News
tralac’s Daily News selection
The selection: Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Selected WTO Trade Policy Reviews: Malawi (27, 29 April), DRC (15, 17 June), Zambia (21, 23 June)
Recently launched: the UNEP Environment and Trade Hub
By working through a network of national, regional, and international partners, the Hub is able to offer interdisciplinary services that are tailored to local needs and circumstances while being delivered in an effective and demand-oriented manner. The specific objectives of the Hub are to: enhance capacity of countries to design and implement trade policies that foster environmental sustainability and human well-being; assist countries in the realization of trade opportunities arising from a transition to greener economies; strengthen the sustainability aspects of cross-border trade and investment agreements in bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral negotiations; realize a shift of trade practices and trends to more sustainable patterns.
Foresight Africa: Top priorities for the continent in 2016 (Brookings)
In this year’s Foresight Africa, the Africa Growth Initiative and its colleagues discuss six overarching themes that place Africa at this tipping point and give their view on what they perceive to be key areas for intervention to keep Africa on its current rising trajectory. This year’s format is different from years past, encompassing viewpoints from high-level policymakers, academics, and practitioners, as well as utilizing visuals to better illustrate the paths behind and now in front of Africa.
The chapters:
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Managing economic shocks: African prospects in the evolving external environment
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Sustaining domestic growth: structural transformation depends on jobs, industry, and SMEs
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Supporting human development: triumphs and challenges on the continent
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Capitalizing on urbanization: the importance of planning, infrastructure, and finance for Africa’s growing cities
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Maintaining governance gains: the national and regional agendas
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Expanding African trade: creating a comparative advantage and strengthening regional partnerships
Towards a regional gender trade index: EOI (AfDB)
The following deliverables are expected from the Junior Consultant: a report with key findings of primary research which should include mapping tariff and non-tariff barriers as well as opportunities for supporting cross-border traders along the North-South corridors and opportunities to better facilitate trade at border post; a report on the feasibility of a gender trade index and stakeholder/partnership mapping.
Master's programme in African regional integration (WAI)
The effective implementation of the regional integration agenda in West Africa requires highly skilled and trained experts in order to consolidate and improve the integration process. Also Individuals working in the field need to have a well-rounded understanding of the multi-dimensional complexities of integration in order to successfully manage the challenges and utilize the opportunities provided by integration. With a strong will to meet these critical needs, WAI and UNI-CV in cooperation with ZEI and with its network of scholars across Africa have taken the next step to implement the Master in African Regional Integration which is meant to support the targeted capacity-building efforts of WAI. In addition to the training of the new generations of elites in the sub regions the Master Program also includes comparative aspects. To this end, comprehensive and innovative training programs have been developed to strengthen the analytical capacity needed to understand the implications of regional integration, the ability to handle complex processes and appreciate the different dimensions of regional integration; including economic, social, legal and political.
SADC: developing harmonised regional guidelines on use and disposal of agrochemicals and fertilisers
Kenya: Small traders smell death in new import rule (Daily Nation)
Traders who import goods in small quantities are likely to be hard hit by a new rule by the Kenya Bureau of Standards requiring all cargo to be accompanied by a certificate of conformity. On Tuesday, traders claimed it would be difficult to bring into the country goods that are imported in small quantities, with manufacturers preferring to deal with those buying in bulk. “Items such as sewing machines are not consumed in huge quantities in the country. I import them from China and the manufacturers there are not ready to be subjected to such requirements for low value exports,” said an importer who declined to be named for fear that his identity would compromise his relations with KRA.
SA-AGOA: selected updates
AGOA row about a deeper discord (editorial comment, Business Day)
Just as the dispute over chicken imports from the US was not really about chickens, so is SA’s likely suspension from the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) not entirely about trade. Rather it is a case of the US saying to SA that it cannot have it both ways. Pretoria cannot line up with the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China) bloc on foreign policy issues and bad-mouth Washington — while still demanding privileged access to US markets. It cannot take measures that frustrate trade and investment flows from the US and Europe — but still expect special favours from these regions. Most of all, if SA cannot get its act together to meet the deadlines in a trade dispute, it should not be surprised if it is punished for its incompetence, or perhaps arrogance.
Related: South African farmers see pain as US trade deal unravels (Bloomberg), Agriculture fears loss of benefits from AGOA (Business Day), Ayabonga Cawe: 'AGOA: What are the real issues?' (Daily Maverick), SA poultry slammed for 'protectionism' (Fin24)
India chomping at the BIT (Politico)
India quietly published the final version of its model bilateral investment treaty over the holiday week, setting the stage for the Asian country of roughly 1.3 billion to get negotiations back on track with the U.S. and craft a deal that would dramatically stabilize the investment climate in one of the world’s most dynamic economies. But don’t expect the talks to conclude under this administration.
Zimbabwe: Government engages expert for Beitbridge border post (NewsDay)
Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the government was in the process of upgrading the border post to international standards, but it was necessary to put in place interim measures to alleviate the current challenges and also take advantage of the strategic position of the border post. “Government will engage an independent border post expert to reorganise Beitbridge and the expert will work in collaboration Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials and report to the chairperson of the Zimra board. This measure will be implemented during the first quarter of 2016,” he said. [Moyo appointed CEO for BBR (NewsDay)]
Mozambique: INE household survey shows widening gap between rich and poor (Club of Mozambique)
The survey [conducted by Mozambique’s National Statistics Institute] shows an across the board improvement in living standards since the previous survey, held in 2008-09, but the gains are much sharper for the richer strata of the population than for the poorer. At current prices, average monthly household expenditure per capita rose from 324 meticais in 2002/3 to 721 meticais in 2008/9 to 1,408 meticais (31.3 US dollars at current exchange rates) in 2014/15. The full report breaks this down into fifths (quintiles). The richest quintile saw its monthly per capita expenditure rise from 1,487 meticais in 2008/09 to 5,812 meticais now. This is more than the other four quintiles put together.
Mozambique economy stimulated by infrastructure financed by China (MacauHub)
The focus of Mozambique’s foreign policy, said the same source, is “to connect to new partners” such as China, India and Brazil, “with the long-term goal of reducing the weight of external aid with more investment revenues in the energy and mines sectors.” The interest from major Chinese state-owned enterprises, such as China Three Gorges and China State Grid, in Mozambique’s big hydroelectric projects has been widely publicised.
US eyes Kenya crude pipeline amid China dominance (Business Daily)
The US has shown interest in Kenya’s planned crude oil pipeline as it seeks a piece of the East African country’s mega infrastructure deals dominated by Chinese contractors. The pipeline linking Kenya and Uganda’s newly found oil fields to the Coast was one of the issues discussed between US ambassador Robert Godec and new Energy secretary Charles Keter on Tuesday. “We also discussed the question of an oil pipeline in the northern part of Kenya to help extract Kenya’s oil,” Mr Godec told the Press after meeting top Energy ministry officials, including principal secretary Joseph Njoroge.
Record energy production at Cahora Bassa (Club of Mozambique)
According to a press release from Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa, the company that operates the dam, total production last year was slightly more than 16,978 gigawatt-hours. This is the largest amount of electricity produced since commercial operations began at Cahora Bassa in 1977. The previous record was in 2009, when production reached 16,574 gigawatt-hours.
West Africa Power Pool: first phase update (World Bank)
The development objective of the WAPP program is to establish a well-functioning, cooperative, power pooling mechanism for West Africa, as a means to increase access of the citizens of ECOWAS to stable and reliable electricity at affordable costs. The WAPP APL program would help the ECOWAS Member States to develop a robust platform for WAPP, comprising five (5) distinct but mutually reinforcing sub-regional infrastructure development projects.
Eskom: No secrecy around Zim power deal (NewsDay)
Eskom has confirmed the sale of electricity to Zimbabwe, but denied that the power supply agreement with its Zimbabwean counterpart the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) is secret. Eskom is part of the Southern African Power Pool (Sapp), and so is Zesa, where member utilities sell surplus electricity to each other depending on the need, Eskom said.
Addis Ababa: Enhancing urban resilience (World Bank)
A CityStrength Diagnostic was conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in February 2015 at the request of the city. The city currently faces potential shocks and stresses related to its unprecedented rapid urbanization including urban flooding, fire, earthquakes, water scarcity, unemployment and social vulnerability. The Diagnostic found that enhancing resilience in Addis Ababa requires actions and investments oriented toward implementing existing plans and regulations, establishing clear and capacitated leadership on risk management topics, and investing in infrastructure that meets existing and future needs. Priority actions include: [Download]
Kaduna State: rural access and mobility project update (World Bank)
The small entrepreneur in fragile and conflict-affected situations (World Bank Blogs)
A recent World Bank report 'The small entrepreneur in fragile and conflict-affected situations’ looked into the motives and challenges of small entrepreneurs in FCS countries [including some in SSA] and made a number of interesting discoveries. They found that compared to entrepreneurs elsewhere, entrepreneurs in FCS have different characteristics and face significantly different challenges. FCS enterprises tend to be small, informal and to be engaged in sectors that are trade and service oriented. Three other things they found are illustrated in the charts below. These findings came as quite a surprise to us.
Access to finance and enterprise growth: evidence from an experiment in Uganda (ILO)
American Economic Association: access the conference papers
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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)
