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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Friday, 10 June 2016
Signed today, in Gaborone: EU Economic Partnership Agreement with Southern African countries
The European Union and six countries of the Southern African Development Community today signed an Economic Partnership Agreement, the first of its kind between the EU and an African region pursuing the objective of economic integration. The signature took place in Kasane, Botswana. The agreement was signed by Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström, on behalf of the EU. In a comment, Commissioner Malmström said:
Consortium to stem Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: inaugural meeting (13-14 June, Johannesburg)
Africa Strategic Grain Reserve conference (14-15 June, Nairobi)
2nd Regional Dialogue and Training on contract negotiation and fiscal policies in the extractive industry (14-16 June, Johannesburg)
AfDB/ITC roundtable on NTMs in ECOWAS (14-15 June, Abidjan)
Zambia Trade Policy Review (21, 23 June, Geneva)
Diversity of approaches in reforming the international investment law regime: where does Africa Stand? (profiled SIEL conference panel, 7-9 July, Johannesburg)
The Africa Infrastructure Development 2016 (AfDB)
The current AIDI covers the latest data collected by the Bank over the period 2000-2013 under the infrastructure statistics component of its Statistical Capacity Building program in African countries. The AIDI is updated and released annually. The annual update presents selected indicators that comprise the Index’s major components, namely: transport, electricity, ICT, water and sanitation.
The top winners in terms of rankings: Mali gained 9 positions (owing to fast ICT growth), followed by Kenya and Mauritania (5 positions due to ICT and transportation improvements), Ghana (4 positions due to ICT growth), Nigeria (3 positions thanks to ICT growth), Gambia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Madagascar (2 positions each due to improvements in ICT, water supply & sanitation, and transport - the latter to a lesser degree).
The main losers in terms of rankings: Zimbabwe lost 5 positions (owing to slower growth in the sectors of transport and water supply & sanitation), followed by Burundi and Djibouti (4 positions owing to slow growth in ICT), and Lesotho (3 positions owing to slower growth in the power sector).
Subregional rankings: The best performing subregion to emerge was North Africa, followed by Southern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and East Africa.
ICT emerges as the main driver of AIDI improvements: The ICT sector has driven the greatest improvements in the AIDI ratings over the past decade, compared to all other sectors. It is no coincidence that the top ten ranked countries in the latest AIDI were those with the highest growth in their ICT sectors.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield: 'Why Liberia needs to join the World Trade Organization' (Front Page Africa)
Liberia is the only country in ECOWAS that has yet to become a WTO Member. This places it at an economic disadvantage compared to its neighbours both for regional and international trade. As the June 15 deadline approaches for the lower house to ratify the country’s WTO accession package – Liberia must now ratify its accession agreement reached after nearly 10 years of negotiations with the WTO and trade partners. [The author is the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs]
COMESA Airspace Integration Project: Rwanda workshop (Rwanda Focus)
The COMESA Airspace Integration Project is expected to liberalize air transportation by harmonizing borders in over 15 countries. This has been revealed by Alexis Nzahabwanimana, the state minister for transport and infrastructure. The minister was speaking at a 4-day legal and regulatory workshop on COMESA communication navigation surveillance and air traffic management which started in Kigali on Tuesday. “There is lack of integration and coordination in African civil aviation which still gives birth to different incidences. We need aircrafts to spend short time and less money on a trip,” he said. The minister gave an example of how a three-hour flight to Angola from Rwanda takes over 15 hours because of passing via Kenya or Ethiopia. [Airlines exit Nigeria on slow economy hit by dollar shortage, Blocked funds will not affect AirNamibia’s flights to Angola]
African cash crisis hits Indian exporters (Times of India)
The fall in global commodity prices, especially oil, has hit India's exports to Africa as a currency crisis has shut out some of the market for products such as automobiles and auto components. It has also put exporters in a tight spot with some of them complaining of delayed payments. The uncertainty has prompted the government to begin discussions on an alternate payment mechanism to ensure that the dues of Indian exporters are protected. The ministry of external affairs is discussing the possibility of opening an escrow account with countries such as Nigeria, where the exporters will have the first charge on oil dues that are paid to the African country, sources told TOI. "The dollar crisis is a serious cause for concern, and there have been no exports to countries such as Angola, Egypt and Ethiopia for the past one year. Other affected countries are Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa," said Sugato Sen, deputy DG of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Africa accounts for around a third of India's vehicle exports.
A new look at African bilateral investment treaty practice: rule-takers or rule-makers? (WTI)
Only few African countries, however, use their greater say in intra-African negotiations to include public policy exceptions in BITs. Indeed, recent North-South BITs contain more policy space than their Southern counterparts in Africa. Second, rule-makers and rule-takers also exist within the African South-South BIT landscape. Yet, in contrast to North-South relations, negotiation outcomes seem to be shaped more by expert knowledge than by power asymmetries. Powerful states like Egypt fail to dominate negotiations, while small-island-state Mauritius with its strategic investment policy agenda succeeds in setting the terms of investment agreements. [The authors: Wolfgang Alschner, Dmitriy Skougarevskiy]
Annual review of investor-state arbitrations launched (UNCTAD)
Latest trends in ISDS: In 2015, the number of ISDS cases reached a record high with a continued large share of cases against developed countries. Investors initiated 70 known investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) cases pursuant to international investment agreements (IIAs), which is the highest number of cases ever filed in a single year. In all, 35 countries faced new claims last year. Spain was the most frequent respondent in 2015, followed by the Russian Federation. Six countries – Austria, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Kenya, Mauritius and Uganda – faced their first (known) ISDS claims
Global Multidimensional Poverty Index: Thirty African nations cut ‘multidimensional’ poverty in ‘runaway success’
According to a new analysis from the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford, 30 of 35 sub-Saharan African countries analysed for changes to poverty levels over time reduced multidimensional poverty significantly. Rwanda has put in a stellar performance, showing the most comprehensive and equitable poverty reduction on the continent, but so have 19 sub-national regions in Africa, notably the department of Likouala in the Republic of Congo.
SACU to be an instrument of development, says Zuma (SABC)
South Africa's Trade Minister Rob Davies says SACU hasn't used any of the pool money over the years for projects that have a cross border dimension to promote regional integration in any way, and that has to change. Davies says they will also look at the tariff setting regime in SACU.
Why EAC countries have failed to honour the Maputo Declaration (IPPMedia)
ECOWAS Court tells Nigerian FG to pay $3,250,000 damages for ‘Boko Haram’ shooting (Nigeria Today)
Regional co-operation has been good for at least one part of the continent: the EAC (The Economist)
East African Court of Justice Strategy and Implementation Plan 2016-2020: REOI (EAC)
@IndustryKE aims to raise Kenya's share of products in the East African regional market from 7% to 15%
The consequences of policy uncertainty: disconnects and dilutions in the South African real effective exchange rate-export relationship (IMF)
This research explores the role of policy uncertainty in reducing the responsiveness of exports to relative price changes. We construct a novel “news chatter” measure of policy uncertainty and examine how it, paired with other supply-side constraints, can improve our understanding of export performance. We find that increased policy uncertainty diminishes the responsiveness of exports to the REER and has short and long-run level effects on export performance. Finally, we show that a measure of competitiveness that adjusts for uncertainty and supply-side constraints greatly outperforms the REER in tracking exports performance. [The authors: Sandile Hlatshwayo, Magnus Saxegaard]
Lesotho: Investing in electricity, growth, and debt sustainability (IMF)
The paper employs an open economy dynamic general equilibrium model to assess the benefits of a large public investment through growth-enhancing increase in domestic energy supply and receipts from selling electricity abroad to ease the fiscal burden, which is often associated with big investment projects. We find that, the project can lead to sizable macroeconomic benefits as long as costs are relatively low and demand from South Africa is sufficiently high. However, the risks for the viability of the project are high, if these assumptions are violated.
Two new reports from UNCTAD:
Benchmarking productive capacities in Least Developed Countries
Although specific policy recommendations must be done on a case-by-case basis, general themes that recur in LDCs include the need to improve data collection and data management, to build national statistical and database management capacities, to continually undertake reforms and to support and promote additional investment in and financing of productive capacities. The development partners of LDCs have important roles to play, including by rebalancing the sectoral distribution of official development assistance, by improving market access and by channelling resources from the Aid for Trade initiative to augment productive and supply capacities of LDCs.
Policy space in agricultural markets: policy issues in international trade and commodities
A general finding is that policy space in agricultural products is generally available, and only limited for developed countries. Many developing countries have ample room to raise tariffs in most agricultural imports without infringing binding commitments. For LDCs there is virtually no imports for which policy space is not available. The findings indicate that four specific factors are related to the use of policy space, which are the elasticity of import demand, the fact that the goods are being used as intermediates, food security and protection of local producers.
WTO members conduct first review of agricultural export subsidies since Nairobi decision (WTO)
Members exchanged views on various issues related to the implementation of the Nairobi decision. Several of the 16 WTO members with schedules of commitments permitting them to subsidize their farm exports confirmed their intention to formally modify their schedules. Questions and answers:
Uganda: Letter of intent, memorandum of economic financial policies, and technical memorandum of understanding (pdf, IMF)
Namibia Statistics Agency signs cooperation deal with NaCC (The Namibian)
Inaugural Kenya-China steering committee meeting held yesterday in Beijing (CapitalFM)
Tanzania’s Second Five-Year Development Plan: ODI study now available on request (ODI)
Dangote becomes a shareholder in Afreximbank (Ventures Africa)
Afreximbank finances $15 billion annually for businesses in Africa (BizNis Africa)
Antoinette Sayeh, Director of the IMF's African Department, is to retire (IMF)
Towards a new Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration: FAQs (European Commission)
Brussels to end preferential trade access for uncooperative African countries (EurActiv)
Yaounde Policy Dialogue: new horizons for urbanization and development planning in Africa (UNECA)
The Global Urban Footprint: a map of nearly every human settlement on Earth (World Bank Blogs)
UN tool will map 'science of cities' as rapid urbanization emerges as force in sustainable development (UN News Centre)
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