollarised economy - the case of Zimbabwe
Tanzania: Govt completes evaluation of 82 privatised entities
Jayanta Roy: ‘Can India adapt to new trade realities?’
D. Ravi Kanth: ‘Doublespeak at the WTO’
DRC governance issues: SADC’s Mahiga-led mission starts, briefing to UNSC by Maman Sidikou (Special Representative of the UNSG, Head of MONUSCO)
Zimbabwe-Mozambique Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security opens in Harare
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