News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Wednesday, 20 April 2016
tralac’s contribution to the Inquiry on the UK’s Africa Free Trade Initiative
Highlighted recommendations: i) support new approaches to services negotiations focusing on regulatory matters (reform, cooperation, harmonisation), ii) support regional courts to deliver on the potential benefits implicit in any agreement, iii) support smaller member states to prepare and engage effectively in CFTA negotiations; support debate among non-state actors including the private sector, support broad-based access to information on CFTA matters
Underway, in Kampala: the 13th Northern Corridor Integration Projects summit
Running under the chairmanship of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the major highlight of the conference is the impending announcement of the route the oil pipeline from Uganda will take with all indications pointing to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, DRC and Ethiopia are attending this summit which is one of the most significant regional steps so far at propping up the region’s competitiveness through improving infrastructure. The Secretary-General of the East African Community and the executive secretary of the Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority will attend as observers. Private sector representatives from Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda will also participate. Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP) will represent the oil and gas private sector while Private Sector Foundation and East Africa Business Council will represent the wider interest of the regional private sector. [Northern Corridor Integration Projects website, Summit briefing]
Starting today, in Addis: the Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit (ACRIS II)
African Department briefing transcript (IMF)
But to reap this strong medium-term potential, a substantial policy reset is critical in many countries of the region. And the reset is urgent, as the policy response to-date has generally been insufficient. In commodity-exporting countries, fiscal and foreign reserves are depleting rapidly, and financing is constrained. Consequently, commodity exporters should respond to the lower export earnings and budgetary revenues promptly and robustly, to prevent a disorderly adjustment. As revenue from the extractive sector is likely durably reduced, many affected countries critically need to contain fiscal deficits and build a sustainable tax base from the rest of the economy. For countries outside monetary unions, exchange rate flexibility as part of a wider macroeconomic policy package should also be part of the first line of defence. [Asia and Pacific Department briefing]
African Ministerial Conference on the Environment: outcomes (UNEP)
The Ministers agreed on the urgent need for the sustainable management of Africa's natural capital in support of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the SDGs and Agenda 2063 and its first ten-year implementation plan. They also agreed to put in place policies and practices to reverse ecosystem degradation and promote sustainable consumption and production patterns. In addition, the forum agreed to create and strengthen private and public partnerships and establish centres for sustainable harnessing of natural capital, value addition, green industries and agro-processing centres. The meeting was held just over a month ahead of UNEA-2, where major decisions of relevance to Africa will be taken. African countries intend to table a set of resolutions, ranging from natural capital and illegal trade in wildlife, to health and the environment, with focus on lead battery recycling. [Various downloads]
The South African manufacturing exporter story (UNU-WIDER)
In this paper we use the SARS data to highlight some ‘stylized facts’ about South African exporters and to investigate the relationship between exporting and productivity in more detail. This data shows that South African exporting at the firm level is similar to the stylized facts of firm-level exporting found internationally: less than a fifth of firms export in any given year; specialist exporting is very rare but total export value is dominated by a small number of firms; and exporters are larger, pay better, and are more productive. There is also a large degree of churn—entry and exit into the export market—but this does not seem to translate into sustained exporting. Most of South Africa’s exporting growth comes from expansion on the intensive margin—existing exporters expanding their exports of existing products to existing destinations. [The authors: Marianne Matthee, Neil Rankin, Tasha Naughtin, Carli Bezuidenhout] [Economic zones pick up speed, MPs told (Business Day)]
SACU policy issues: President Zuma in Namibia (New Era)
Turning his attention specifically to SACU issues, Zuma said South Africa is in the process of visiting all the member states of the customs union. “We started in Botswana yesterday. We are here today. On Thursday we are in Swaziland, and someday thereafter we will be in Lesotho. We thought we should do so, as we are chairing SACU for now, particularly because of the importance of our organisation,” he said. Zuma said this type of regional engagement is necessary, taking into account the number of meetings that have taken place between members of SACU, as there are discussions that have not yet been brought to a conclusion.
Namibia and the CMA: Higher interest rates less likely to curb capital outflow to SA (New Era)
Namibia is a member of the CMA, hence the free flow of capital between the member countries. However, because South Africa has more developed financial markets, capital flows in the CMA are skewed to that market and any efforts – whether fiscal, monetary or otherwise – to limit the outflow of capital to South Africa remain futile and will not yield the intended results. In fact, the main objective of free capital mobility is to foster the integration of member countries’ financial markets towards each other – and the Rand (South Africa) being the anchor currency, it draws all capital towards itself.
Mozambique: review of the Doing Business indicator 'Getting electricity' (SPEED)
This 2016 SPEED-commissioned study proposes changes designed to make the new electricity connection process to firms more cost effective and responsive. The scope of this study is limited to the Maputo Distribution Network a methodology that is aligned with the World Bank doing business structure. This proposal has been reviewed and validated by EDM’s Executive Board and the National Directorate of Electric Energy, of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MMRE). These entities have officially accepted the proposed changes and are committed to proceed with the implementation of the newly proposed business sector electrical connection process. The Council of Ministers approved the proposed reforms on April 13, 2016. [Downloads] [A review of consumption poverty estimation (UNU-WIDER)]
China-Angola/Mozambique trade statistics: Jan-Feb update (MacauHub)
In the first two months of the year, China’s exports to Portuguese-speaking countries fell overall by 49.16%, while imports increased by 0.95% year on year. China sold 50.27% less to Brazil in January and February, 77.32% less to Angola, 46.69% less to Mozambique, 43.05% less to Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), 28.61% less to Guinea-Bissau and 22.16% less to Sao Tome and Principe. Chinese imports from Portuguese-speaking countries fell in almost all cases, the exception being the value of imports from Brazil in the first two months of the year (19.28% more).
Smart Africa Initiative: 11 African countries set up One Area Network (New Times)
The decision, binding to 11 countries across Africa, was reached Monday at a high-level meeting of ICT Ministers and Regulators convened under the Smart Africa Initiative. The implementing countries include; Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, Senegal, South Sudan, Chad, Rwanda and Burkina Faso. Among other developments, the implementation of the One Africa Network will see harmonisation of tariffs on mobile voice calls, SMS and data transmission within the 11 countries. International traffic among Smart Africa member countries will also be tax exempt, consequently bringing down the calling costs.
Jaindi Kisero: 'On oil pipeline route, Uganda and Tanzania have snookered us' (Daily Nation)
The diplomatic stand-off with Uganda over the pipeline route got me reflecting about how the next phase of the standard gauge railway — the section between Nairobi to Malaba — stands in terms of Uganda’s permanent interests. What if Uganda changes its mind and decides that extending the standard gauge railway from Malaba all the way to Kasese is not in its long-term interest and, therefore, not a high priority item?
Related: Ugandan experts explain choice of Tanzania for pipeline route (IPPmedia), What role will South Sudan play in EAC? (IPPMedia), East African Business Council: trade and policy advocacy updates, Uganda warns traders over Mombasa goods amnesty (The EastAfrican)
An age of choice for development finance: evidence from country case studies (ODI)
This report and case studies examine the viewpoints of developing country governments on this new age of choice in general, and on non-traditional sources of development finance - defined as 'beyond official development assistance (ODA)' - in particular. It looks at the ‘beyond ODA flows’ (BOFs) that developing countries can select, explores their choices and the factors that shape them. The findings in this report are based on nine country case studies that were carried out in stable lower-income countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Zambia) and lower-middle-income countries (Cambodia, Viet Nam and Lao PDR) from 2012 to 2015, drawing on interviews with government officials, development partners and civil society organisations.
2016 Aid Transparency Index (Publish What You Fund)
Back in 2011, leading donors committed in Busan to make their aid transparent by the end of 2015. The 2016 Aid Transparency Index demonstrates whether that commitment has been met. The results find that ten donors of varied types and sizes, accounting for 25% of total aid, have met the commitment to aid transparency made in Busan. Over half of the organisations included in the 2016 Index publish data to the IATI Registry at least quarterly. However, most of the organisations covered fall into the lowest three categories, scoring below 60% and demonstrating that the publication of timely, comparable and disaggregated information about their development projects to the IATI Registry is far from complete. The Index also finds that over half of the organisations included do not publish budget information for the next one to three years – a key demand of partner countries.
Meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, India, China: communiqué (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China)
The Ministers expressed their support for improved global economic governance to ensure sound, stable and balanced growth of the world economy. They welcomed the implementation of 2010 IMF Quota and Governance Reforms and called on the IMF to continue to carry out reforms in order to increase the voice and representation of emerging markets and developing countries as soon as possible. The Ministers reaffirmed their strong support for joint efforts to further develop and strengthen an open, transparent, rules-based, non-discriminatory and inclusive multilateral trading system that contributes to growth, sustainable development and employment generation in all sectors. They recognized the central role of the WTO in setting the universal rules and principles of international trade.
West Africa Trade & Investment Hub: April newsletter
Namport plays hard to get (The Namibian)
Madagascar Economic Update (World Bank)
Swaziland signs taxation pacts with 4 countries, 7 pending (StarAfrica)
COMESA/LLPI joins international leather body (COMESA)
China suspends G20 anti-corruption task force: sources (Reuters)
Platform for Collaboration on Tax: update (IMF)
GVCs, jobs and routine content of occupations (Working Party of the Trade Committee, OECD)
tralac’s Daily News archive
Catch up on tralac’s daily news selections by following this link ».
SUBSCRIBE
To receive the link to tralac’s Daily News Selection via email, click here to subscribe.
This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 350 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.
