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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Two key appointments in Africa’s trade finance sector: Minister Gatete named board chairman of PTA Bank (New Times), Afreximbank appoints Kanayo Awani MD for intra-African trade (StarAfrica)
Five things we learned about trade finance in East Africa (GTR)
A profile of Ramachandran Ottapathu, 'Africa's Indian retail king' (Forbes)
Today, Choppies runs 170 stores across Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. West Africa is not being considered for the moment, but Choppies is entering new and underserved markets in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia; even Rwanda is on the cards. It is on course to roll out 200 stores by the end of 2016. The company is growing at 25% every year, and Ottapathu says Choppies is cash-plus. “We need to grow at 50% to get to 200 stores, and we can see it,” he says. Listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2012, Choppies’ secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Africa’s biggest stock exchange, from May 2015, is doing well. Choppies is expecting to eventually get “$700 million that will be put into the Africa expansion”.
SoleRebels: an Ethiopian success story (AfricaMe)
SoleRebels shoes are sold in more than 30 countries through online sales and major retailers plus a growing number of the company’s own shops. In addition to its flagship store in Addis Ababa, SoleRebels has more than a dozen standalone retail outlets in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, and Singapore. One of the world’s fastest growing footwear brands, the company projects it will have 50 stores by 2018 and forecasts revenue of $10 million or more this year.
Tanzania: The Magufuli factor and business opportunities in Rwanda (IPPMedia)
Rwandan officials and entrepreneurs said last week that their country was open for business and offers a ready market for organisations prepared to compete through quality products and services. According to them, the new government’s pragmatic EAC integration stance and the prevailing cordial relations between Presidents John Magufuli and Paul Kagame are goodwill capital for those wishing do business in their country. They told Smart Money during the just ended World Economic Forum on Africa that returns on investment in Rwanda were among the highest both in the region and Africa. The country also boasts of top commercial, fiscal and macroeconomic credentials in the world in terms of ease of doing business, competitiveness and reforming its investment terrain. On Friday this week, Tanzania and Rwanda will hold the first bilateral trade forum between them in recent years in Kigali. Rwandese officials said the event has been prompted by the unfolding “exciting aura of refreshed political will and relations” between the two countries being fronted by President Magufuli.
Rwandan e-commerce firm enters South Africa market (New Times)
Local mobile payment services firm, MobiCash, has partnered with South Africa’s Boloro to launch a game-changing initiative to foster financial inclusion on the continent. Patrick Ngabonziza, the MobiCash chief, announced the approach during last week’s World Economic Forum on Africa event in Kigali. Ngabonziza said MobiCash and Boloro will be launching the mobile payments ecosystem in South Africa in collaboration with Big Save Group, one of the largest wholesalers operating in the country’s townships, and servicing thousands of small scale spaza shops.
Two perspectives on Uganda’s private sector: Inside the mall at the centre of China's transformation of East Africa (Vice), Years after exile, Ugandan Asians regain status of economic pillars (The East African/BBC)
Three myths about China in Kenya (Brookings)
Uganda Revenue Authority to host 4th WCO Global Authorised Economic Operator Conference in May 2018
Inter-REC initiative to curb money laundering: update (COMESA)
Over 60 officials from law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence are meeting in Zambia this week in a workshop to discuss effective ways of collaborating to strengthen their respective capacities in dealing with money laundering. The meeting was convened by COMESA Secretariat as part of the European Union supported the regional maritime security programme. The programme is designed to strengthen the region’s capacity to combat money laundering. Participants are drawn from the police, public prosecution, anti-corruption and customs authorities representing Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Djibouti, Comoros, Tanzania and Somalia. It is part of a programme that was designed by COMESA and three other RECs - IGAD, EAC and the Indian Ocean Community (IOC). Participants will discuss enhanced collaboration within and between jurisdictions to develop customized, focused and comprehensive capacity building programmes.
COMESA’s Breaking Barriers Facilitating Trade Project: update
Speaking during the official opening of the 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the Breaking Barriers Facilitating Trade Project, Assistant Secretary-General in Charge of Administration and finance in COMESA, Ambassador Nagla El Hussainy said that while a number of the NTBs are reported through the tripartite online monitoring system, many are hidden and hardly reported. She attributed the low intra-COMESA’s trade, which is less than 12%, to the NTBs. The implementation of the project is aimed at helping governments and other stakeholders to monitor both the direct and hidden NTBs that relate to Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical standards. Seven COMESA member states - Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe - are involved in the project.
AU STC on trade, industry and minerals (AU)
The overall objectives of the inaugural Conference of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Trade and Industry and Minerals, on the theme 'Promoting regional integration through trade and inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Africa', is to provide strategic advice to the Policy Organs of the African Union, ensure implementation of agreed programs and projects as well as establish synergies, linkages and complementarities in the areas of trade, industry and mining in line with AU Agenda 2063 and its Ten Year Implementation Plan. More specifically, the STC (16-24 May) aims to attain the following objectives:
Primary commodities booms and busts: emerging lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa (UNDP)
Governments in Africa should put into place fiscal rules, sovereign wealth funds and other mechanisms to buffer their economies from the commodities roller-coaster, according to a new report titled Primary Commodities Booms and Busts: Emerging Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa, issued by the UNDP. “The key message from the report, is that governments should save more, spend less and spend wisely to guard against uncertainty and instability while investing in long term development. The imperative in light of our ambitious continental agenda for 2030 and 2063 is to translate natural wealth into national wealth” said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye.
Africa’s export revenues increased six-fold between 2001 and 2011, thanks to strong demand from middle-income economies such as China, Brazil and India. Between 2011 and 2014, due to a sharp decline in commodity prices, per capita growth on the continent decreased by half as compared with the previous ten years. “It’s like the Cricket and the Ant tale, where one insect idles all summer while the other prepares for winter. If countries don’t save and manage their revenues adequately during periods of expansion, when commodity prices go down, there’s very little left other than austerity and development grinding to a halt,” said Ayodele Odusola, Chief Economist at UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa. [Chapter Four: Country case studies - Angola, Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Mauritania, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Zambia]
EY’s Attractiveness Program Africa 2016: navigating Africa’s current uncertainties
Sugan Palanee, Africa Markets Leader at EY says, “From an investment perspective, the next few years may be challenging – this is not because the opportunities are no longer there, but rather because these opportunities are likely to be more uneven than they have been. It is now more important than ever for organizations and investors, who sometimes place to great an emphasis on shorter term economic growth trends, to adopt a granular, fact-based approach to assessing investment and business opportunities for the long-term.”
Winnie Byanyima: 'How to build a human economy for a continent where inequality is hardwired' (The East African)
Five comparable country datasets for Africa RISING now available (IFPRI)
Rob Davies: 'Ipap: Moving SA towards greater industrialisation' (IOL)
I urge South African companies to leverage the devaluation of the rand to make locally manufactured products more globally competitive and create opportunities for the expansion of exports and further development of our domestic manufacturing capabilities. We are also cognisant of the role that government must play in creating the conditions for a more development-friendly business and investment environment and this is a key theme of Ipap 2016. In this regard, we commit to:
Services, development and trade: the regulatory and institutional dimension (UNCTAD)
Services are increasingly subject to trade liberalization initiatives under multilateral, plurilateral and regional processes, in which developing countries increasingly take part. Most significantly, the new generation of regional trade agreements (RTAs), particularly the emerging “mega RTAs”, have extended the frontiers of liberalization and international rule-making to services, essentially addressing national regulatory measures as they apply to foreign services and services providers. These agreements not only define market access and entry conditions but also provide disciplines on qualification, technical and licensing requirements. This has raised a thorny policy question: [Prepared for the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Trade, Services and Development this week in Geneva]
TIPS Annual Forum 2016: 'Industrialisation and the mining economy' (14-15 June, Johannesburg)
How can Mozambique manage its debt crisis? (Chatham House)
Already facing an acute liquidity crisis, with growing uncertainty over its ability to pay its bills, and the cost of bread and other goods rising, officials are worrying about a repeat of the urban riots of 2010. President Nyusi is struggling with least-worst options. Cleaning up the bad debts of the Guebuza era is painful but achievable − coming clean on Mozambique’s current debt burden is a good start. Further gas investments will also help. FRELIMO factions compromised in February, allowing the government to approve the plan of development for another major gas investor, ENI, for its Coral FLNG project. This is a key step towards a FID. This helped the EMATUM loan to be restructured from 2020 to paying the full principal amount in 2023, when Coral FLNG is operational. If there are no further loan surprises and the government comes up with a credible, accountable and transparent road map for repayment of these loans, and empowers Mozambique’s institutions to ensure that this does not happen again, donor suspensions will be lifted over time and the ratings agencies will also consider upgrading Mozambique. But many other problems will remain. [The analyst: Alex Vines)
China to take over TAZARA in new plan (The Citizen)
China is to take over the management and operations of Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, in a major plan that will herald privitisation of the struggling corporation, The Citizen can reveal. A technical team from Tanzania, Zambia and China is putting together details of the plan whose proposals include reducing the bloated Tazara workforce. Tanzania and Zambia would also be required to review their domestic laws to provide for preferential provisions in the running of Tazara, with a view to attracting more private players. A working government document seen by The Citizen indicates that China was also looking to leverage its role in the railway line to push for the establishment of the Bagamoyo Port. [Rwanda dumps Kenya SGR route for Tanzania (Daily Nation)]
ACP group of states needs synergy with EU goals (Business Day)
Several analysts have, however, exaggerated the effect of the AU-EU partnership. The AU has weak capacity and is dependent on the EU for much of its conflict-management resources. The view that only the aid pillar of the ACP-EU relationship is still standing, while trade and political co-operation have moved to regional forums and appear to be flourishing, does not necessarily reflect reality: the quality of the political aid and trade needs further investigation. [The analyst: Adekeye Adebajo]
Mauritius delegation seeks stronger ties with India (Times of India)
The India-Mauritius global partnership summit (24-27 July) is envisioned as a summit of the two nations along with their global partners, and is an important meeting ground for policy makers, opinion and business leaders, media and academicians. The summit will serve as a platform to discuss solutions to challenges for stronger trade ties.
BRICS may set up ratings agency for emerging markets, NDB Institute, in October meet (Economic Times)
International Resource Panel: 'Increased resource efficiency could help cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 74%' (UNEP)
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