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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 4 April 2016
Starting today, in Addis: the ministerial segment of #CoM2016
Extracts from Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s opening statement: The Bahir Dar Ministerial Retreat of the Executive Council in January 2014 called for the establishment of an African Economic Platform (AEP) that will enable a strategic dialogue amongst governments, the private sector and academia on the role of each sector in moving forward these critical priority issues mentioned above. We are organising the first of these platforms at the beginning of June, back to back with the Assembly Retreat with Heads of State and Government and Ministers of Finance on the issue of the financing of Agenda 2063 and the AU.
As part of this drive, we must continue the push for integration. The reality is that the cost of non-integration is growing: in the aviation and other transport sectors, in the energy sector, in building viable regional value chains, in the blue economy and in our skills deficit. As a continent, we are making progress, if we look at the advances by the RECs such as EAC and ECOWAS on free movement of people and goods; all the RECs on their transport corridors, and in some on the regional customs unions, and intra African trade and investments. For example, intra-regional trade in intermediate and capital goods, grew at more than 11% annually between 1999 and 2013.
The January Summit of the AU adopted a decision that called on countries to introduce a 30-day visa on arrival for all citizens from African countries, so as to encourage intra-African trade, investments, business and tourism, and Member states are required to report on this by the time of the Summit in July this year.
#CoM2016 - a guide to the weekend’s key report launches:
Africa Regional Integration Index Report 2016
The report covers member countries from the eight RECs recognized by the AU. The dimensions and indicators chosen for the index are based on the Abuja Treaty and its operational framework. Regional integration is cross-border and multi-dimensional. Indicators that have a cross-border interaction, and where verified, quality data is available, have been used to make up the Index. Future editions of the Index will grow in scope as more data becomes available.
Assessing Regional Integration in Africa VII: innovation, competitiveness and regional integration
These three elements may not at first seem linked, and competitiveness seems more usually related to efforts to integrate national economies into regional arrangements. But closer review reveals several ways the three interact dynamically. By knitting together networks of institutions, people and markets – the essentials setting innovation in motion – even a loose connection between two or more nations is bound to facilitate innovation and related creative activities. The cross-pollination of ideas and experiences greatly benefits innovators, who can use their enhanced knowledge to adapt ideas and apply them to push beyond the current frontiers of innovation – contributing to competitiveness within the bloc.
Economic Report on Africa 2016: greening Africa’s industrialization
Africa cannot continue on a business-as-usual trajectory if it truly wishes to industrialize and scale up broad-based development. Looking forward to 2050, and using a set of green agenda policy tools, many of the supply-demand gaps in energy close considerably if major investments tap into Africa’s vast renewable energy resources. Even water scarcity becomes manageable, largely as a result of improved governance, regional integration and green infrastructure. Critically, urban populations generate big dividends where investment is made in green infrastructure, and enhanced skills and innovation. African governments have [8] clear policy options to follow:
Transformative industrial policy for Africa
Chapter 5 examines two changes in the global economic environment that are supposed to have made it impossible for today’s poor countries, including the African ones, to draw lessons from the experiences of the more economically advanced countries in the past. One is the shrinkage in ‘policy space’ that has followed the establishment of the WTO and the proliferation of bilateral (and some regional) trade and investment agreements. The other is the proliferation and the strengthening of global value chains controlled by giant global corporations that make ‘nationalistic’ industrial policy less effective and less productive. We examine these arguments and show that, while they have changed what industrial policy measures can be used and are the most effective, these changes have not invalidated all types of industrial policy. There are still many industrial policy measures that can be used. Moreover, if anything, these changes have made it even more necessary for developing country industrial policy-makers to be ‘smart’ about devising development strategy and designing industrial policy measures. [The authors: Ha-Joon Chang, Jostein Løhr Hauge, Muhammad Irfan]
Africa’s Blue Economy: a policy handbook
This Policy Handbook, offers a step by step guide to help African member States to better mainstream the Blue Economy into their national development plans, strategies, policies and laws. It is a timely contribution to help the continent harness its "New Frontier".
Measuring corruption in Africa: the international dimension matters
Carlos Lopes, in the foreword: 'In my view, African countries and partners should move away from pure perception-based measures of corruption and focus on alternative approaches, which are fact-based and built on more objective quantitative criteria and include the international dimensions of corruption. The present report makes the case for such a shift. In the interim, while possible quantitative criteria continue to be explored, it is necessary to ensure that perception-based methods are better anchored on more transparent and representative surveys. These measurements should also be complemented, where possible, with quantitative country/case-specific indicators to produce more sophisticated and useful assessments.
The profiles go beyond a description of economic and social performance to include an analysis of the most pressing transformational issues and policies on the continent. The profiles cover countries of different sub-regions. In Central Africa: Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo and São Tomé and Príncipe. In East Africa: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. In North Africa: Egypt, Morocco, and Sudan. In Southern Africa: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia. In Western Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Niger and Senegal.
Ministerial roundtable on the impact of drought, floods and declining commodity prices: Remarks by AU Commission Chairperson
The need for macro-economic policy that supports growth and industrialization, and stimulus packages aimed at high impact areas: this includes a common understanding of Africa’s debt situation, in relation to our own aspirations and in comparison with the rest of the world. The debt to GDP ratio in Africa is still low compared with other parts of the world. Whatever we borrow must go towards investment in productive capacity, rather than recurrent. The centrality of the integration agenda: this includes our collective food security, regional energy pools, regional agriculture, agro-processing and manufacturing value chains. We also need to change our mindsets and believe in ourselves.
Finally, all these require us to act strategically and in a coordinated fashion as we domesticate and implement the Agenda 2063 first Ten-year plan and its priorities, promote solidarity and together, work towards enlarging our policy space. We should not allow our economies to be continual victims of circumstances, but take charge of our destinies. The answers to these issues are critical, so that if there are bold and tough decisions to be taken, we can present it to our leaders at the Assembly retreat and the Summit in Kigali. [Remarks by ACBF's Prof Emmanuel Nnadozie]
#Com2016 press reports, from the UNECA: Financing Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, New types of bilateral investment agreements offer Africa a chance for meaningful investments
West African Economic and Monetary Union: IMF staff report
Box 2: We estimate the possible effects of identified domestic and external downside risks on the WAEMU outlook. First, we simulate the impact of (i) country-specific delays in structural reforms and (ii) tighter or more volatile global conditions which would result in higher financing costs for governments and (iii) we model the impact of a growth slowdown in key advanced economies, China, and Nigeria. Results show that the materialization of these risks would reduce real aggregate WAEMU GDP growth by up to 1.5% points through different channels. Aggregate numbers hide diverse situations across countries: the impact of shocks is larger in countries with higher trade openness (Benin, Senegal, and Burkina Faso) and benefitting from higher investment levels from China (Niger and Togo). Transit and informal trade are major spillover channels of regional shocks (Benin, Togo) while regional linkages increase through rapidly growing cross-border banks.
Increasing private sector investments in frontier markets in Africa through a regional approach (AfDB)
The services to be provided under the assignment include: a) identify which of the following regions in Africa have the greatest potential to attract investments from and increase trade with South Korean chaebol and SMEs: (i) Great Lakes; (ii) Horn of Africa; (iii) Sahel; and (iv) Mano River Basin. Also to be carried out is a survey of South Korean companies, to prioritize and cluster the main investment and trade sectors and match these with the economic and business potential of the regions; b) assess the main constraints for the Korean companies and the challenges of the identified African region to facilitate investment and trade; and assess to what extent spatial economic policies, such as SEZs, growth poles, corridors, clusters could be an appropriate tool at the country and regional level.
CEN-SAD unites against terror (Ahram Weekly)
The 27 defence ministers from the African and Arab countries agreed on 17 points, which made up the body of the closing statement of this year’s CEN-SAD meeting. According to Mohamed Abu Bakr, Egypt’s permanent envoy to CEN-SAD, the most important achievement of this year’s meeting was the progress made toward the creation of a CEN-SAD Peace and Security Council. The participants succeeded in overcoming outstanding differences on this matter and approving a mechanism for conflict resolution and a regional counter-terrorism centre with its headquarters in Cairo.
RECs, CAAST-Net Plus: workshop on Africa-EU research and innovation activities
Discussions took place at a workshop in Pretoria on 4-5 February, which included science programming and science strategy presentations by ECCAS, ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC. The 12 presentations are available for download. [Underway, in Addis: The EU-African High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation]
South Eastern Kenya Economic bloc formed (The Standard)
The proposed economic bloc, spearheaded by governors Julius Malombe (Kitui), Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) was also endorsed by former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka. Dr Malombe, who was endorsed the chairperson and the convener of the initiative, said the concept of the SEKEB bloc was intended to pool and leverage on regional resources, county synergies and economies of scale in order to spur trade and investment in the region.
APRM’s turnaround strategy: update (AU)
Strengthening SADC parliamentary engagement in the budget cycle: project update (AWEPA)
Eastern/Southern Africa: AfDB announces $549m drought response package (AfDB)
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