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tralac’s Daily News selection: 3 November 2015
The selection: Tuesday, 3 November
Today: an AGOA briefing by South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies
The African Economic Conference 2015: the conference papers, speeches and interviews
Call for papers: 2016 LSE Africa Summit on the theme 'Africa within a global context'
The inaugural PIDA Week: 'Transforming Africa through infrastructure development' (AU)
In order to join forces between all relevant players for a successful and speedy implementation, the African Union Commission and the NEPAD Agency in collaboration with the African Development Bank are organizing the first ever PIDA Week in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from 13 to 17 November 2015. Major objectives are the enhancement of private sector investment in the realization of PIDA projects and to increase the visibility of PIDA, its projects and its impacts on the African economies and population. The PIDA Week will certainly create synergies between the different implementation initiatives and Project Preparation Facilities while enhancing PIDA as a brand.
Launching, next week: the Development Minerals Programme (AU)
The African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the European Union, and the United Nations Development Programme have initiated the Development Minerals Programme, a three-year, €13.1m capacity building programme to support the low value minerals and materials (LVMM) sector in 40 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. More than 25 of the participating countries will be in Africa. The programme aims to support the capacity development of key stakeholders in the sector such as regulatory agencies and local governments; private stakeholders including small-scale mining enterprises, construction companies, mining and quarrying associations; as well as training centres, universities, civil society organizations and community groups.
Primary commodity booms and busts: emerging lessons from sub-Saharan Africa (UNDP)
Over the long run, the report shows, Africa’s economies should diversify so as to minimize risk. Primary commodities account for more than 60% of merchandise exports in 28 of the 38 African countries with recent data. Every African economy with data, except South Africa, has a higher export concentration index than the average for developing countries, excluding China.
Oil in Uganda: hard bargaining and complex politics in East Africa (Oxford Institute for Energy Studies)
This paper provides an overview of the history of oil exploration in Uganda, it considers future production and reserve levels and infrastructure development along with Uganda’s regulatory environment, through the refinery demands, tax disputes, and contractual negotiations between the Ugandan government and international oil companies and how politics may impact the advancement of Uganda’s oil industry. [The author: Luke Patey]
EITI agenda advances despite divergent views (World Bank Blogs)
As my first EITI Board meeting, I was surprised to find such divergent views on operational issues when we clearly all agree on the end goal: increasing transparency in the extractive industries to decrease the space for corruption and enhance the development impact of revenues from the sector. In 2013, EITI raised the bar of transparency with the introduction of a new Standard that requires more detailed reporting on extractive company and state owned enterprise payments, government receipts and a broader range of contextual information on the sector in EITI implementing countries. The first batch of reports produced under the Standard arrived between late 2014 and early 2015. Many EITI countries have so far struggled to meet the enhanced requirements of the Standard and concerns have been raised about how they will be assessed when they undergo the validation process (the quality assurance process that leads to the judgement of compliance with the EITI Standard). [The author: Charles Feinstein]
The Head of the Special Unit on Commodities, Samuel Gayi, made UNCTAD's opening and closing statements. He said many of the issues discussed at the IGF were "taboo” a decade ago, dividing opinions between developed countries and transnational mining corporations on one side with host countries, usually developing countries, and non-governmental organisations on the other. Such issues included the need to leave communities near mines with a better quality of life at the end of a project than at the start; the development of ancillary industries and activities surrounding mining; the need for an effective and honest dialogue between companies and communities; and the need to work with communities to ensure that their social fabric and livelihoods are not negatively unnecessarily affected.
Food safety and trade should improve nutrition and boost development (UN News Centre)
The FAO and the WTO have agreed to strengthen their cooperation to promote international food trade and safety in ways that improve nutrition and allow small-scale producers to have better access to international agricultural markets. “We look forward to ensuring fair trade of agricultural and food products through this stronger cooperation,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in remarks at an event at the agency’s headquarters in Rome. “On the one hand trade is likely to play an increasing role in meeting the growing demand from food-deficit countries. On the other hand, greater trade openness may undermine the capacity of local people to produce their own food,” he added.
Kenyan banks find entry into Ethiopia's closed economy (Daily Nation)
Kenyan banks have finally found a window of opportunity in Ethiopia’s closed economy. Local banks attempted in vain to enter the Eastern Africa’s most restricted economy in 2013. However, the lenders seem to have found an entry point with Kenya Commercial Bank on Thursday announcing it had received a licence to open a representative office in Ethiopia.
COMESA: Central banks propose to enshrine price stability in law
This was one of the recommendations that emerged from a validation workshop on a study conducted by the Central Banks titled “Effects of Fiscal Policy on the Conduct and Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy in Selected COMESA Member Countries”. The study identified the key challenges of implementing monetary and fiscal policies and made recommendations aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy coordination based on best international practices. During the workshop hosted by the COMESA Monetary Institute (CMI) in Nairobi from 19th to 20th October 2015 the delegates also recommended the curtailing of fiscal dominance to contain uncertainties in the conduct of monetary policy. [Workshop details]
Egypt: New CBE head, same problems (Ahram)
Almost a month from today the Central Bank of Egypt will be getting a new chief, Tarek Amer. He will replace Hisham Ramez, who has been in office for around two-and-a-half years. The change in CBE leadership comes amidst tough economic conditions characterised by shrinking foreign reserves and a local currency that is losing its value to the dollar. The Egyptian pound has lost 11 per cent of its value since January 2015.
EAC revenue officials meet to bolster anti-graft initiatives (New Times)
Revenue collection officials from East Africa are in Kigali for a three-day meeting on integrity, ethical culture and professionalism enhancement in fighting corruption and increasing revenue collection for economic development. They will review progress in implementing previous decisions and recommendations, then each country will present its own corruption survey statistics for the past three years, according to Stella Cosmos, the chairperson of the committee and director of internal affairs at the Tanzania Revenue Authority.
Money laundering will become difficult in next 1-2 years: Jaitley (The Hindu)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said tax evasion and money laundering will become “extremely difficult” in the next 1-2 years, with real-time global automatic exchange of information system coming into effect.
Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes: statement of outcomes (OECD)
Mozambique’s conformity with trade facilitation agreements: part 2 of the baseline analysis (SPEED)
Mozambique is party to more than a dozen international agreements directly related to trade, whether on a bilateral, regional, continental, historical, or multilateral level (see Table 1). In reality, there are dozens more relevant agreements, as international initiatives on product standards, process standards, statistical reporting, financial flows, food safety, environmental protection, and labor protections all bring to bear a significant impact on trading patterns and the competitiveness of Mozambique’s products, services and labour.
Confederation of Tanzania Industries: 'This is what to do to boost industrial growth' (The Citizen)
The CTI has asked the next government to improve the conditions that will lead to an enhanced industrial sector in the country. CTI executive director Mr Leodegar Tenga said in a statement yesterday that the President-elect Dr John Magufuli, should ensure Tanzania has a consistent and effective tax system which “has never been stable over the years.”
Why EAC competition law is key in efforts to spur growth (Business Daily)
There needs to be capacity building at the national and regional level in support of the EAC competition regime, which might involve training personnel on competition law and policy and its enforcement; funding regional and national competition agencies; and increasing advocacy on the benefits of a competitive market to all stakeholders. [The author: Elizabeth Sisenda]
Should Africa worry about the potential demise of US EXIM Bank? (Lexology)
But Africa is too big to be contained by these constraints in vision. The current stalemate over the future of the US EXIM Bank illustrates more broadly that if the US can't get it together to engage productively with Africa, others will no doubt fill the void, including through supporting the export of alternative goods from their countries to Africa. Should that prove to be the case, US companies and the workers they employ may turn out to be hurt the most by this outcome. [The authors: Thomas W. Laryea and Gary L. Goldberg]
WTO reports levelling of new G20 trade restrictions, but stockpile grows
Commenting on the report, Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said: “The WTO's system of trade rules helped to prevent a major protectionist response in the wake of the financial crisis – but the number of trade-restrictive measures that have been introduced remains a cause for concern. The G‑20 should show leadership by eliminating existing trade restrictions. As WTO Members prepare for our 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December, the G-20 will play a central role in our efforts to deliver outcomes which both strengthen the WTO's role as a backstop against protectionism, and boost growth and development around the world.”
India shares bilateral investment treaty draft copy with US; to quicken negotiations (Economic Times)
With the US keen on accelerating the BIT negotiations process, India has shared with it the draft copy of the proposed bilateral investment treaty that awaits Cabinet approval. During the US-India Trade Policy Forum meeting that concluded yesterday, Indian officials told their American counterparts that they would be in a better position to talk on it once the draft of the model text for the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) is approved by the Cabinet.
Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2015 (ESCAP)
The regional trade and investment flows in Asia and the Pacific is decelerating as the economies in the region adjust to cyclical and structural changes resulting from the global economic downturn and the expected reduction in China’s growth rate, says a new United Nations report. According to the report’s analysis of the latest regional trade and investment outlook in the region, total exports and imports from the region grew by only 1.6% in 2014. When China is excluded from the regional total, exports from the Asia-Pacific region registered a decline of 0.4%
Cecile Fruhman: 'The reforms behind the Doing Business rankings' (World Bank Blogs)
2014 Global Findex microdata provides a closer look at people’s use of financial services (World Bank Blogs)
DRC: Comparing cash and voucher transfers in a humanitarian context (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)
