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tralac’s Daily News selection: 16 October 2015
The selection: Friday, 16 October
Today, at Africa Week 2015: UNGA debate on the Development of Africa and presentation of the reports of the Secretary-General on Progress in the Implementation of NEPAD and the Causes of Conflict and Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa.
Today: the joint annual consultative meeting between the AU Peace and Security Council and the European Union Political and Security Committee.
Next week: The Feeding Africa Conference
Poverty is falling faster among Africa’s female-headed households (World Bank Blogs)
A sizeable number of households in Africa today have female heads. Based on the latest Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), 26% of all households Africa-wide are headed by women. Although there are cross-country differences, the shares both of the population living in female headed households (FHHs) and of households headed by women, have been rising over time. The data show quite clearly that the probability that a woman aged 15 or older heads a household, controlling for her age, has been increasing since the early 1990s in all regions and across the entire age distribution.
‘Rural women are the backbone of sustainable livelihoods,’ Ban declares on International Day
Lee Mwiti: 'Africa is complicated - here are the wealth numbers that prove it, including some major surprises' (M&G Africa)
World Bank’s new end-poverty tool: surveys in poorest countries (World Bank)
Addressing huge gaps in the collection of poverty data, the World Bank Group pledged today to work with developing countries and international partners to ensure that the 78 poorest nations have household-level surveys every three years, with the first round to be completed by 2020. Poverty-fighting efforts have long been constrained by a lack of data in many countries. The World Bank has identified 29 countries that had no poverty data from 2002 to 2011. Another 28 had just one survey that collected poverty data during that time. These gaps prevented analysts from identifying trends in how countries were making progress toward their goals, and posed a barrier to improving the lives of poor people.
Look beyond stats agencies: using mobile phones for data collection in Africa (UNECA)
“Ours is to have the citizen to supply structured data in the course of her normal economic activity,” said Mr. Dozie Ezigbalike, the Chief of Data Technology at ECA’s African Centre for Statistics during the opening of the Mobile data Conference in Addis Ababa. “One of the problems of collecting data is the low technology base and reliance on paper based methods,” said Mr Ezigbalike explaining the reasons ECA started a project on data collection through mobile devices.
Featured tweet, @DavidPrimack: Frank & very insightful discussions underway in Barbados on future of WTO & MC10 @commonwealthsec @CRNM_OTN hosting
MC10: Kenya pushes for cut in farming subsidies (Daily Nation)
Kenya has renewed calls for a cut of domestic subsidies in agriculture in the developed countries, to help her exports access the lucrative overseas markets. Foreign Affairs and International Trade PS Karanja Kibicho said the push for a cut in subsidies of crops such as maize will be key at the 10th WTO ministerial conference to be held in Kenya in December. “This conference is dedicated to Africa and therefore, should ensure that the outcomes are of benefit to the continent through fair multilateral trading system,” said Dr Kibicho at the National Trade Negotiations Committee retreat, held in Machakos, Thursday. The committee noted that policies in agriculture, industrial goods and fisheries need a deeper look so that it could widely benefit local countries. The Machakos meeting also explored the current mood in the WTO negotiations and what Kenya could gain from the Doha round of trade talks.
Kofi Annan, Sam Dryden: 'Food and the transformation of Africa - getting smallholders connected' (Foreign Affairs)
River Nile Transport Corridor development on course (COMESA)
The second steering committee meeting of the River Nile Transport Corridor Project took place in Cairo, Egypt from 01 to 02 October 2015. The purpose of the meeting was to consider the pre-feasibility study report prepared by Egypt and draft terms of reference pertaining to the development of the legal, institutional and regulatory framework for the project. The River Nile Transport Corridor Project aims at establishing a navigational route between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea through River Nile. So far a pre-feasibility study has been done, which identifies the sub-projects and activities for each footprint country. The footprint countries represented in the meeting were Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Sudan. NEPAD and South Africa were also represented at the meeting.
Northern Corridor: roadside stations programme (Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority)
During its 27th sitting, held in Kinshasa, DR Congo, the Northern Corridor Council of Ministers endorsed the Roadside Stations roll out program. In line with this program, the Government of Kenya has recently established a Task Force for coordinating the implementation of the Roadside Stations Project. According to the road map, the RSS Taskforce in Kenya will come up with guidelines for the RSS and the business concession model by end of October 2015. This will enable the Government to engage the Private sector to start expressing their interest to invest. Similar structure will be adopted in other Northern Corridor Member States in the process of rolling out the Roadside Stations project. As spelt out in the Terms of Reference, the mandate of the RSS Taskforce is to;
Total says Kenya security important in Uganda pipeline decision (The East African)
Total's chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said on Thursday that his firm was considering exporting oil from Uganda via a pipeline through Tanzania because of security concerns about a route through Kenya. The French firm has previously said it was considering a Tanzanian route, but had not clearly spelled out the reason. Experts had said security was likely to be a major factor.
New, from tralac: Investment protection agreements: the implications of South African policy and legislative changes [The author: Gerhard Erasmus], Safeguard measures in multilateral and regional trade agreements [The author: Elenor Lissel]
Choppies plans expansion (IOL)
Choppies Enterprises, the Botswanan supermarket chain that listed in South Africa in May, plans to open about 30 stores in the year through June and may also expand via acquisitions as the retailer seeks to increase market share in the region. “We will open stores through organic growth in Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia,” CEO Ram Ottapathu said by phone on Thursday. The Gaborone, Botswana-based retailer is also seeking to purchase companies and may enter Tanzania and Kenya, he said.
Nigeria-Turkey trade volume reaches $2.5bn, as Ankara increases gas imports (IBT)
Trade volume between Turkey and Nigeria has reached $2.5 billion, and there are efforts to increase investment, Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria Hakan Cakil said Thursday. Speaking at a business forum in Nigeria’s capital organized by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Turkish envoy said his country aims to support business opportunities for both countries.
Ghana: Govt advocates trade portal for Africa (GhanaWeb)
Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Minister of Trade and Industry, has advocated the establishment of a trade portal for the African continent. He said the portal would help in trade facilitation and improvement in bilateral trade relations. Dr Spio-Garbrah was speaking at the Swiss-Ghanaian Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Breakfast meeting on the theme: “Innovations in trade facilitation and e-government” in Accra.
Tanzania: Shilling woes lower Q2 industrial output (Daily News)
Shilling depreciation and unstable power supply are to blame for slowing down of manufacturing sector growth in this year’s second quarter. The sector contribution to GDP decelerated to 6.9% in the Q2 of this year compared to 10.1% of similar period last year. The shilling depreciated by over 20% in the first half of the year, following high demand amid low supply US dollar. The Confederation of Tanzania Industries Director for Policy and Research, Mr Hussein Kamote, said the shilling remained a key factor for the sector slow growth.
SA, DRC to meet on bilateral trade and investment relations (SABC)
DRC's Foreign Affairs Minister Raymond Tshibanda has maintained that his government has not abandoned plans to complete the final phase of the INGA hydropower project. “I think what's critical is not to move fast, but to ensure that every step you take is on a solid ground. We had to mobilise financing and we are talking to governments of China and South Africa and from now on things are going to take another pace.”
Delaware: Trade with South Africa focus of Tuesday roundtable (Delaware Online)
Kenya: Rotich calms fears of biting cash crisis (Business Daily)
Treasury secretary Henry Rotich on Thursday told Parliament that he expects the current cash crisis in government to be over in the coming months as special measures, including the hiring of consultants to boost tax collection, come into force. Mr Rotich said the government was also evaluating its expenditure in the current financial year to weed out non-critical spending to ease pressure on the Exchequer. [EU project to monitor counties' spending (Daily Nation)]
India's development cooperation with Africa: the role of the private sector (India Education Diary)
The road map ahead requires key policy considerations for India’s effective development cooperation with Africa. Towards this the Indian Government may consider institutionalizing this cooperation wherein the private sector can provide its views and suggestions about the geographical and sectoral focus of development cooperation. The coming India-Africa Forum Summit 2015 to be held from 26th of October till the 29th of Oct’15, provides a huge opportunity for Government on both the sides and their respective private sector players to define instruments of future engagements.
Transition from the informal to the formal economy in Africa - the way forward (ILO)
The fact that informality is gaining ground and remains a crucial development challenge does not mean absence of innovative policy frameworks to facilitate the transition from the informal to the formal economy and boost productive employment. African countries are searching for new policies and practical responses in order to promote decent work for a significant proportion of the working population who are engaged in the informal economy; and in many countries like in Algeria, Tunisia, Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar, Senegal or Cameroon, the ILO is assisting them in designing and implementing effective measures to tackle the issue of the informal economy and promote decent work conditions. [Background note prepared for the 13th African Regional Meeting]
Nepad's Ibrahim Mayaki: 'Small businesses important for Africa's growth' (Global Post)
Spillovers from China onto Sub-Saharan Africa: insights from the Flexible System of Global Models (IMF)
What is the impact of economic spillovers from China on sub-Saharan Africa. This is an increasingly important question because of China’s growing economic role as a partner of SSA countries for both trade and the build-up of infrastructure in the region. Three alternative scenarios are considered: first, lower potential output in China that is originally misperceived as a temporary cyclical slowdown; second, structural reforms in China that aim to increase potential output; and third, a relocation of low-end manufacturing to sub-Saharan Africa. [The impact of China’s slowdown on the Asia Pacific region: an application of the GVAR model (World Bank)]
Which donors, which funds? The choice of multilateral funds by bilateral donors at the World Bank (World Bank)
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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)
