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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Friday, 20 May 2016
Next week, in Kampala: Africa Development Effectiveness Working Group Retreat (APDEV)
The main aim of the Retreat (26-29 May) is for African stakeholders to engage with the Government of Kenya’s Chief Negotiator for the 2nd High Level Meeting (HLM2) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation towards front-loading Africa’s development effectiveness priorities. This engagement will serve to provide consolidated, substantive and representative comments on the zero draft of the HLM2 Outcomes Document.
Africa Regional Forum for Sustainable Development: outcomes (UNECA)
The main thrust of the recommendations related to the promotion of development pathways that are not only growth-driven but based upon shared prosperity; an integration formula towards increasing the proximity, complementarity and convergence of the two agendas; support for the process and the means of implementation; in particular the need to domesticate both agendas in planning process and; a new set of investments that will enable all the means of implementation to come together, finance, capacity development, and technology.
Calestous Juma: 'Aviation and logistics in Africa’s regional integration' (Technology and Policy)
If the TFTA were a country its trade volume would comprise the 13th largest economy in the world. Much of the discussion on regional integration has focused on the free movement of goods and services. These possibilities demand greater attention to research, training, and outreach activities related to the role of aviation, logistics, and innovation in Africa. This is guided by the view that aviation and the related logistics have two strategic links with regional integration.
African visa policies hurting continent's growth – experts (New Times)
From a business perspective, John Mirenge, the chief executive of RwandAir, said opening the continent to Africans would further develop businesses such as the airline industry as it increases traffic. He added that the current state of affairs, coupled with limited open skies for African airlines, have at times caused African operators to face unfair competition from airlines outside Africa as some of them have more access to African skies.
Exchange-rate volatility is worrying Africa’s CEOs, says PwC (Business Day)
The study‚ which interviewed 153 CEOs of private and government entities across 15 countries‚ said they were also extremely worried about social instability and governments’ responses to the fiscal deficit and debt burden faced by the countries in which their businesses operate. [Download: The Africa Business Agenda]
Related: Innovate or die, Kenyan business leaders warned (Business Daily), Zim business environment ‘excruciating’ (Zimbabwe Independent)
China-Africa business co-operation: Trade Promotion Centre established (FOCAC)
Tan Wenbao, director of the Trade Promotion Centre, gave a briefing about the short-term plan of the Trade Promotion Centre after its establishment, explaining the seven responsibilities and four initiatives of the Centre. He said that the Centre comes under the direct leadership of CAIF and CWTO and follows the new ideas and thoughts of President Xi Jinping on China-Africa cooperation. It will keep to the principle of “responsibility, integrity, service and sharing” to build a sound platform, improve its competence, provide good services, and make its due contribution to China-Africa business cooperation and China-Africa friendship. Xia Yan, deputy director of Trade Promotion Centre, gave a briefing on China-Africa business cooperation, focusing on the projects in Madagascar, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Zambia and Benin, covering the fields of agriculture, construction, energy, mining, light industry and tourism, which offers diversified information for Chinese businesses having the intention to invest in Africa. [Mozambique has trade deficit with the Chinese province of Jiangsu]
Tanzania Economic Update: the Road Less Traveled – unleashing public private partnerships in Tanzania (World Bank)
A simulation analysis using a macro-econometric model for Tanzania indicates that an increase in public investments in infrastructure to a value of approximately 1.2% of GDP in one year could result in an increase of 1.7% to GDP in the following year, according to the report. Attaining this goal would call for prioritizing of new investments and committing full funding towards them, the report notes, as opposed to the significant financing constraints experienced with the government’s Five-Year Development Plan, which left its priorities underfunded by about 50% until 2014/15. The report makes the following key recommendations towards a new direction that could ensure PPPs deliver for Tanzania as they have with other countries: [Govt to continue importing sugar until 2020 - PM]
Algeria: 2016 Article IV Consultation, Selected Issues report
Rwanda: Combined 2012-2016 Country Strategy Paper Mid-Term Review with Country Portfolio Performance Review (AfDB)
Trade between Nigeria, Ghana won't be a reality until... – envoy (GhanaWeb)
Nigeria’s acting High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs. Adekunbi Sonaike Ayodeji in an exclusive interview explained the motive behind Nigeria's import prohibition list and why ETLS may not have been applicable in certain cases. Reacting to President Mahama's appeal to Nigeria to open its market for Ghanaian exporters, so that the same could be done for Nigeria, she said Nigeria will begin to see Ghana as no threat the moment Nigerian industries could stand the competition with it manufactured goods, especially textiles.
Egypt’s trade deficit dropped 22% in February (StarAfrica)
Egypt’s imports fell by 15.3% in February 2016 to record EGP 36.1bn, compared to the same period in 2015. This decline followed a drop in the value of some imports: petroleum products by 12%, iron and steel by 20.7%, and passenger vehicles by 19%. According to the report, the value of Egyptian exports increased by 6% in February 2016, reaching EGP 12.8bn.
Ethiopia: is Africa's 'lion' ready to pounce? (DW)
Following its economic success, Ethiopia has been dubbed the "African Lion." But the current drought and a downturn in growth have taken their toll. A recent conference in Munich aimed at attracting investors. Yinager Dessie Belay, Ethiopia's Minister of Planning and head of his country's business delegation to Germany, did not waste time in his lobbying efforts. "Ethiopia has many things that you need to look into," the Minster told his German interlocutors. "A conducive business environment, political stability, sound economic policies, macroeconomic stability, abundant natural resources, a trainable workforce, low-cost energy and, above all, a sizable and captive market."
Sudan reverses sell-by date order for Kenya tea (Daily Nation)
Sudan has suspended the decision to cut the shelf life of Kenyan tea from three to one-and-a-half years that saw sales to Khartoum drop by 30% last year. The two governments agreed on Wednesday that the guidelines be suspended for six months pending a joint technical research team that will determine the actual shelf life of the beverage.
Zimbabwe: Cement industry demands Dangote face import tariffs (AJOT)
Zimbabwe’s cement industry has called on the government to impose tariffs on imports from international manufacturers including Dangote Cement Plc of Nigeria, which it says is undercutting local makers of the building material and threatening jobs. The government should impose a tariff of $50 a metric ton on cement made at a lower cost in other countries and then sold in Zimbabwe, the Cement and Concrete Institute of Zimbabwe said in a presentation on Wednesday. Companies operating in the country have enough local capacity to meet demand, the institute said.
Angola authorises Bank of China to open a branch (MacauHub)
The Angolan government has authorised the Bank of China to open a branch in Angola to develop the banking sector, according to an order signed by the President of Angola. The statement said the representative office in Angola was the Bank of China’s fourth in Africa, after opening branches in Zambia, South Africa and Kenya.
Mozambique, global methanol capacity set to grow (Energy Global)
Global methanol capacity is set to grow at a considerable pace from 117.5 million tpy in 2015 to 184.4 million tpy by 2020, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData. Mozambique is expected to spend around US$380 million to add capacity of around 7.0 million tpy, with projects expected to come on stream in 2016. This outstrips the whole of Europe, where methanol capacity additions are mainly centred in Russia, which has planned capacity additions of 1.1 million tpy by 2018, with US$230 million in capital expenditure over the next five years.
Zambia: The region's maize basket? (CTPD)
In conclusion, what is our answer to the question, can Zambia be the regional maize basket? The answer is that in a context in which Zambia has exported little in recent years, this is the wrong question to ask. Instead the focus should be on tackling the barriers that inhibit export-led growth in Zambia and which allow the country, over time, to establish itself as a consistent player helping to address cyclical regional food shortages. In the short term this includes investing in productivity, altering FISP so that it encourages diversification, vastly reducing the red tape surrounding export business, and vastly reducing FRA’s interference in the market.
The race to create super-crops: old-fashioned breeding techniques are bearing more fruit than genetic engineering (Nature)
Last year, Lynch's forays into the dirt paid off. He and his team at Pennsylvania State University in University Park reported that they had produced a variety of common bean, or string bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), with a combination of root traits that allows it to take up phosphorus from the soil with improved efficiency. In experimental plots, the plants produced three times the bean yield of typical varieties. That result has raised hopes in Africa, where common beans are one of the most important sources of protein for poor people. Researchers in Mozambique are testing how Lynch's beans perform in the country's ecological zones, and they expect to win regulatory approval to bring the crop to market by next year. In field trials in Mozambique, beans with shallow roots and long root hairs gave yields of 1,500 kilograms per hectare in soils depleted in phosphorus, compared with local varieties that give just 500 kilograms per hectare.
Related: The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme, SADC developing harmonised agrochemicals, fertilizer guidelines (SARDC), Investments in agriculture in Africa rises to $2.3bn (ThisDay), Ian Scoones, Ruth Hall: 'Next steps to bolster global land governance' (The Herald), Ray Jordan: 'Africa’s farm families must benefit from new business opportunities' (Huffington Post)
Competition and poverty: how far have we come in understanding the connections? (World Bank Blogs)
What is the evidence on the direct impact of competition on the poorest in society, and what do we still need to learn? A recent review of the evidence by the World Bank Group (WBG) seeks to answer these questions. The review follows two basic ideas. First: Competition policy has the greatest impact on the poor when it is applied to sectors in which the poor are most engaged as consumers, producers and employees. Second: Competition policy should have a progressive impact on welfare distribution in sectors where less-well-off households are more engaged relative to richer households.
Global Environmental Outlook: regional assessments (UNEP)
The environmental change sweeping the world is occurring at a faster pace than previously thought, making it imperative that governments act now to reverse the damage being done to the planet, says the most authoritative study that UNEP has ever published on the state of the global environment. Under the title Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6): Regional Assessments, six separate reports provide highly detailed examinations of the environmental issues affecting each of the world's six regions. The main driver for accelerating domestic material consumption is the expanding middle class. The size of the global middle class is projected to increase from 1.8 billion in 2009 to 4.9 billion in 2030 with most of this growth coming from Asia. [Various downloads available]
GREAT Insights May/June: From climate commitments to action (ECDPM)
Japan to rework financing rules to boost infrastructure exports (Nikkei Asian Review)
Japan's government plans to relax regulations on overseas infrastructure financing, including speeding up the lending process and permitting euro-denominated loans, in a bid to better compete with rivals such as China. Tokyo aims to supply up to 20 trillion yen ($182 billion) in funding for infrastructure abroad over the next five years, nearly double the current target. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will announce the measures Monday. And he will lay out plans to expand exports of high-quality infrastructure at this month's Group of Seven summit in Japan.
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