The selection: Tuesday, 13 December 2016

President Paul Kagame yesterday hosted the fourth AU Reform Advisory Group meeting: update

An assessment of the short term impact of the ECOWAS-CET and EU-EPA in Senegal (World Bank)

In recent years, there have been major changes in the trade policy landscape in West Africa that will affect Senegal. When initially designed in the mid-2000s, the CET was organized in four tariff bands: 0 percent for essential social goods, 5% for goods of primary necessity, raw materials and specific inputs, 10% for intermediate goods and 20% for final consumption goods. Since then, Nigeria has obtained the introduction of a fifth band at 35% for ‘specific goods for economic development’ (essentially agricultural goods and some consumer goods). The first section of the paper presents an analysis of the impact of the CET and EU-EPA on protection levels, trade flows and state revenues, changes in the price of the consumption bundles for households and impact on firm’s profits. The second section underlines some key elements of an accompanying policy agenda and a third section concludes.

Nigeria: ECOWAS’ sweet poison (The Nation)

I understand the old debate about the unfriendliness of our ports, the crippling bureaucracy and the mind-boggling corruption said to make doing business such hell and how this makes the neighbouring ports attractive. No doubt, there is a lot to be said of the need to streamline our port operations and procedures to make the more competitive and business friendly. After cycles of interminable reforms, they are legitimate arguments to make now and for all time. At issue is whether these concerns should be allowed to obviate mounting concerns about duplicity of our ECOWAS neighbours, particularly when their activities are injurious to us. We must of course understand that none of these goods are produced in the sub region, which of course raises the unlikelihood of their ban being seen as a violation of the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods and services. Moreover, the idea that a supposedly friendly neighbour will deliberately set itself up as a transit camp for goods destined for a third party country in brazen violation of its own domestic policies would seem far beyond the pale of modern trade protocols. That, unfortunately is the terrible situation which the sub regional body has found itself. [The author: Sanya Oni] [Related: Ports hurdles may hamper policy on imported vehicles, Nigerian lawmaker seeks free-float rollback via currency bill, NEPC: Nigeria ready for AGOA]

Benin: 16 economic policy notes to better inform decision making (World Bank)

Fourteenth Replenishment of the African Development Fund: update (AfDB)

A global coalition of donors pledged to support the structural transformation of African economies and the African Development Bank’s High Five priorities by agreeing on $7.06bn over the next three years to support development projects and programs in the 38 lower income African countries supported by the African Development Fund. The African Development Fund will shift more resources to support the private sector in the region, even as it helps countries dealing with fragility to address their most pressing developmental challenges. The increased resources devoted to these countries reflect their strong need for concessional funding. Recognizing the private sector’s key role in the transformation of African economies, the Fund will allocate over $280m to the Private Sector Credit Enhancement Facility. This Facility will leverage approximately $840m of private sector financing, of which at least 50% will be in higher risk countries. The Fund will continue to promote financial instruments that crowd in resources from the private sector, such as financial guarantee products.

Africa must act now if it is to feed itself in 2050 – scientists (Thompson Reuters Foundation)

Africa will be able to grow enough cereals to feed its growing population by 2050, but only if it breaks a culture of complacency and starts now to invest more in agriculture, scientists said on Monday. Sub-Saharan Africa currently imports about 20% of its cereal needs, and this could rise to at least 50% by 2050, researchers said in a report published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Knowledge management crucial for Africa’s growth (SciDev)

The observation was made last month (14-16 November) during information and knowledge management training workshop on nutrition security and trade organised in Kenya jointly by the Africa Union Commission, NEPAD Agency and the COMESA Secretariat. It brought together technical experts from 11 COMESA member states - Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe - working in trade, agriculture and nutrition security.

SADC Development Finance Institutions’ Chief Executive Officers’ Forum: update (The Chronicle)

The two-day workshop, at Victoria Falls, was attended by 31 development finance institutions in Africa and 25 chief executive officers and was held under the theme: “How to effectively use PPPs to enhance service delivery and development infrastructure.” The workshop sought to discuss PPPs in light of slow uptake by countries where only South Africa and Mauritius have active PPPs despite the concept being adopted by the region in 2013. [Peter Leon: What are the expectations of foreign and domestic investors for a welcoming investment climate in the SADC community? (Politicsweb)]

EAC borrows leaf from Japan, Vietnam for automotive industry (New Times)

According to Jean-Baptiste Havugimana, the EAC director for productive sectors, experts from partner states and the Secretariat travelled to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda “to compile baseline information on the status of automotive industry,” and to Vietnam and Japan for a benchmarking exercise. “These missions took place from September 20 to October 7. Thereafter, the team will visit other countries in East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda) for in-depth analysis, and to others in Africa such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa for benchmarking,” Havugimana told The New Times at the weekend.

EAC must double efforts if Monetary Union is to be achieved, officials say (New Times)

Despite the apparent concern, however, Njoroge remains firm that preparatory work is still going on. The governors of the central banks, he assured, are following up on issues that were supposed to be implemented by the EAMI. “And, a lot of work is being done. A lot of monitoring mechanism as well as the n implementation of the convergence criteria has been developed. And it is being used in monitoring how we are doing in the implementation of the convergence criteria,” he said. Other than Burundi, it is said, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have prepared the medium term convergence programme and ministers of finance approved. The approved plans provide a trajectory on how the bloc moves from 2016 to 2021.

East Africa: One-stop border posts, axle-load laws set for January (The East African)

The laws were due to take effect on 1 October but for a failure to secure the signature of the new Heads of State Summit chairman, Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli, in time. Alfred Kitolo, director of infrastructure services at Kenya’s Ministry of East African Community Affairs, said the EAC Council will now have the gazette notice with the two laws signed during the EAC Summit in January, whereupon implementation can start.

Zimbabwe: Government in drive to boost export growth (The Herald)

Government has launched the Rapid Results Approach for ease of doing export business as part of its efforts to close competitiveness gaps and halt negative export growth. According to the 2017 National Budget, the country’s export performance is expected to further decline by 6,9% to $3,3bn. Last year, total imports were $6bn against exports of $3,6bn resulting in an average monthly deficit of $275m. The 100-day RRA is expected to help enhance the country’s export earnings by tackling the key impediments to the export process, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha said in a speech read on his behalf by his permanent secretary Abigail Shonhiwa.

Botswana: Ghost town chronicles meltdown of Botswana’s metals industry (IOL)

The streets of Selebi Phikwe in northeastern Botswana no longer teem with trucks, and once-busy shop assistants and bank tellers wait for the rare customer. Since state-owned mining company BCL closed its loss-making copper and nickel operation that was the economic lifeblood of the area two months ago, the settlement of 50 000 has become a virtual ghost town. The government says it can’t afford the 8 billion pula ($748m) needed to recapitalize the mine. Instead, it’s asked former central bank Governor Linah Mohohlo to oversee a plan to rescue the region.

Revealed... most Tanzanians ignorant of EAC protocols (IPPMedia)

Interviewed, different government officials and other stakeholders said that the presence of numerous ‘panya’ routes, absence of security in many parts of Kigoma Region pose a big challenge in the East Africa Customs Union and Common Market protocols. Generally, Kigoma residents, farmers and business community do not know how the EAC common markets and customs union works. In an exclusive interview by this paper Kigoma residents and businessmen said they don’t know the opportunities accrued from the EAC community at large. Kigoma regional government officials and law enforcers who sought anonymity said that the government must wake up because generally many Tanzanians don’t know what EAC mean to them, its functions and protocols. That’s why some of them are being easily lured and then used by foreign businessmen and tax evaders.

DHL Global Connectedness Index: globalization surpassed pre-crisis peak, advanced modestly in 2015

In addition to a comprehensive overview on the state of globalization, the 2016 report also provides detailed insights into the connectedness of individual countries and regions. The index ranks countries on their depth (intensity of international flows) and breadth (geographical distribution of flows), which combine for an overall connectedness score between 0 and 100. Countries in South & Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa suffered a drop in their average levels of global connectedness.

$56bn and growing: it’s time India addressed the trade deficit with China (The Wire)

India’s trade deficit with China in 2015-16 stands at $52.69 billion. And it is expected that this will go up even further this year. This by itself should not be a cause for worry, as India runs deficits with 16 out of its top 25 trade partners. The fact is that India buys more than it sells worldwide. But the real problem is that there is no obvious solution in sight as yet and therefore the question that arises is, for how long can this huge deficit with China be maintained? India’s trade relations with China have had a checkered history and, unfortunately, continue to remain hostage to political developments between the two countries, albeit much less now than earlier. [The author, R.S. Kalha, is a former secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs] [Indo-China trade volume to touch $65 billion during 2016]

Perspectives on Global Development 2017: international migration in a shifting world (OECD)

The 9th Global Forum on Migration and Development meeting was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh (10-12 December) under the overarching theme “Migration that works for Sustainable Development of all: Towards a Transformative Migration Agenda”. This year’s Forum is focused on three main pillars: economics, sociology and governance of migration and development. The overarching theme is based on a ‘SDG Plus’ approach, i.e. to incorporate and advance, in the context of deliverables, a range of migration specific issues. [Various downloads available]

Africa’s climate: Helping decision-makers make sense of climate information (Future Climate for Africa)

The report has 15 factsheets covering specific regions including East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa and West Africa and six countries – Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The FCFA, a five-year, £20 million (almost $25m) programme with funding from the UK Department for International Development and the UK’s Natural Environment Resource Council, began in 2014 and has groups of researchers creating climate change data to aid policymaking in Africa. [Mauritius: Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub update, Small states’ resilience to natural disasters and climate change: role for the IMF]

Innovative research helps Rwanda raise $9m in tax revenue (IDS)

The study was conducted by the International Centre for Tax and Development in partnership with the African Tax Administration Forum, and in collaboration with the RRA. It was largely funded by UK Aid from the UK government, which highlighted the project as “high impact” in a recent Research Review. Not only did the project help raise additional revenue, it also catalysed innovations in the RRA’s operations (such as automatically personalising communications and expanding the functionality of its SMS platform), helped build research capacity within the RRA, and provided practical policy recommendations. [Various downloads available] [Botswana: BURS adopts new systems to broaden tax base]

Today’s Quick Links:

President Sirleaf leads high-level ECOWAS delegation to The Gambia

EAC, development partners’ high level dialogue: update

IGAD, EU commit to drought resilience, free movement of persons in IGAD region

Zimbabwe: Diaspora remittances to drop 17% on firming US$

Safaricom in talks with five firms on M-Pesa’s future

‘Pressure on’ for African govts in 2017 in ICT

Tanzania: 2017 Finscope survey gets underway

Calestous Juma, Sujata Bhatia: If we develop Africa’s bioeconomy it will be as transformative for us as digital has been

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