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Top finance officials discuss possible use of Chinese yuan as reserve currency for eastern, southern Africa
The Chinese yuan comes under the spotlight Tuesday and Wednesday when 17 top central bank and government officials from 14 countries in eastern and southern Africa meet in Harare to discuss its possible use as a reserve currency for the region.
In a statement to Xinhua on Monday, spokesperson for the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI) Gladys Siwela-Jadagu said the event would be attended by deputy permanent secretaries and deputy central bank governors.
Officials from the African Development Bank and an investments management organisation will also attend the forum bringing together the policy makers and experts in reserves management to strategise on the weakening external positions of most member countries, following the global economy slowdown, she said.
The theme for the forum is “Trends in Sovereign Reserve Management.”
“As at the end of 2017, official reserves for most countries in the MEFMI region stood barely at or below the traditional three months of import cover benchmark. Foreign currency denominated public debt continues to increase as well as interest payments, as most countries move to more commercial sources of borrowing to meet their increasing appetite for infrastructure projects,” she said.
She said the bulk of reserves for most countries in the region were invested in U.S. dollars, yet their composition had not kept pace with the large shifts in the world economy. This was particularly so since China and India continued to shape global economic trends as they remained major trade partners for the region.
“Most countries in the MEFMI region have loans or grants from China and it would only make economic sense to repay in renminbi (Chinese yuan). This is the reason why it is critical for policy makers to strategize on progress that the continent has made to embrace the Chinese yuan which has become what may be termed ‘common currency’ in trade with Africa.
“Ascendancy of Chinese yuan in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of currencies is an important symbol of its importance and IMF’s approval as an official reserve currency.
“With China as the largest trading partner of over 130 countries, the main challenge for African countries is how to benefit from the new pattern of international commerce,” she added.
She warned that the continent could not afford to lag behind in taking advantage of growth-enhancing opportunities with China, as it had been clear over the last five years that trade and investment with the West continued to be limited.
The forum will also discuss risk perceptions and capital flows and financial products available for use by African countries.
MEFMI is a regional owned Institute with 14 member countries: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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Kenya: Imports to cost more in Treasury tax deal
Consumers are likely to pay more for imported goods after the Treasury opted to increase tax on foreign products rather than cut duty on raw materials to boost domestic manufacturers’ competitiveness.
Principal secretary Kamau Thugge has indicated Finance Bill 2018 will contain a wave of increases in duty on final goods in a protectionist policy aimed at discouraging importers from shipping in products already being made by local firms.
“It was agreed we leave the Railway Development Levy (RDL) and Import Declaration Fee (IDF) unchanged, but increase the (import) duty on final goods to protect local manufacturers of final goods,” Dr Thugge said in a text message, without disclosing specific goods targeted.
The planned rise in duty may set the stage for price increases on basic commodities such as wheat flour, vegetable oils and clothes, which are both imported and made locally, potentially eroding the purchasing power of households.
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) had proposed an increase in the IDF on finished imported goods to 3.5 per cent of value of imports from 2.5 per cent presently and doubling of RDL to three per cent.
Zero rating
The lobby was further rooting for zero-rating of the two import levies on raw materials and machinery to make local industries competitive by lowering the cost of making domestic products.
The Treasury has, however, decided to slap higher taxes on foreign finished goods and leave the import levies on industrial supplies unchanged to protect its ordinary revenue, projected at Sh1.74 trillion next financial year from July.
The two levies – IDF and RDL – generated taxes of about Sh69 billion last year based on imports of Sh1.725 trillion.
KAM chairperson Flora Mutahi has said failure to give incentives to manufacturers may derail President Uhuru Kenyatta’s industrialisation agenda, maintaining cost of production in the country is about 12 per cent higher than global benchmark.
Not long-term
“Big Four” is not a long-term project. The President wants results before he leaves. We thought we needed to have all guns blazing at the same time because manufacturing investment cycle is not an overnight thing,” she said.
“It is rather unfortunate (we didn’t get incentives) but at least it (disincentives on importers of final goods) is step forward rather than nothing and we will continue with consultations.”
Dr Thugge has further dismissed suggestions the Treasury was planning to increase the railway levy on finished imports to partly shoulder the cost of loan repayments.
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tralac’s Daily News Selection
Nigeria and the AfCFTA: National stakeholders’ sensitization and consultations, conducted by the NOTN, continue this week. Today’s consultation will be held in Calabar (South-South zone) while Wednesday’s consultation will be held in Lagos (South-West zone).
Rwanda deposits its AfCFTA ratification instruments – and becomes the first state to ratify the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport
Launching on Thursday: Migration and Structural Transformation in Africa. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2018 will highlight how intra-African migration is of relevance for regional and continental integration and offer new insights for African governments as well as for migration stakeholders outside the continent. By tracing patterns of intra-African migration and channels through which they affect socio-economic development outcomes in Africa, it adopts an innovative human-centered narrative in identifying opportunities for absorption of extra labour in different sectors across the continent.
Ghana: Introduction of Cargo Tracking Notes policy set for 1 June (GhanaWeb)
Starting this Friday – 1 June – all exporters to Ghana will be required to comply with the Cargo Tracking Notes policy before they can be allowed entry into Ghana and subsequent clearing of consignment of goods. The CTN requires that any exporter to Ghana, uploads details of the consignment onto a provided platform to allow the GRA reconcile duties paid with its locally generated data. It comes after an initial suspension in February 2018. The Cargo Tracking Notes is to allow the GRA fix loopholes in cargo under-declaration and under valuation at the ports. Initially, the importers and freight forwarders strongly opposed it; they explained the move will add unto their cost of operation. But after three months of suspending the program, a Tax Advisor to the Commissioner of Customs, Christian Sottie tells Citi Business News the cost will now be borne by the GRA. [Ghana: Textile workers laud government for fight against pirated textiles]
Liberia: President Weah gives Revenue Authority three days to reduce tariffs (Front Page Africa)
The Liberia Revenue Authority has three days, by directive of President George Manneh Weah, to ensure that tariffs on basic commodities are reduced. This, according to President Weah, would alleviate hardship in the country, which is being caused by high tariffs resulting to high prices of goods and services. “The President has observed that the current tariffs regime including the ECOWAS Common External Tariff is causing a serious hike in the cost of basic commodities in the country, thus adversely affecting the Liberian people, especially the poor. The President deems this as unacceptable and further expressed that it contravenes the premise of the pro-poor agenda,” noted a statement from the office the presidential press secretary. The CET was introduced to the Legislature in 2017 by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and called for its adoption. The introduction of the CET enabled Liberia to join other ECOWAS countries in establishing a common customs union, making trade and commerce easier within the ECOWAS sub-region.
Kenya risks missing Comesa deadline for sugar sector reforms (Business Daily)
Kenya is likely to miss the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa deadline for liberalising the sugar industry due to wrangles between governors and the Privatisation Commission over sale of mills. The Council of Governors has rejected the sale in its entirety, saying it will not solve problems facing farmers, instead demanding the assets revert to the counties. Previously, the governors were only opposed to the sale formula saying it was not in the interest of the growers. Chair of the agriculture committee at the CoG Okoth Obado says counties are able to run the mills efficiently on behalf of farmers. “We are not allowing the sale of these factories, we want them to be given to counties, which can operate them efficiently,” he said. In March, the Commission said it was targeting to complete the sale to private millers by August before the safeguards come to an end.
EAC trade policy updates: URA clarification on the ‘suspension’ of Single Customs Territory; The EAC’s Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry and Finance is meeting in Arusha
South African company to supply 110 coaches to Ghana railway (GhanaWeb)
Ghana’s Minister of Railway, Mr Joe Ghartey has revealed that South Africa’s leading railway and ports company, Transnet International Holdings will be supplying 110 wagons to the Ghana Railway Company Limited by end of this year. It also includes the supply of 22 coaches, two locomotives for the passenger service, and two power vans with first class kitchen to render first class services to passengers. Mr Ghartey says he is upbeat about the renaissance of the railway sector of the country with the coming on board of this partnership and is thus encouraging Ghanaians to be optimistic about government’s efforts at revamping the sector. He says with the coming on board of Transnet, the dream of revamping the ailing rail sector of Ghana will become a reality. He said the South Africans have shown an unflinching interest in the development of the rail network of the country, and are eager to roll out action plans quickly. [Kenya orders South Africa buses as Dar buys in Nairobi]
Afreximbank, China Eximbank to expand collaboration
The President of the African Export-Import Bank, Dr Benedict Oramah, met with Liu Liange, President of China Eximbank, for discussions on progress regarding joint initiatives being implemented by the two institutions and to identify new areas of collaboration. The two institutions also agreed to expand collaboration in trade finance to facilitate increased two-way trade between Africa and China.
Ghana: MoFA seeks Chinese assistance to revamp cotton industry (GhanaWeb)
Mauritius
Selected new trade and economy reports from Statistics Mauritius
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External Merchandise Trade Statistics – March 2018 (pdf): The balance of visible trade showed a deficit of Rs 7,011 million in March 2018, higher by 7.8% compared to the previous month and lower by 4.3% when compared to the corresponding month of 2017. In March 2018, total imports increased by 14.9% compared to February 2018 and decreased by 5.2% compared to March 2017. In March 2018, total exports increased by 22.5% compared to the previous month and decreased by 6.1% compared to March 2017. The United Kingdom (13.4%), South Africa (12.6%), France (12.0%) and USA (7.7%) were the major exports destinations in March 2018 while imports were mainly from India (21.3%), China (10.8%), South Africa (10.8%) and France (8.9%).
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Economic and Social Indicators highlights (pdf): This ninth issue of the Economic and Social Indicators presents a set of estimates of labour force, employment and unemployment for the year 2017, based on the results of the Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey (CMPHS). The estimates refer to the Mauritian population aged 16 years and above in the Republic of Mauritius; foreign workers are not included. The Mauritian workforce is moving up the occupation ladder: The share of employment in the higher occupational groups (ISCO 1-3) comprising legislators, senior officials and managers; professionals; technicians and associate professionals increased from 15.7% in 2007 to 23.9% in 2017. On the other hand, the share of employment in the lowest occupational group (ISCO 9) representing elementary jobs decreased from 20.5% to 15.6%.
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International travel and tourism – 1st Quarter 2018 (pdf). The number of tourist arrivals for the first Quarter of 2018 increased by 4.9%, from 339,682 in the first quarter of 2017, to reach 356,415. The performance of our main markets, which accounted for 69% of total tourist arrivals for the first Quarter of 2018, is given in Table 1. Among the emerging markets, India, Russian Federation and People’s Rep. of China posted decreases of 0.2%, 3.0% and 17.3% respectively. Based on recent data on tourist arrivals and information gathered from stakeholders, the forecast of 1,410,000 tourist arrivals for the year 2018 is maintained. This results in an increase of 5.1% over the figure of 1,341,860 in 2017.
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Productivity and competitiveness indicators (2007-2017) (pdf): This issue of the Economic and Social Indicators presents indicators for the years 2007 to 2017 for the total economy, the manufacturing sector and Export Oriented Enterprises (EOE). Output, as measured by the Gross Value Added (GVA), is the total value of goods and services (exclusive of taxes) produced within a country. From 2007 to 2017, GVA at basic prices, in real terms, grew on average by 3.8% per annum. The contribution of different factors to economic growth is determined by the growth accounting technique. From 2007 to 2017, the contribution of labour to the 3.8% average annual growth in GVA worked out to 13% and that of capital to 61%. The remaining 26% represents qualitative factors such as training, management and technology.
Wheels of fortune: how Morocco plans to overtake SA motor industry (Business Day)
SA may be about to surrender its status as the home of Africa’s biggest motor industry. New investments in Morocco are forecast to push up the North African country’s automotive production. South African motor companies built 601,178 vehicles in 2017, compared with Morocco’s 376,826. Morocco, however, has set an annual production target of 1-million vehicles within 10 years while SA is targeting 1.2-million by 2035. Biggest is not necessarily best, but the challenge to SA’s long-standing supremacy on the continent underlines the need for industry and the government to protect the competitiveness of the motor industry when designing a successor to the 2013-20 Automotive Production and Development Programme.
South Africa: Why don’t investors flock to our special zones? (IOL)
South Africa has spent 10 years setting up our SEZs to attract investors, but now that the parks are ready, investors are not coming. We need to urgently address why this is the case if we want to court investment to facilitate job creation, which is the president’s top priority. It is not good enough to have merely built the nests, now we need to attract the birds. The government is gearing up for two major investment summits, the success of which is critical for our economy. We need to take a hard look at the fact that we have as many as 10 SEZs, and while there are investors, there are not enough. There are hardly even enough investors to sustain four SEZs, which means economies of scale are not there. So what exactly are these challenges? [SA trade delegation arrives in China for special economic zones investment roadshow]
Botswana: Trade and investment updates from President Masisi (GoB)
Allow me to reiterate here that Government will also expedite the implementation of the Special Economic Zones initiative which is expected to contribute immensely to the socio economic development of this country. This will be done through providing a hassle-free business environment as well as offering investors a competitive edge in world markets. We also wish to build on the recent success of the Botswana One Stop Service Centre and provide it with the requisite resources including all the seconded staff required from relevant Ministries so that it may service investors with high levels of effectiveness and efficiency. The Government of Botswana intends to establish a consolidated Board of Investment which will ensure that all requirements of investors are met effectively going forward. In the meanwhile, I expect all the agencies such as the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, the Botswana Development Corporation, the Special Economic Zones Authority, the Selebi-Phikwe Enterprise Development Unit and the Botswana Innovation Hub to work together and complement each other’s efforts to provide seamless service to investors who come to Botswana, as well as to facilitate expansion of existing investment. [Extracts from remarks from President Masisi at 44th meeting of the High Level Consultative Council, 24 May]
Today’s Quick Links: Ethiopia to allow all Africans to visit without visas “very soon” PM Abiy Ahmed says Kagame: No obstacle to African Union reforms is insurmountable Negotiations on the post-Cotonou Agreement stumble on migration SWAC OECD have launched their new online maps library: 400 maps of the Sahel and West Africa are available for download Ghana imports $99.5m worth of tomatoes annually from Burkina Faso TOR: Regional Assessment of hazards, vulnerabilities and risks in ECCAS countries (pdf) Empowering producers in commercial agriculture: Malawi component to a new three-year IIED study, Zimbabwe update Wanted: Honorary Consuls for ‘cash-strapped’ African nations |
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Rwanda deposits instruments of AfCFTA and Free Movement of people ratification
Rwanda on 26 May 2018 became the third nation on the continent to deposit the instruments of ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Rwanda also became the first to deposit the Protocol to the Abuja Treaty on the Free Movement of People and Right of Establishment and Right of Residence.
Depositing the instruments of ratification means that the country has undertaken all required internal legislative and legal measures in readiness to implement the transformational agreement.
Rwanda follows Kenya and Ghana, both who deposited the instruments early this month.
This follows the passing of the agreements by parliament and signing by the Head of State to complete the process. For the agreement to take effect, a minimum of 22 ratifications are required to commence implementation of the agreement.
During the signing of the agreement in March this year, African Union Member countries set a deadline of 180 days to ratify the agreement through their respective legislative bodies.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) Conference last week called for African nations to speed up the ratification and adoption process of the agreement saying it is a powerful tool for driving industrialisation, economic diversification and development.
ECA estimates indicate that the agreement’s implementation could boost intra-African trade from its current level of 16 per cent to 52 per cent by 2022.
Statement from the African Union Commission
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on 26 May 2018 received from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Rwanda, Louise Mushikiwabo, the instruments of ratification of the Agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport.
Rwanda is the third member state to ratify the AfCFTA, after Ghana and Kenya, and the first to do so as far as the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport is concerned.
The Chairperson of the Commission commends Rwanda for this important step, which is a further illustration of its leaders’ commitment to the goals and ideals of the African Union. He urges the member states that have not yet done so to take the required steps to become parties to both the AfCFTA and the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport.
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Kenya risks missing Comesa deadline for sugar sector reforms
Kenya is likely to miss the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) deadline for liberalising the sugar industry due to wrangles between governors and the Privatisation Commission over sale of mills.
The Council of Governors (CoG) has rejected the sale in its entirety, saying it will not solve problems facing farmers, instead demanding the assets revert to the counties.
Previously, the governors were only opposed to the sale formula saying it was not in the interest of the growers.
Chair of the agriculture committee at the CoG Okoth Obado says counties are able to run the mills efficiently on behalf of farmers.
“We are not allowing the sale of these factories, we want them to be given to counties, which can operate them efficiently,” he said.
In March, the Commission said it was targeting to complete the sale to private millers by August before the safeguards come to an end.
Kenya was given up to February next year to privatise State-owned millers, among other requirements, before the safeguards that have been in place for over one-and-a-half decade are lifted. This implies that Kenya’s sugar will have to compete with cheaper commodity from Comesa states.
“Privatisation is not the solution to problems facing sugar millers; Mumias was privatised many years ago but look at the problems that it is facing,” said the Migori governor.
The government plans to sell a 51 per cent stake in the companies to strategic investors and reserve another 24 per cent for farmers and employees.
It will then sell the remaining 25 per cent in the milling companies through an initial public offering once the factories are profitable.
Farmers and political leaders in Sony, Nzoia and Chemelil have also opposed the sale of factories.
This implies that the commission will in the meantime only be able to sell highly indebted factories that are not active in production such as Miwani (owes creditors $276.6 million) and Muhoroni ($266.7 million), which are in receivership.
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Mauritius Economic and Social Indicators: Labour force, unemployment, productivity and tourism
Labour force, Employment and Unemployment – Year 2017
The ninth issue of the Economic and Social Indicators of Statistics Mauritius, based on the results of the Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey, indicates that the unemployment rate has decreased from 7.3% to 7.1% in 2017.
With regards to the change from 2016 to 2017, the Mauritian labour force has increased by 5,900 from 581,000 to 586,900 while the employment rate went up by 6,500 from 538,600 to 545,100. Accordingly, unemployment decreased by 600 from 42,400 to 41,800 and the overall activity rate remained unchanged at 59.6%.
Furthermore, youth employment decreased by 1,800 from 60,100 to 58,300 and unemployment increased by 400 from 18,900 to 19,300. Youth unemployment rate therefore, increased by 1.0 percentage point from 23.9% to 24.9%.
As for male labour force, it increased by 3,000 from 353,600 to 356,600 and the number of those outside the labour force increased by 700 from 122,600 to 123,300. Male employment increased by 2,700 from 336,700 to 339,400 and unemployment by 300 from 16,900 to 17,200. Male activity rate and unemployment rate remain unchanged at 74.3% and 4.8% respectively.
Moreover, female labour force increased by 2,900 from 227,400 to 230,300 and the number of those outside the labour force increased by 1,900 from 271,900 to 273,800. Female employment increased by 3,800 from 201,900 to 205,700 while unemployment decreased by 900 from 25,500 to 24,600. Hence, female activity rate increased from 45.5% to 45.7% while unemployment rate decreased from 11.2% to 10.7%.
In 2017, men comprised 61% of the labour force and most of the workers, that is, 79% were employees. Among the unemployed, women outnumbered men, 24,600 compared to 17,200 though they were generally more qualified. Unemployment rate was highest in the lowest age groups and decreased progressively with increasing age. The unemployment rate for youth aged between 16 to 24 years stood at 24.9%, with 19.5% for male and 31.9% for female.
Productivity and Competitiveness Indicators (2007-2017)
This issue of the Economic and Social Indicators presents Productivity and Competitiveness Indicators for the years 2007 to 2017 for the total economy, the manufacturing sector and Export Oriented Enterprises (EOE).
Output (Gross Value Added)
Output, as measured by the Gross Value Added (GVA), is the total value of goods and services (exclusive of taxes) produced within a country. From 2007 to 2017, GVA at basic prices, in real terms, grew on average by 3.8% per annum. The growth rate for 2017 was 3.5%, lower than the growth of 3.6% registered in 2016. GDP per capita at market prices is an indicator of the standard of living of the population. With an annual growth of 0.2% in the population and 3.9% in GDP at market prices, GDP per capita grew by 3.7% per annum during the period 2007 to 2017.
Productivity trends
Labour productivity
Labour productivity for the whole economy is a measure of real output (GVA) per worker. The index of labour productivity improved from 100.0 in 2007 to 127.5 in 2017, giving an average annual growth of 2.5%. In 2017, labour productivity grew at a lower rate of 2.4% compared to 3.4% in 2016. This was the result of a lower GVA growth of 3.5% compared to 3.6% in 2016 while labour input grew by a higher rate of 1.1% in 2017 compared to 0.1% in 2016.
Capital productivity
Capital productivity is a measure of real GVA per unit of capital. During the period 2007 to 2017, the index of capital productivity declined from 100.0 in 2007 to 99.2 in 2017. The average annual rate of change worked out to -0.1%. Capital productivity registered an increase of 0.9% in 2017 compared to 1.1% in 2016 (Table 1.2). The 0.9% increase in 2017 is explained by a lower growth in capital input (2.6%) compared to that of GVA (3.5%).
Multifactor productivity (MFP)
The MFP index shows the rate of change in “productive efficiency”. In addition to labour and capital inputs, it takes into account qualitative factors such as better management and improved quality of inputs through training and technology. The average annual change in MFP during the period 2007 to 2017 worked out to 0.9%. MFP growth in 2017 (1.4%) was lower than in 2016 (1.9%)
Growth accounting
The contribution of different factors to economic growth is determined by the growth accounting technique. From 2007 to 2017, the contribution of labour to the 3.8% average annual growth in GVA worked out to 13% and that of capital to 61%. The remaining 26% represents qualitative factors such as training, management and technology.
International Travel and Tourism – 1st Quarter 2018
This issue of the Economic and Social Indicators presents data on International Travel and Tourism for the first quarter of 2018.
International travel
In the first quarter 2018, 18 cruise ships arrived in the country and carried some 24,058 cruise travellers which include 11,313 tourists, 4,980 excursionists, 117 Mauritian residents and 7,648 crew members.
Arrivals
Compared to 1st Quarter 2017:
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total arrivals increased by 5.4% from 450,799 to 475,175, of which arrivals in Rodrigues direct from Reunion Island amounted to 119;
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tourist arrivals increased by 4.9% from 339,682 to 356,415; and
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the number of excursionists (arriving and leaving on the same day) increased by 30.2% from 10,171 to 13,246.
Departures
Compared to 1st Quarter 2017:
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total departures increased by 3.9% from 485,010 to 503,879, of which departures from Rodrigues direct to Reunion Island amounted to 176; and
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departures of Mauritian residents increased by 3.3% from 66,373 to 68,576.
In the 1st Quarter of 2018, the main countries of disembarkation (country of final destination or transit country) for Mauritian residents were United Arab Emirates (15,401 or 22.5%), Reunion Island (8,947 or 13.0%), India (8,062 or 11.8%), South Africa, Rep. of (7,271 or 10.6%), France (5,555 or 8.1%) and United Kingdom (4,344 or 6.3%).
Tourism
Tourist arrivals
Compared to 1 st Quarter 2017, tourist arrivals increased by 16,733 or 4.9% to reach 356,415 in 1 st Quarter 2018.
In the first quarter of 2018, France, our top tourist generating country, registered an increase of 3.3% while Reunion Island decreased by 5.0%. It is worth noting that compared to 1 st Quarter 2017, tourist arrivals from Netherlands increased by 55.2% as a result of direct flights. Among the emerging markets, India, Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China posted decreases of 0.2%, 3.0% and 17.3% respectively.
Tourist arrivals by air – Main port of last embarkation
During the 1st Quarter 2018, a high proportion of tourists arrived mainly by direct flights from their own country of residence except for Russian Federation, where there were no direct flights. Tourists from Russian Federation travelled mainly through United Arab Emirates which is the most used transiting port.
For the 1st Quarter 2018, the proportion of tourists who travelled to Mauritius through United Arab Emirates from Russian Federation was 54.4%. It is also worth noting that during the period under review, 24.6% of tourists from Italy travelled on direct flights. The remaining used mainly United Arab Emirates as transiting port.
Tourist arrivals: Selected tourist destinations
During the 1st Quarter 2018 while tourist arrivals in Mauritius increased by 4.9%, higher growths were observed for Maldives (+17.0%), Sri Lanka (+17.0%) and Seychelles (+6.1%).
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tralac’s Daily News Selection
Diarise: The private sector and regional integration in Southern Africa – accelerating opportunities for investment and growth (11-13 June, Lilongwe)
Selected commentaries:
Pierre Guislain: Is the Korean experience relevant to today? The experience of Korea shows that there is no quick-fix, magic formula for industrializing. But it also shows that it is possible for any economy to turn its fortunes around with a dedicated and disciplined government, good industrial policy, effective public-private dialogue and real commitment to infrastructure investment. This being said, the real value and relevance of the Korean development experience for Africa should be sought in the methodology of policy formulation and the development of supportive ecosystems, rather than in specific policy measures.
Babatunde Fagbayibo: Why the Pan-African Parliament must clean up its act if it wants to survive
Liesl Louw-Vaudran: Keeping the AU relevant to Africa’s citizens
Key statistics and trends in economic integration: ACP region (UNCTAD)
The report is structured into two parts. The first part briefly summarizes the history of the ACP group and presents an overview of ACP economies in the world economy and some challenges that member States face. The second part provides illustrative statistics on ACP countries’ trade in goods and services during the last decade. The section includes various indicators of trade structure, services trade and investment flows, trade facilitation, tariffs and non-tariff measures as well as international competitiveness. While the section presents some of the most commonly used trade indicators for the ACP group as a whole, some other figures compare the structure and performance of three geographical regions of the ACP: Africa, Caribbean and Pacific. Extract (pdf):
Intra-ACP trade accounts for 17.9% of the total trade (exports plus imports) in 2016, relatively low compared to established regional trade blocks. For example, intraregional trade accounts for 61.7% and 40.3% in the European Union and North American Free Trade Area. Nevertheless, aggregate figure hides the heterogeneity of trade flows and trade concentrations within subregions of the ACP. As it is originally conceived as a block to negotiate trade agreements with the European Union, intra-ACP trade appears to have a fractured geography in three regional trade zones: Africa, Caribbean and Pacific. While ACP accounts for 19.4% and 10.6% of the ACP Africa’s and Caribbean’s trade respectively, it only captures 2.8% of ACP Pacific’s trade flows (Chart 4). For the latter group of countries, geographical dispersion and weak domestic productive capacity inhibit trade expansion.
Integrate Africa: selected pointers from Chapter 4 in the Annual Development Effectiveness Review 2018
Figure 15: pdf High-resolution impact mapping of a West Africa regional corridor (5.64 MB) . The Bank is using high-resolution impact mapping to assess the impact of a 1900 km regional road corridor it supported linking Bamako, Ouagadougou and Accra. Focusing on an unprecedented geographic scale, the map provides details on the road’s economic footprint, improvements in human development and increases in cross-border traffic. By comparing data from household surveys and applying geotagged datasets and satellite imagery, the methodology assesses with a high degree of reliability the changes in people’s living conditions – for example, additional people with access to energy. Changes in living conditions are drawn from household surveys undertaken in 2003 and 2014, before and after the road was made available and focusing on an area 20 km wide on both sides of the road. It should be noted that not all of these changes are directly attributable to the project, but they reflect broader improvements in living conditions. [See also: Figure 14: Mapping intra-Africa trade flows; Table 4: Integrate Africa indicators (Level 1 & Level 2)]
Implementing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area: selected highlights from yesterday’s Wilson Center Africa Day 2018 debate. (i) Donald Kaberuka: The AfCFTA is not simply about goods but about services. There is trade finance, insurance, logisitics, data – a lot of services associated with one product. Half of the benefits from AfCFTA is not from physical goods but services. (ii) What challenges do you predict for African island countries? Our islands are about services, Mauritius is a big recipient of services and a major center for financial services and other services. Island countries will benefit from the logistics of the AfCFTA. (iii) See @AfricaUpClose for a lengthy set of tweeted opinions.
Tripartite Free Trade Area: COMESA-EAC-SADC immigration chiefs discuss free movement of business people (COMESA)
Nigeria and the AfCFTA: updates on the on-going domestic consultations
South-East business owners ratify AfCFTA, insist on zonal gas masterplan. The request was one of the several demands they presented at the Stakeholders Sensitisation and Consultations Forum held in Owerri, Imo State on Nigeria’s participation in the Africa CFTA agreement. They endorsed the AfCFTA pact seeking reduction in tariffs on 90% of trade lines for all trade among African countries as a necessary step for trade facilitation. They also contended that AfCFTA would support Nigeria’s economic policy and its leadership in the African Union, through improving competitiveness in trade in goods and services. The Forum underlined the necessity for accelerated implementation action in the areas including, reducing the cost of money, improving access to credit, countervailing measures against transhipment, dumping and other injurious trade practices against Nigerian manufacturers and service providers and provision of predictable, cost effective power supply and parity in tariff charges in the South-east. The zone also called for the modernisation of Nigerian logistics in the supply chains and railway transport systems. The Traders Associations in the zone emphasised the importance of open markets and underscored their right to import and export goods including, textiles and clothing, pharmaceuticals, automobile spare parts, and agricultural products.
Ambassador Osakwe: “It’s about roles and leadership of the number 1 economy in Africa. We shouldn’t shut our corridors that have been open for hundred years.”
Non-Oil Export: Safeguards embedded in the AfCFTA are contained in Articles 10, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23 and 25.
“AfCFTA implementation will push consumer spending to $1.4 trn by 2020”. The Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiation says the AfCFTA will assist to address the issue of unemployment, market access and economic growth for Nigeria and Africa. Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, Director-General of NOTN, noted that about one million Nigerians and an estimated 18 to 20 million Africans enter the job market yearly, adding that AfCFTA would not only address unemployment issues but deepen intra-Africa trade and regional integration for economic development. The ambassador noted that AfCFTA was much more than a trade agreement but a deal that strategically reorganises the geo-economic landscape of Africa, Nigeria’s leadership position, competitiveness and modernisation. He noted that certain provisions were placen the Articles of agreement to safeguard local economies, especially manufacturers and SMEs.
Algeria’s intra-Africa trade exchange far below potential (Xinhua)
Trade exchange between Algeria and other African countries is still far below potential, with the value worth around $3bn annually, Director General of the Algerian Agency for the Promotion of Foreign Trade Chafiq Chetti said on Thursday. Algeria’s exports to other African countries amounted to $1.6bn annually, while its imports from the continent reached around $1.4bn, Chetti was quoted as saying by the Algerian state radio channel. Chetti said 96% of Algeria’s intra-Africa trade transactions are concluded with only five African countries, which means that the North African nation has almost no business relations with the rest of the African countries. The official pointed out that Algeria, unlike neighboring countries such as Tunisia and Morocco, is lagging behind in terms of entering African markets, especially those of Western Africa. In this regard, Chetti indicated that Algeria has opened three commercial liaison offices in all of Côte D’Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon, but the absence of Algerian bank subsidiaries there makes it difficult to attract assets to achieve the desired objectives.
TMEA’s Frank Matsaert: How Africa can make its big trade deal work for it (Business Daily)
Q: You seem to take more of an outside East Africa approach in your next plan of action? A: Strategy 2 is about scale-up. What we will be focusing on to reduce trade costs is thinking about efficiency of the transport and trade network. Here we will be looking at East Africa’s external borders. We will be looking at the borders of DR Congo and the Great Lakes as well as borders to the south. We are also about to begin operations in Zambia and Mozambique and are working on how to bring in Ethiopia to the East African Network. Our target is to lift more than 1.8 million people out of poverty.
Vietnamese exports to Africa face price challenges (VietnamPlus)
Vietnamese exports to Africa have faced price-related challenges as they have to compete with other African nations in terms of import tax, given the fact there is no free trade agreement or preferential trade agreement between Vietnam and regional countries. Pointing out price challenges for Vietnamese exports to Africa, the office suggested Vietnamese businesses make use of benefits brought about by the pact, which will turn Africa into a busier and more promising area for commercial activities. Hoang Oanh, head of the Department of Asia-Africa Markets under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Vietnamese firms should pay more attention to markets like Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and Angola, and products like rice, coffee, pepper, seafood, household electric products, garments-textiles and machines for agriculture and garment-textile.
Acceleration and domestication of African Union Treaties: new $15m regional initiative launched (UNDP)
UNCTAD TRAINS: The Global Database on Non-Tariff Measures
The purpose of this manual is to provide information for users of the TRAINS database about the NTMs data structure and data collection process. It explains the classification and to what extent and how the consistency among different countries and comprehensiveness of regulations have been achieved. It also indicates how to read the data and its different variables presented through all dissemination tools mentioned above.
Non-Tariff Measures: data and quantitative tools of analysis (FERDI)
This paper provides a tour d’horizon on where we stand with the information, and analysis of Non-Tariff Measures. The analysis of NTMs has been fragmentary, not keeping pace with their increasing prevalence and their increasing complexity. Capturing and classifying these NTMs is still a daunting task because of the data limitations identified in this paper: comprehensiveness, diversification, lack of precision, dimensionality, time dimension (NTMs are rarely available for several years which makes it difficult to control for confounding factors). Most NTM data inventories are registered on a binary basis restricting the use of descriptive statistics to a few indices. Disentangling precautionary from protectionist motives of NTMs is difficult as the presence and/or intensity of NTMs is likely to depend on import volumes. [The authors: Alessandro Nicita, Jaime de Melo]
Today’s Quick Links: Convergence et divergence budgétaire en Afrique: le rôle des Communautés économiques régionales et des Unions économiques et monétaires Senegal’s economy almost a third bigger after data overhaul Nigeria Shippers Council: “90% of cargo are under-declared at Nigerian ports” ECOWAS launches energy governance programme for West Africa TCN, ECOWAS set to launch regional electricity market expansion Tanzania: Stiegler’s Gorge power project to eat up huge chunk of energy budget Kenya Organic Agriculture Network: Genetically modified Bt cotton not worth the hype UBA paving the way for Chinese investments into Africa Viva Tech Summit: Rwandan tech firms pitch to global markets in France India drags US to WTO over levy of additional duties on steel, aluminium |
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Key Statistics and Trends in Economic Integration: ACP Region
The Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) was established by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975 to negotiate and implement cooperation treaties with the European Union. Today, the group includes 79 member States from Sub-Saharan African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Its goals also went beyond the initial mandate by including achieving sustainable development, integrating member States to the world economy and strengthening cooperation among member States in trade, economics, politics and culture. This study maps the group’s trade and trade policy structure, and discusses challenges and opportunities of deep economic integration.
The ACP group has a fractured economic and trade structure as the member States are geographically dispersed around the world and possess different geographical and economic features. Heterogeneity of the level of economic development, local productive capacities, economic sizes and structures of member States as well as lack of a clear move at the ACP level for supra-regional economic integration often hinders development of intra-regional trade and economic links.
Many member states are highly dependent on primary goods exports and rely on few developed country markets for export revenues. Intra-ACP trade, however, has higher manufacturing and technology content and thus offers possibility to diversify export product basket and increase the domestic content of the ACP countries in more sophisticated products.
Tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTMs) remain obstacles in increasing trade growth of the member States along with other challenges in trade facilitation. Occasionally average tariff rates vary significantly among ACP regions. In general, agricultural products face higher tariff rates than industrial products. Intraregional trade also tends to face lower tariff rates than inter-regional trade. However, NTMs remains to be more important in affecting international trade flows than tariffs.
Maritime transport, which is the backbone of the world trade in merchandise goods, is not sufficiently efficient in many ACP countries to promote rapid trade growth among the member States. The region also performs low in e-commerce even compared to the developing countries’ average.
ACP countries' performance in business environment varies considerably across different indicators. Members often score better in starting a business but perform weak in enforcing contracts and trading across borders. Weaknesses in general business environment, along with other factors, impede FDI inflows and participation of member States to the global value chains. Per capita FDI inflows to the ACP countries are less than one fifth of the world and one twentieth of the developed countries average.
The labour productivity in ACP is about 24 per cent below the world average. While the productivity gap is the widest for the ACP Pacific region, Caribbean region performs well above the world average. Since 2009 ACP countries successfully increased their labour productivity, but the upturn remained below the world average and thus the gap has widened considerably since then.
The terms of trade (TOT) has deteriorated for natural resource dependent economies during the last 5 years, eroding the commodity price based surge in TOT at the beginning of the century. The recent appreciation of USD against many currencies also gave temporary price advantages to many ACP countries in the export markets.
The report is structured into two parts. The first part briefly summarizes the history of the ACP group and presents an overview of ACP economies in the world economy and some challenges that member States face. The second part provides illustrative statistics on ACP countries’ trade in goods and services during the last decade. The section includes various indicators of trade structure, services trade and investment flows, trade facilitation, tariffs and non-tariff measures as well as international competitiveness. While the section presents some of the most commonly used trade indicators for the ACP group as a whole, some other figures compare the structure and performance of three geographical regions of the ACP: Africa, Caribbean and Pacific.
Introduction
Opportunities for Trade in the Region
Economic sizes of the three geographical regions of ACP countries are very diverse. With an estimated population of 1.1 billion ACP Africa is the largest region accounting for more than 95 per cent of the group’s total in 2017. Caribbean and Pacific are smaller in comparison with an estimated population of about 40 and 12 million respectively. Similarly, with 1.5 trillion combined GDP, African countries account for more than 85.2 per cent of the ACP group's total GDP in 2016. Africa is followed by Caribbean ($237 billion) and then by Pacific ($33 billion).
Moreover, African countries are the biggest trader (exports plus imports) of the group by accounting for about 85.3 per cent of the ACP's merchandise trade flows in 2016. In contrast, Caribbean and Pacific countries' exports are about 12.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent of the total respectively.
Intra-ACP trade accounts for 17.9 per cent of the total trade (exports plus imports) in 2016, relatively low compared to established regional trade blocks. For example, intra-regional trade accounts for 61.7 per cent and 40.3 per cent in the European Union and North American Free Trade Area. Nevertheless, aggregate figure hides the heterogeneity of trade flows and trade concentrations within subregions of the ACP.
As it is originally conceived as a block to negotiate trade agreements with the European Union, intra-ACP trade appears to have a fractured geography in three regional trade zones: Africa, Caribbean and Pacific. While ACP accounts for 19.4 per cent and 10.6 per cent of the ACP Africa's and Caribbean's trade respectively, it only captures 2.8 per cent of ACP Pacific’s trade flows. For the latter group of countries, geographical dispersion and weak domestic productive capacity inhibit trade expansion.
Fractured trade structure is visible when intra-ACP trade by region is studied. A significant share of intra-ACP trade is done among the members of the same geographical region while trade flows among the regions are weak. On average, about 70.6 per cent of the trade flows of the Caribbean and 81.6 per cent of the Pacific regions are with the countries in their respective region. For African countries, this figure goes over 98 per cent.
Despite the fractured trade structure, intra-ACP trade is gradually gaining importance for member States over the course of two decades. The rise may be mainly due to a generally increasing share of developing countries in world trade than deliberate and concerted efforts of ACP countries to strengthen their economic ties and integration.
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COMESA-EAC-SADC Immigration Chiefs discuss free movement
Chiefs of Immigration departments from the COMESA, EAC and SADC regions held a two-day meeting in Nairobi this week to discuss ways of introducing free movement of business persons within the context of the Tripartite Free Trade Area.
The business community has long complained about the restrictive immigration processes that make it impossible and expensive for them to travel across the region.
Some of these include extensive visa procedures, lack of uniformity of procedures and multiple physical checks. Visa fees and other taxes on business persons are varied between member States with some charging as high as $250.
In addition, there are high additional taxes that are not directly linked to Visas such as airport tax and some more taxes not linked to any administrative costs or service provided.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the meeting, Chairperson of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Mr. Sindiso Ngwenya described the restrictions as archaic and connected to colonialism. He said these processes are also preventing Africa from embracing the digital age.
He added that it is a paradox that whereas under the free trade area goods originating within the member/partner States that qualify under the Tripartite Rules of Origin can move freely, that is not the case with business people.
“I wish to submit that there can be no Union without the free movement of people including business persons,” Mr. Ngwenya, who is also the Secretary General of COMESA, said.
The meeting held from 22-23 May 2018 was necessitated by failure of immigration technical officers to find consensus, after several rounds of negotiations, on a number of important issues that are critical to the free movement of business persons, goods, services and investment across the Tripartite region.
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AUC, Sweden and UNDP partner to speed up action on continent’s legal agreements to boost development
The African Union Commission (AUC), Sweden, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have joined efforts to boost the number of African countries signing up to and adopting into national law continental agreements to help accelerate development.
Since its establishment as the Organisation of African Unity, the African Union has adopted 49 treaties, protocols and conventions. However, as of 2015 only 28 of these treaties have been ratified and enshrined by the 54 Member States.
“The low rate of ratification and implementation of AU treaties is a missed opportunity for the African continent to advance the continental agenda, negatively impacting the effectiveness of the AU’s efforts to foster peace and stabilization and further economic development in Africa,” said Lamin Momodou Manneh, Director of UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa.
The three-year USD 15 million regional initiative “Acceleration and Domestication of African Union Treaties” will focus on increasing AUC technical expertise to assist countries to enhance capacity to speed up ratification and domestication, and foster greater knowledge and awareness amongst African populations to ensure greater levels of demand and advocacy for the effective domestication of all treaties.
The Government of Sweden has contributed USD 7 million towards this programme.
“The challenge of the AU is not the norm setting but the implementation of those norms in different areas – and this is why it is so important to support the acceleration of ratification and domestication of AU legal instruments by Member States,” said H.E. Mr. Torbjörn Pettersson, Ambassador of Sweden to Ethiopia, and Sweden’s Special Representative to the AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Some of the challenges to ratification include a lack of capacity within the AUC to support treaty ratification; lack of harmonized approach amongst regional entities such as Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC); and diverse legal systems and mixed level of capacity for domestication at national levels. Low levels of awareness amongst Africa’s civil society of multilateral treaty processes and their benefits also inhibits their ability to advocate for these continental legal frameworks.
In its first phase the AUC-UNDP programme will focus on providing assistance on the ratification and domestication of six key treaties to boost progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), related to human and people’s rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, and youth, as well as on democracy, elections and governance, and preventing and combating corruption.
In this phase efforts will focus on Senegal, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Rwanda.
The initiative is part of the UNDP’s Regional Programme for Africa that seeks to support the AU and RECS to deliver on their mandate, especially cross cutting issues related to structural transformation and building resilience.
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tralac’s Daily News Selection
African Development Bank (AfDB) updates, from Busan: Annual Report 2017, Annual Development Effectiveness Reviews 2018, Annual Meetings documentation
A reminder: Meetings of senior African trade officials, followed by AU Ministers of Trade, start tomorrow in Dakar and are expected to conclude on 2 June. Bridges Africa: Following these meetings, members will have approximately one month to undertake national consultations and prepare schedules for their commitments and concessions. Ministers have been directed to finish the process of reviewing the annexes before the African Union Summit meeting from 1-2 July in Nouakchott, Mauritania. In August, a second round of negotiations will continue with a focus on competition, investment, and intellectual property rights.
Human rights and digital trade in the context of the AfCFTA: a forthcoming ATPC/OHCHR/FES workshop (31 May – 1 June). Extract from the concept note: Achieving inclusive and human rights consistent digital development in Africa impacts several policy areas. However, for the purposes of the collaborative work between ATPC, OHCHR and FES, the following five important areas are prioritized: employment; MSMEs; agriculture, industry and services; women; and youth. Following the conference, the three partnering organisations will prepare a short meeting report outlining the key messages and next steps for the triangular partnership, which may include preparing a human rights analysis of digital trade, with policy recommendations for the next round of AfCFTA negotiations and for policy-makers and entrepreneurs in this area.
Bringing down the barriers: the law as a vehicle for intra-Africa trade – the theme of next month’s Nigeria Bar Association conference (27-29 June, Abuja)
Featured presentation, by Ecobank’s Dr Edward George: pdf Outlook for intra-regional trade in Sub-Saharan Africa (2.16 MB)
AU-EU Commission to Commission meeting: outcomes
The two commissions discussed their cooperation to enhance resilience, peace, security and governance, including support to African peace initiatives such as the G5 Sahel joint force. In this regard, the two sides signed a MoU reinforcing the existing cooperation in the area of peace and security. Extracts from the Factsheet: Taskforce Rural Africa: The European Commission will set up a Task Force of experts on rural Africa to provide expertise, advice and possible recommendations to the African Union Commission partners in relation to agriculture, agri-business and agro-industries. Food and farming have a prominent role to play in strengthening the partnership with the African Union. Unleashing the potential of the sector can contribute to economic growth and generate decent employment opportunities for Africa’s increasing young population. The institutions of the EU and AU indeed have been engaging in regular policy dialogue in this sector. The EU-AU Agriculture Ministerial Conference “Making Sustainable Agriculture a future for youth in Africa” of 2017 being a good example of stronger cooperation. EU-AU task force on digital economy: To deepen the AU-EU cooperation in the field of digital economy, the two Commissions will set up a joint task force. It will be comprised by African and European decision-makers, entrepreneurs and civil society representatives that will steer the future work on this subject.
Trump versus Rwanda in trade battle over used clothes (Reuters)
In March, the USTR warned Rwanda it would lose some benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, America’s flagship trade legislation for Africa, in 60 days after it increased tariffs on second-hand clothes to support its local garment industry. The 60-day grace period expires on 28 May. But no matter the outcome, the row is further straining Washington’s relations with Africa at a time when it is being aggressively courted by America’s global competitors, not least China. Rwanda has held out. If it does not concede by the end of this month it faces losing duty-free access for its garment exports. “The United States has been explicit about what Rwanda must do to adhere to the AGOA eligibility criteria,” a US official told Reuters. “It is up to Rwanda to make a decision.” The dispute has provoked dismay in Washington and Africa. [US launches auto import probe, China says will defend interests]
Nigeria wraps up investment summit (Xinhua)
Transport, trade facilitation updates
First African Observatory to tackle the continent’s road safety crisis (World Bank)
The World Bank, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, and the International Transport Forum have signed a MoU to establish the first regional Road Safety Observatory in Africa. ITF Secretary-General, Young Tae Kim, said on the occasion of the MoU signing: “Africa has 2% of the world’s cars but 20% of the road deaths. The continent must be empowered to tackle this problem now. Supporting governments in the region to collect, analyze and use quality crash data is a powerful way to direct scarce resources to their most effective use and save more lives.” The MoU follows a resolution signed in February by Benin, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania, confirming their interest for the project. These seven African countries are currently working on finalizing the Observatory’s governance structure and funding mechanism.
Borderless Alliance Mali conference: Efficient corridor management for improved trade and transport in West Africa
The Ghanaian Ambassador to Burkina Faso raised concern about the non-compliance of the francophone countries to implement the axle-load policy. He said it has served as an injustice to Ghana, which has complied with the implementation of the policy since 2009. “The ECOWAS protocol, for example, Ghana is implementing this protocol, but a lot more countries in the sub-region, especially the Francophones, are not implementing the protocol and it is detrimental to those implementing the protocol because the operators are running away from our route to the other routes where the protocol are not being implemented,” he lamented.
Recommendations made at the conference were that there should be a single insurance document to provide insurance cover for truck drivers operating along the corridor, actors should be sensitized on their obligations and rights to avoid unnecessary harassment along the corridor, there should be harmonized procedures along the borders and also create awareness among public servants along the borders. Other recommendations included encouraging government to intensify the creation of infrastructure like roads, rail, warehouses etc. to facilitate trade in the region, emulate best practices of the Northern Corridor by establishing freight/truck parks, attached with well centres at strategic locations along the corridors for users of the corridor and collaboration among custom officials and efficient communication modes in countries in the region to facilitate trade and movement of goods.
SIC bemoans diversion of transit goods onto Ghanaian market (GhanaWeb)
In Ghana, the government appointed the State Insurance Company as the guarantor. The work of the national guarantor is to serve as security to the GRA against the loss of revenue for all cargo passing through Ghana to the neighbouring countries. Speaking on the side-lines of a Borderless Alliance conference in Mali, representatives of the SIC said the role of the national guarantor has been bedevilled with some challenges. Adelaide Fiavor, Head of Broker Relations, SIC, said, “In doing work with customs, usually the monitoring is done by all the stakeholders, including SIC. If it is found in Ghana, if they are arrested, they didn’t find their way in the market. But in any case, customs still works with SIC. If customs loses any duties on those, and they were not able find the goods, supposing the goods were sold and duties were not paid, SIC would have to pay and go after the transitors.” This, they said is made possible when transit truck drivers deliberately delay on the road for the batteries of the tracking devices fixed on the trucks to go off.
Single Window implementation in Africa: African Alliance for Electronics Commerce conference update
Ghana: Cashew export levy awaits cabinet approval (GhanaWeb)
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has finally drafted a Bill – now awaiting cabinet approval for onward passage to Parliament – for the introduction of an export levy on raw cashew nuts (RCN), CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority Gifty Klenam has said. The proposed Cashew Export Levy bill is expected to discourage excessive exports of RCN and promote value addition, aimed at reviving defunct cashew processing factories. Only two out of about 13 cashew processing plants in the country are in business; the rest have shut down, largely because of unhealthy competition from exporters of the RCN. The Bill will also give birth to the much-awaited Cashew Marketing Board. The Board is expected to regulate all activities in the cashew industry.
Stabilizing Mali, tackling terrorism in Sahel region hinges on long-term plan: UNSC debate
Maman Sambo Sidikou, Permanent Secretary of the Sahel G-5 countries, noted that, within a few months of the Sahel G-5 countries establishing the joint force, it now was manned with 5,000 soldiers, and its operationalization was currently under way with international support. However, although the force had incorporated the human rights compliance framework recommended by the United Nations from its inception, it nevertheless remained far from reaching a “smooth cruising speed” in responding to the region’s many crises. “What is happening in Africa reminds us of the fact that terrorists know no borders,” said Fatima Kyari Mohammed, Permanent Observer of the African Union, calling for a coherent, comprehensive and integrated approach, as well as robust international engagement, to address that global threat.
Battle against corruption vital to 2030 Agenda: 15th anniversary of the UNGA’s adoption of UN Convention Against Corruption
Mr Akere Muna, a member of the High-level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, and AfDB Group Sanctions Commissioner, said that, as an activist, he had found the advent of the Convention to be extraordinary. Describing corruption as an “existential” issue in Africa, he said elections were increasingly fought around that topic, and thanks to the Convention, the level of consciousness on the continent had risen to the level of making corruption a moral question. However, the danger was that “too much discourse could cause numbness and that could lead to inaction,” he cautioned, noting that in some countries, the fight against corruption could even be weaponized politically. Noting that the recovery of stolen assets was especially important for Africa, he stressed that the Convention must be more robust in that area.
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Report warns Africa on perils of deals with tech behemoths
Kenya’s decision to pull out of a new free trade pact with China after it decided the deal was too one-sided last week, is illustrative of the problems African nations face in their relations with large technology firms, a new report says.
The UK-based campaign group Global Justice Now is warning of an “e-pocalypse” for African countries because of Western firms’ dominance in selling digital services over local companies in poorer nations.
Mr Nick Dearden, head of Global Justice Now, says it is essential that developing countries retain their citizens’ data within their borders to avoid the core of their economies being directed from abroad. He believes the idea that countries should be passive receivers of Western technology, and borrow heavily on international financial markets to pay for it, means they become prey to the whims of foreign businesses.
The report says that sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, is seen as quite exposed after decades of under-investment that has left many countries with little choice than to accept the terms laid down by tech titans.
“Tech companies like to project a modern, progressive image to the world. But under the surface, companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Uber are pursuing an agenda that could hand them dangerous levels of control over our lives and profoundly harm economic development in the global south,” the report says.
Critics, however, say e-commerce liberates small and medium-sized businesses in Africa to export goods they could never previously afford to sell.
The Observer newspaper quotes Ms Susan Aaronson, a digital trade expert at George Washington University, as saying that African countries do have the right to say to tech firms “you need to pay for our data and you need to be transparent about the way you do it.”
They also say that the states’ attempts to keep data in local servers prevents tech firms from benefiting from economies of scale by housing it in vast hubs across the globe.
“Without (keeping data local) it’s so much more difficult for countries to regulate and tax industries, for them to get really any benefits out of investment with no skills, jobs or technology transfer, or to nurture infant industries. It’s the central problem with the way trade deals operate,” said Mr Dearden.
A key problem is that more than 100 countries have no privacy laws at all, according to Unctad.
At a World Trade Organisation’s meeting in Argentina last year, African countries were particularly alarmed at proposals, which in effect, forced them to trade with the tech giants.
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Digital trade in Africa: Implications for inclusion and human rights
The ATPC, OHCHR and FES Geneva initiated a partnership to analyse the human rights implications of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The final joint report “The Continental Free Trade Area in Africa: A Human Rights Perspective” was launched in July 2017 focusing on specific case studies, stakeholders and human rights.
The three partnering organisations* have agreed to focus the next phase of the triangular partnership on assessing the inclusion and human rights implications of digital trade in the context of Africa’s trade policy underpinned by the AfCFTA.
The digital economy and the dynamism generated by digital trade solutions presents significant opportunities but also challenges that need to be addressed in a way that is consistent with inclusion, transparency, people-centred governance and the attainment of human rights.
The ATPC, OHCHR and FES are co-organising a Conference on “The Digital Economy in Africa: Implications for Inclusion and Human Rights” which will take place on 31 May to 1 June 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The purpose of the conference is to brainstorm preliminarily on the scope of the organisations’ joint research work on human rights and digital trade in the context of the AfCFTA.
The conference will be organised in sessions, each dedicated to a selected topic to allow for in-depth discussion based on different experiences shared by participants. The topics of the eight thematic sessions are:
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Digital futures: new challenges and opportunities
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Human rights in an age of digital revolution
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Digital trade landscape in Africa I: trends in business and policy
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Digital trade landscape in Africa II: special focus on informal, micro, small and medium enterprises in digital trade
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Digital trade and the right to work
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Digital trade and gender equality
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Digital trade and youth
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Global, regional and national governance of digital trade to foster human rights
Following the conference, the three partnering organisations will prepare a short meeting report outlining the key messages and next steps for the triangular partnership, which may include preparing a human rights analysis of digital trade, with policy recommendations for the next round of AfCFTA negotiations and for policy-makers and entrepreneurs in this area.
Background
Why digital trade?
Digital trade – defined here as the “use of digital technologies to facilitate businesses” – is growing rapidly in Africa, implying significant changes for the way African countries trade and industrialize. The digital economy, which thrives on communication and human networks is being embraced across the continent; by entrepreneurs, businesses and governments.
Governments increasingly rely on digital platforms for the delivery of services, and the provision of public information. Digital trade has created opportunities for the integration of African firms into global value chains (GVCs) through facilitating widespread marketing and distribution of goods and services within Africa, and between the African continent and the rest of the world.
Why inclusion and human rights?
While digital trade can have a transformative effect on African economies, a human rights approach is crucial to look at larger issues of connectivity across the continent and within countries, access to and use of technology platforms, tools and services; privacy and data protection and; the impact of digital trade on a range of human rights in terms of its realisation, promotion and protection, including right to work and education.
Digital trade can provide many opportunities that promote or realise human rights within the international and regional human rights framework. This includes pushing overall demand for closing digital divides, creating improved ICT infrastructure and overall better infrastructure to promote development solutions and through creation of jobs and employment.
In terms of human rights risks, however, technology must generally be made available, affordable and accessible, with equality and non-discrimination underpinning these rights of access and use, to enable participation in development and more generally in political, social and economic spheres. Digital trade can also have gendered impacts, which need to be assessed and dealt with.
Article 3 of the African Union pdf Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want (333 KB) provides a legal underpinning for considering human rights in Africa’s digital economy agenda – it expresses the continental aspiration of an Africa of good governance, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.
Achieving inclusive and human rights consistent digital development in Africa impacts several policy areas. However, for the purposes of the collaborative work between ATPC, OHCHR and FES, the following five important areas are prioritized: Employment, MSMEs, Agriculture, Industry and Services; Women; and Youth.
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Annual Development Effectiveness Review 2018: “Made in Africa” – Industrialising the Continent
The African Development Bank is delivering on its goals and making good progress towards achieving its development and operational targets according to the 2018 Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER), which was released at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Busan, Republic of Korea.
Every year, ADER scrutinizes the Bank’s operational effectiveness and its organizational efficiency, using the Bank’s results measurement framework for 2016-2025. It brings together evidence of strengths and weaknesses to provide management with a clear understanding of what has worked well and what the Bank must do better to achieve its High 5 development goals.
“The report shows that the African Development Bank is delivering on its commitment to help Africa achieve the Bank’s High 5 priorities,” said Charles Boamah, Senior Vice-President. “The Bank continues to strengthen its effectiveness as an organization, while scaling up its operations.”
This year’s ADER has a special focus on industrializing Africa. “There are good reasons to be optimistic that industrialization is achievable in the coming years. Africa is open for business, with stable economies and supportive business environments,” said Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina. “It has a young and growing workforce that is increasingly global in outlook. Urbanization and the rise of the African middle class are opening up new consumer markets, which act as a magnet for investors.”
In 2017, companies had improved access to transport, energy, and skills, which expanded their ability to do business across the continent. The Bank contributed to these improvement: it provided 14 million people with access to transport – well above its target – while building or rehabilitating 2,500 km of roads in 2017 and also helped 210,000 small and micro businesses access finance, which benefitted 2.6 million people.
“This level of performance is promising, but we must continue driving operational delivery and impact,” said Simon Mizrahi, Bank Director for Delivery, Performance Management and Results.
The Bank is scaling up its efforts to accelerate the pace of industrialization, supported by its presence in 38 countries and by timely and quality operations. This backbone and experience position the Bank well to mobilize more resources from institutional investors around the world for industrial development.
Executive Summary
This is an important period for both Africa and the Bank. For Africa, the coming few years are a window of opportunity to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on nearly two decades of strong economic growth and rapid urbanisation, Africa needs to achieve industrial development and structural economic change to create jobs at scale and promote prosperity across the continent. For the Bank, our contribution to Africa’s economic transformation is through our High 5 strategies, which we began implementing in 2016: Feed Africa, Light up and power Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. We have also been implementing an ambitious programme of organisational reforms, to help us maximise our development results and achieve greater value for money.
The theme of this year’s ADER is industrialisation. African governments and their international partners now recognise that industrial development is a precondition for meeting many of the SDGs. It is, however, a complex objective with many components. Building on the findings of our 2017 report Industrialise Africa: Strategies, Policies, Institutions and Financing, we look first at the progress Africa has made in recent years on industrial development, and at how the Bank’s operations are contributing to that progress. We then review progress on the other High 5 areas, and on our cross-cutting priorities of governance, fragility, gender and climate change – in each case, exploring how they link to the goal of industrialising Africa. We then present the third and fourth levels of our Results Measurement Framework, assessing our progress on improving the management of our portfolio and strengthening our own capacity as an organisation to deliver results for our clients and shareholders. In the final section, we look forward to what we expect to contribute to Africa's development in the coming years.
Industrialise Africa
Africa’s youthful labour force and rapidly expanding towns and cities are opening up new opportunities for industries that can supply growing consumer markets and participate in global value chains. Foreign direct investment has risen rapidly and is increasingly directed towards manufacturing and services. Some key indicators of industrial development – including industrial output, global competitiveness and economic diversification – are not yet moving forward across Africa as a whole. At the national level, however, there are positive developments: South Africa, Algeria and Mauritius are all industrialising rapidly, and Ethiopia and Morocco are building nationwide networks of industrial parks.
To take advantage of this window of opportunity, Africa needs to double its industrial output over the next decade, while enhancing economic diversification and improving competitiveness. This will require stable macroeconomic conditions, a better business climate, effective legal frameworks, healthy financial institutions, cheaper and more reliable infrastructure services and supportive trade policies.
Under its pdf Industrialise Africa strategy (5.68 MB) , the Bank is supporting African business in international value chains, helping governments develop industrial policies and strengthen their business environments, and investing in infrastructure with high economic returns. In 2017, we provided 14 million people with access to transport – well above our target – while building or rehabilitating 2500 km of roads. We helped 210 000 small and micro businesses to access finance, benefiting 2.6 million people. Examples of effective programming have included the Africa Capital Works Fund, which provides companies with extra liquidity to scale up their operations, and support for Ethiopia’s Derba Medroc Cement Plant, which has led to a 70% reduction in the price of cement.
The Bank is scaling up its efforts to support industrialisation, including through some innovative partnerships. In 2018 we will launch the Africa Investment Forum, which will help to mobilise resources from institutional investors around the world for priority infrastructure investments. In Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania and Madagascar, we have launched new projects to support public-private partnerships for infrastructure development, and we are partnering with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization to help a number of pilot countries establish industrial parks and special economic zones.
Integrate Africa
Industrial development depends on economic integration to create economies of scale across Africa’s national markets. With Africa’s combined population of 1.2 billion and GDP of $3.4 trillion, the potential gains from integrating the continent are huge. At present, however, intra-African trade is just 14.2% of total goods trade, partly because of the high costs of trading across borders. Africa’s regional economic communities continue to promote integration, but more progress is needed in areas such as visa liberalisation.
The Bank is one of the champions of economic integration. We are a major investor in cross-border infrastructure: in 2017, we built or rehabilitated 414 km of cross-border roads and built one-stop border crossings to facilitate trade. Our major transport corridor projects – for example, between Tanzania and Kenya, and linking Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique – are unlocking regional trade and creating economic opportunities for communities along the route.
Our strategic framework for economic integration focuses on three pillars: infrastructure connections, trade and investment promotion, and financial integration. Besides investing our own resources, we are helping to mobilise private and public finance into strategic projects. In the past year, we approved a $100 million loan to the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund – a public-private partnership that has invested $1.2 billion in 70 infrastructure projects in 49 countries. We have helped to design complex financial transactions to crowd in commercial finance, using risk guarantee instruments – for example, for the development of air transport in Côte d’Ivoire. We are also investing in regional power projects.
Cross-cutting and strategic areas
Africa’s economic growth slowed to 2.2% in 2016 because of lower commodity prices, but remained at a solid 4.5% in lowincome countries. There has been an increase in public debt since the 2008 global financial crisis, and a number of countries are now participating in IMF programmes. There has been a slight increase in the overall quality of governance, as measured on the Mo Ibrahim Index, with particular improvements in economic governance, but corruption remains a challenge. Africa’s fragile states still present the most severe governance challenges, although there has been strong progress in the Central African Republic since the end of the civil war.
Improving domestic resource mobilisation is essential to funding the recurrent and capital spending needs associated with industrial development. In 2017, the Bank helped a number of countries to improve their public financial management and procurement systems and to build transparency and accountability in the public sector. While revenue mobilisation across the continent is generally improving, this trend will need to accelerate in the coming period.
Women are central to the African economy, performing the majority of agricultural activities, owning a third of firms and, in some countries, accounting for 70% of employees. Yet continued gender equality imposes a significant barrier to women’s economic opportunities. The gender equality index showed a slight improvement in 2017, but with a long way to go. Under its pdf Gender Strategy (2.41 MB) , the Bank is supporting African women with electricity connections and by improving access to clean water, and enhancing agricultural opportunities. We are supporting the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa and other financial inclusion programmes.
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EU and African Union Commissions step up their cooperation to support young people, jobs and peace
African Union and EU Commissioners on 23 May 2018 adopted concrete measures to address pressing global issues in key areas such as peace and security, migration, job creation and agriculture.
This 9th Commission to Commission meeting of the two organisations was co-chaired by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, with the participation of all African Union Commissioners and 16 European Union Commissioners.
The two sides had agreed on a set of priorities at the November 2017 AU-EU Summit in Abidjan and yesterday the two Commissions took stock of progress made to chart the way forward.
At this occasion, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: “We met today to translate words into concrete action. We launched programmes worth €400 million to support, amongst others, African youth – which is all the more important, as 60% of Africa’s population is under 25 years old. The future of the world depends on the good cooperation between Europe and Africa.”
African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat added: “Multilateralism is the only response to today’s global challenges in an increasingly polarised world. The AU-EU partnership is based on shared values and shared responsibilities and offers a unique platform to address common challenges linked to peace, security and sustainable development on both our continents.”
Key outcomes of the meeting
The two commissions discussed their cooperation to enhance resilience, peace, security and governance, including support to African peace initiatives such as the G5 Sahel joint force. In this regard, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding reinforcing the existing cooperation in the area of peace and security. In addition, they agreed to continue and consolidate the important work made by the AU-EU-UN task force on migration.
The parties committed to invest in economies and people by stepping up existing cooperation on agriculture and agribusinesses and the digital economy, and dedicated themselves to continue the active engagement with youth in the Africa-EU partnership in innovative and meaningful ways.
In the context of the AU-EU partnership, the EU made available an additional €400 million towards continental and regional projects. These include support to institutional capacity building of the African Union Commission and regional integration on the continent, as well as support to young people. The assistance will facilitate the continental mobility of young people, for example through reinforcing exchange programmes among African universities, and enhancing the recognition of qualifications and the harmonisation of higher education in Africa.
Background
The EU and Africa have progressively built a solid strategic and political partnership, whereby they go beyond donor-recipient relations towards reciprocal commitments. The two Commissions of the European Union and African Union are committed to be active players and real engines of this Partnership, which is today more relevant than ever in a fast evolving global environment.
Fact Sheet
€400 million to support continental and interregional development in Africa
In support of the Africa-EU Partnership, the EU has launched the second phase of the Pan-African Programme for an amount of €400 million (2018-2020). Projects at continental or interregional level in Africa will focus on three main strategic areas:
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It will boost the AU-EU political dialogue in areas of joint interest, including migration, and advocate for an effective system of good governance at pan-African level. For instance, initiatives will support the work of the AU institutions in the fields of human rights, election observation and on combatting corruption.
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Special focus will be given to enhancing young people’s employability and mobility, and promoting technological innovation. The funding will for example reinforce exchange programmes among African universities based on the Erasmus experience and support the recognition of qualifications and the harmonisation of higher education in Africa, inspired by the EU’s Bologna Process.
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Supporting African continental economic integration, the programme will facilitate trade and investments and the development of inter-regional infrastructure. For instance, it will support the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area through programmes focusing on lowering technical barriers to trade and harmonising African policies, standards and regulations, including in the digital and air transport markets.
The Pan-African Programme is the first ever EU programme in development and cooperation that covers Africa as a whole. It was adopted in 2014 for a total budget of €845 million, as a dedicated financial instrument to support the Africa-EU Partnership. The first phase of the programme 2014-2017 helped to progress on the operationalisation of the AU Human Rights system.
Moreover, it played a significant role in promoting migration dialogue and in supporting the AU Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa. Through its second phase, the Pan-African Programme will continue its support to these and new projects with an added value for both the African and European continent.
The Memorandum of Understanding on peace and security
In light of today’s increasingly complex threats and the need to address their root causes, Africa and the EU have a joint interest to strengthen their partnership on peace and security, and to enhance strategic cooperation on global challenges. The European Union and the African Union Commission agree on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will become the main tool dealing with peace and security challenges and their response strategies. This will bring the EU-AU dialogue to a more structured level.
The MoU covers a wide number of areas in peace, security and governance, including tackling root causes, crisis management, mediation, cross border security, conflict resolution and support in electoral matters. The MoU establishes a specific Counterterrorism Dialogue and provides for twice yearly consultations at Senior Official level to ensure planning and implementation of the provisions in the MoU.
The EU continues to be the first supporter of the African Union and regional economic communities to pursue the objective of ‘African solutions to African problems’, especially in the peace and security area. More than €2.7 billion has been committed to the African Peace Facility since 2003, thereby allowing for the development of the African Peace and Security Architecture and its further contribution towards the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
The Taskforce Rural Africa
The European Commission will set up a Task Force of experts on rural Africa to provide expertise, advice and possible recommendations to the African Union Commission partners in relation to agriculture, agri-business and agro-industries. Food and farming have a prominent role to play in strengthening the partnership with the African Union. Unleashing the potential of the sector can contribute to economic growth and generate decent employment opportunities for Africa’s increasing young population.
The institutions of the EU and AU indeed have been engaging in regular policy dialogue in this sector. The EU-AU Agriculture Ministerial Conference “Making Sustainable Agriculture a future for youth in Africa” of 2017 being a good example of stronger cooperation.
The joint EU-AU task force on digital economy
To deepen the AU-EU cooperation in the field of digital economy, the two Commissions will set up a joint task force. It will be comprised by African and European decision-makers, entrepreneurs and civil society representatives that will steer the future work on this subject.
Strategic orientations and priorities for the continental dialogue on migration
The European Commission and African Union Commission agree on strategic orientations and priorities for a continental dialogue on migration and mobility, complementary to other existing frameworks such as the Rabat and Khartoum Processes and the Joint Valetta Action Plan. The dialogue will provide a platform which will address and respond to continental issues pertaining to migration and mobility between the EU and Africa, including their root causes.
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tralac’s Daily News Selection
Featured AfDB policy document: pdf Industrialize Africa – strategies, policies, institutions & financing (5.72 MB)
Extract from the introductory remarks, by Joe Stiglitz:
In the developing countries, they are moving from agriculture to manufacturing. In many of these countries, there is a process of moving toward an urban economy. This year marks the first year in which a majority of the world’s population will probably be living in cities, and that is a very big transformation. In advanced countries, there are other aspects of structural transformation insofar as they are moving toward service sector economies. In all of our economies, we should be moving from a finance-based economy to a real economy, and we should put emphasis on inclusive growth and inclusive industrial development.
Ironically, one of the problems facing the world today has to do with innovation. There is something very peculiar about the nature of innovation going on today, especially, in the developing countries in which the real challenge is job creation. Innovation across the globe is largely focused on saving labor, which goes in exactly the wrong direction. If employment does not increase, then inequality will, and if inequality increases, then aggregate demand will become weak. If aggregate demand is weak, then GDP growth will be weak. This is a vicious circle.
To prevent this from happening, it is very important for us to frame policies that shape the direction of technology. We need to encourage innovation, which is focused on saving the planet and protecting the environment and less involved in saving labor. If we want to have sustained economic growth, we have to make sure that the industrial policies framed should create employment and shared prosperity, as well as save the planet. [Download the pdf Industrialize Africa Brochure (5.68 MB) ]
Section 1: Industrialise Africa – how to do it. Chapter 1: Industrialisation – a primer; Chapter 2: Inclusive and sustainable structural transformation in Africa; Chapter 3: Industrial policy in Africa: from state leadership to the investment climate; Chapter 4: Africa’s manufacturing sector: building complexity; Chapter 5: Ethiopia: lessons from an experiment
Section 2: Learning from experiences. Chapter 6: Industrial policy and China’s economic development: from the perspective of New Structural Economics; Chapter 7: Building effective clusters and industrial parks; Chapter 8: China’s financial mechanisms in industrial development with inspirations for Africa; Chapter 9: Financing industrial development in Korea and implications for Africa; Chapter 10: Competitiveness and industrialization in Africa: what have we learned?
Korea seeks to step up tech cooperation with African nations (Korea Times)
South Korea wants to step up cooperation with African nations in the technology sector, the nation’s top economic policymaker said Wednesday, as Seoul seeks to deepen ties with the resource-rich continent. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, in his speech for the 53rd annual meeting of the AfDB, said South Korea’s technology could help African nations overcome bottlenecks in infrastructure, transport and communications. “The field of smart infrastructure is a main area where South Korea and Africa can promote cooperation,” Kim said.
An interview with UNECA’s Vera Songwe: To spur growth, Africa must look to e-commerce, women, local resources
What about women’s contribution? Starting in-house, I hope to increase the number of women on the staff to match their male counterparts at the ECA because I intend to use women more to define policy. Not much has been done to define how women should be integrated into the economic decisions affecting the continent and we are losing much as a result. Various studies have established that there are too few women involved in these discussions and decision making. I intend to change this. We are working on creating a women fund to economically empower women in Africa. [A related commentary, by Aubrey Hruby: Driving gender equity in African business]
The Viva Tech conference starts tomorrow in Paris: Tiny African tech start-ups draw big interest after slow start (Straits Times)
African high-tech startups are minuscule compared with their US and European peers but they are finally gaining momentum and attention in some of the world’s most promising economies. “There are little glimmers of light everywhere” in Africa, said Mr Gilles Babinet, a digital technology expert with the European Commission. “In Africa, when there is a problem, there is always a solution and the idea of a startup,” said Mr Samir Abdelkrim, author of “Startup Lions”, which charts his experience in the sector. Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa dominate by far and account for about three-quarters of startup funding in the continent but their small neighbours are slowly catching up. “There are other markets where there is a lot going on”, such as Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda in English-speaking Africa, or francophone Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, said Mr Deme. This year’s edition of Viva Tech will take place from May 24-26, with a special focus on Africa.
New ICC survey shows pace of trade finance digitalisation (ICC)
Over 60% of banks surveyed in the new ICC report – Global trade: securing future growth – reported to have implemented, or to be in the process of implementing, technology solutions to digitalise their trade finance operations. However, only 9% of banks reported that the solutions implemented have so far led to a reduction of time and costs in trade finance transactions. In what the report describes as a “reality check”, 30% of respondents say their banks remain 1-2 years away from implementing technology solutions while 7% say digitalisation is not on their agenda at all.
A heavily paper-based industry with transactions worth over $9 trillion in 2017, trade finance is often noted to be ripe for digital disruption. The multitude of documents and players (banks, customs authorities, shippers, and insurers, among others) involved in trade finance transactions, though, make it difficult for the industry to digitalise quickly. In the findings, 65% of respondents say that physical paper has to some extent been removed in the issuance/advising and settlement/financing of documentary transactions. A notable exception is the document verification process, where 52% of respondents say that paper has not been removed at all.
Abebe Aemro Selassie: The debt challenge to African growth (Project Syndicate)
Sub-Saharan Africa is confronting a pronounced rise in public debt. At the end of 2017, average public debt in the region was 57% of its GDP, an increase of 20 percentage points in just five years. While this is well below the peaks of the early 2000s, the current spike is concerning.
Free trade to benefit East Africa – China (The Star)
China has asked East Africa countries to consider its free trade proposal, saying it will be of great economic benefit to the region. The Chinese embassy’s economic and commercial affairs counsellor, Guo Ce, further downplayed claims that Kenya had declined the plan, noting that they are yet to receive any formal response on the proposal from any of the EAC member countries: “Claims that Kenya has opposed free trade proposal are not true. Not a single country has responded to this proposal. The proposed trade arrangement will deepen economic and cultural ties between China and East Africa, opening numerous opportunities for business operators.” Speaking during a Sino-Kenya cooperation forum hosted by the Kenya Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Kenya Investment Authority yesterday, Guo acknowledged the existing trade imbalance in favor of China, saying that open trade borders will remedy the situation. “This being the first forum on Kenya-China cooperation, we are confident to come up with roadmaps that will guide our future of doing business where we foresee increased collaboration between companies from the two countries through harmonized trading practices.”
Mauritius: Corruption Risk Mapping workshop update (GoM)
A four-day workshop on Corruption Risk Mapping, organised at the initiative of the Mauritius Revenue Authority, in collaboration with the World Customs Organisation, kicked off yesterday at the WCO Multilingual Regional Training Centre in Port Louis. Some 40 participants, namely officers from the Customs departments from the WCO Member States, are attending the workshop which aims at inculcating appropriate techniques of identifying and assessing the level of risks associated with corruption in organisations assigned the responsibility of revenue collection.
Mozambique: Financing and risk sharing mechanisms for agricultural and forestry value chains (World Bank)
Mozambique has significant potential to increase the productivity and efficiency of its agriculture and forest-based value chains. The absence of affordable financial services, however, is preventing communities, small scale forest operators, smallholder and small emerging commercial farmers, and micro and small- to medium-size agribusinesses from improving natural resource management and increasing growth potential.
UAE show Nigeria the way to attracting foreign investors (BusinessDay)
As Nigeria continues to innovate and source strategies to attract foreign investors, making the country an investor destination in sub Saharan Africa and indeed the whole of Africa, the United Arab Emirates’ example is perhaps the way to go. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai revealed in a tweet from his handle @HHShkMohd, yesterday that “At today’s Cabinet meeting, we decided to allow 100% foreign ownership of companies in United Arab Emirate, with a 10 year visa for investors, scientists, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators. The United Arab Emirate has always welcomed, and always will, innovators and business leaders”
While Nigeria can’t be said to have stringent laws prohibiting foreign ownership of companies and investments, the challenge has been providing enabling environment to encourage foreign investments. The struggle getting around regulatory bottleneck, the length of time it takes to close a deal to the very high cost of doing business resulting from infrastructural deficit (especially power infrastructure) have made doing business in Nigeria is an uphill task.
State and trends of carbon pricing 2018 (World Bank)
To date, 70 jurisdictions (45 national and 25 sub-national) have implemented, or are scheduled to implement, carbon pricing initiatives. These mechanisms helped governments raise about $33bn in 2017 in carbon pricing revenues from allowance auctions, direct payments to meet compliance obligations, and carbon tax receipts. This represents a 50% increase compared to the $22bn raised in 2016. Implementation of carbon pricing initiatives has tripled in the past decade. [Download the report]
Today’s Quick Links: On the African Women Leaders Fund: “Guided by African women fund managers, the plan is to invest up to $500 million in African women-led companies over the next decade” Tackling the gender gap in Rwanda’s burgeoning tech sector Google South Africa launches R25m Impact Challenge Facebook opens first Africa hub footprint in Lagos AfDB launches new Civil Society Committee: CSO rapporteurs presented key recommendations on the Industrialize Africa’ strategy, consolidated after two days of interactive sessions and consultations (7-9 May). EU’s corn-buying spree is boosting rare trade with South Africa ICTSD: US Section 301, China, and technology transfer – law and its limitations revisited (again) UN calls on Algeria to stop expelling thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants |
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To spur growth, Africa must look to e-commerce, women, local resources – Songwe
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement was recently signed in Kigali, Rwanda, during the 10th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union Assembly.
The main objectives of the AfCFTA are to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment of the Customs Union. It will also expand intra-African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation and instruments across the RECs and across Africa in general.
The executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe, spoke to Christabel Ligami on the pact and her vision for the commission.
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Q: What impact will AfCFTA have on other international trade agreements like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) and the Economic Partnership Agreements, signed by the African countries?
A: AfCFTA is a statement by Africans saying that they want to take control, own and have a view of their own economic relationships, and as a continent, have slightly more power regarding their trade. Countries want to exploit these benefits to grow faster and create jobs.
Agoa, for instance, was opened to 49 countries, and though 35 tried to take advantage of it, only seven are benefiting. The AfCFTA will help with these negotiations and tell our international partners that they need to bring more to the table, not less.
What strategy should members employ to ensure the agreement is fully and well implemented?
Ministers of Finance have an important role to play to help implement the agreement. The Trade ministers played their role during the negotiations but the Finance ministers understand the implications of the AfCFTA.
Taxes and Customs, for example, which are key components of AfCFTA are matters under the finance ministries. It is up to these ministers to evaluate if and how revenue collection will increase in their respective countries and how these revenues will be spent.
Once countries ratify the document, they have 10 years and some have even 13 years to put policies in place to fully take advantage of the AfCFTA. The countries will have to invest in policy, human and fiscal infrastructure to make it realisable.
Some issues under the AfCFTA were not concluded. Are they the most contentious issues that countries have failed to agree on?
No. Countries only agreed to negotiate further about these issues. They will address them in the second phase of the negotiations.
It is the same for the global trade agreements. Negotiations are never concluded at once and are usually staggered. Some of the issues, such as e-commerce, are new to most countries.
Africa is actually leap-frogging because we are already discussing e-commerce unlike the other countries across the globe.
This is very important for countries like Kenya that is well developed in terms of technology but we have to bring the other countries on board and help them to better understand e-commerce.
We hope that by 2020 discussions will be concluded. We do not want a situation where AfCFTA opens up some countries to unfair competition.
Africa still borrows more from without to fund its own projects. How can this trend be reversed so that countries start borrowing from their own banks?
Our banks have no capacity to evaluate projects or even fund them. We need to strengthen our banks first so that they can assess such projects and ultimately, fund them. States have to improve on their revenue collection and save more in their banks to enable them borrow.
Indeed, we have witnessed a lot of theft of resources and there is need to improve domestic resource mobilisation to generate more revenue locally.
What is your vision for the ECA?
The UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (Uneca) is an institution that can provide ideas to transform the continent for economic growth and prosperity. We want to be the go-to think tank of Africa through action and results.
How will you go about this?
I will strengthen the quality of staff and increase the human capacity to help countries focus and redefine their economies to nurture growth. I will work closely with the private sector and incorporate them in our discussions and advisory matters.
I will also focus on transboundary matters concerning water sharing and political relationships like the current case of the Sahel and Morocco. These issues need to be resolved urgently.
Globally, I will do more advocacy for Africa on taxation, migration, climate change, trade, peace and security. I am restructuring the ECA by introducing new divisions to handle different concerns or assist with crucial matters.
For instance, we have created a division on the private sector because we hope to engage more with this sector on macroeconomics, finance and poverty.
What about women’s contribution?
Starting in-house, I hope to increase the number of women on the staff to match their male counterparts at the ECA because I intend to use women more to define policy.
Not much has been done to define how women should be integrated into the economic decisions affecting the continent and we are losing much as a result.
Various studies have established that there are too few women involved in these discussions and decision making. I intend to change this. We are working on creating a women fund to economically empower women in Africa.
How do you propose to mobilise resources for the ECA?
We will approach our traditional partners, bring on board new ones, such as the private sector and NGOs, but also universities to address intellectual matters.
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New ICC survey shows pace of trade finance digitalisation
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC’s) 10th annual Global Survey shows that 60% of banks are moving towards greater digitalisation, though only 9% say technology solutions have so far increased efficiency.
Over 60% of banks surveyed in the new ICC report – Global Trade: Securing Future Growth – reported to have implemented, or to be in the process of implementing, technology solutions to digitalise their trade finance operations.
However, only 9% of banks reported that the solutions implemented have so far led to a reduction of time and costs in trade finance transactions. In what the report describes as a “reality check”, 30% of respondents say their banks remain 1-2 years away from implementing technology solutions while 7% say digitalisation is not on their agenda at all.
A heavily paper-based industry with transactions worth over US$9 trillion in 2017, trade finance is often noted to be ripe for digital disruption. The multitude of documents and players (banks, customs authorities, shippers, and insurers, among others) involved in trade finance transactions, though, make it difficult for the industry to digitalise quickly.
In the findings, 65% of respondents say that physical paper has to some extent been removed in the issuance/advising and settlement/financing of documentary transactions. A notable exception is the document verification process, where 52% of respondents say that paper has not been removed at all.
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO said: “Digitalisation in the trade finance sector will boost economic growth and sustainable development. Digitalisation will make trade more inclusive. The ICC Global Survey gives us invaluable insight into the practical experiences and real challenges of business as we seek to take advantage of game-changing technologies and advance these broader shared goals.”
Conducted annually, the ICC Global Survey report is the world’s most authoritative review of the trade finance industry, based on exclusive information from over 250 banks in more than 90 countries. The survey results are bolstered by contributions from an international array of leading voices on trade and finance, including experts from the World Bank, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Trade Organization.
An industry ripe for disruption
A single trade finance transaction can require over 100 pages of documents, with an estimated four billion pages of documents currently circulating in documentary trade. According to BCG estimates, digitalisation could cut trade finance costs by up to US$6 billion in 3-5 years and boost banks’ trade finance revenues by 10%.
The ICC Global Survey figures demonstrate that a majority of banks are moving towards greater digitalisation, recognising its potential gains, yet only a minority have so far seen technology solutions increase their operational efficiency.
“Adapting global trade finance rules to the digital era will play a pivotal role in enabling banks to capitalise on new technologies,” said Olivier Paul, Head of Policy at ICC’s Banking Commission, which launched a digitalisation working group in June 2017.
“ICC rules underpin over US$1 trillion of transactions each year. Now, we are working to both ensure these rules are ‘e-compatible’ and establish a set of standards to enable digital connectivity for trade finance service providers.”
Bullish on future growth despite compliance concerns
Among the many other Global Survey findings, responses show that banks are bullish on future trade finance growth trends. Nearly three quarters of banks presented an optimistic outlook for the next 12 months, with respondents headquartered in Africa and Asia Pacific the most positive, at 89% and 81% respectively.
Looking ahead into the medium and longer term, only 5% of respondents consider traditional trade finance a strategic area of focus in the next 3-5 years. In contrast, 72% consider traditional trade finance a priority in the next 12 months.
Nearly half of respondents agreed that attracting non-bank capital, leveraging emerging technologies such as blockchain and shifting geographical coverage were priority areas for the next 3-5 years.
When asked what potential obstacles banks saw to their future growth prospects, respondents’ answers were stark. Regulation and compliance were named by 93% of respondents as potential obstacles while 87% pointed to complying with counter-terrorism and international sanctions regulation.
The ICC Banking Commission has continuously advocated for banking regulation that avoids aggravating geographical disparities in trade finance coverage, specifically across poorer regions in Africa and South Asia. In 2017, following ICC engagement with the United Nations (UN) and national governments, the UN officially recognised the estimated US$1.5 trillion trade finance gap and pledged to carry out an official review of its underlying causes.
View key findings from the Global Survey and download the report here.
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Kenyan, Chinese enterprises pledge stronger cooperation to boost growth
Chinese enterprises on Tuesday pledged to cooperate with their Kenyan counterparts to stimulate economic growth and social renewal in line with the Belt and Road Initiative.
The new pledge for strengthened partnership between Chinese and Kenyan business entities was made during the first Forum on Kenya-China Cooperation, organized by the Kenya Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the east African Nation’s trade lobby groups.
Economic and Commercial Counsellor Guo Ce of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya said enhanced collaboration between Chinese and Kenyan companies is key to unleashing mutual benefits.
“This being the first forum on Kenya-China cooperation, we are confident to come up with roadmaps that will guide our future ways of doing business where we foresee increased collaboration between Chinese and Kenyan companies through harmonized trading practices,” Guo said.
Senior Kenyan officials and executives from Chinese enterprises operating in the country attended the one-day forum, whose objective was to deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and to achieve Kenya’s Big Four development blueprint, launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year.
Guo said the Chinese government and enterprises have rallied behind Kenya’s quest to achieve the Big Four agenda, which includes food security, manufacturing, affordable housing and universal health care.
Moses Ikiara, managing director of the Kenya Investment Authority, said Nairobi has improved the policy and regulatory environment to attract direct investment from China and achieve long-term growth.
Zhuo Wu, chairman of Kenya Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said Chinese companies are willing to partner with the Kenyan government and private sector to achieve the Big Four Agenda.
“Chinese companies have the resources and expertise to invest in affordable housing schemes, large and small-scale irrigation dams and agri-business to ensure that Kenya attains the goal of food and nutrition security,” said Zhou.
Angela Ndambuki, CEO of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), said healthy dialogue between Kenyan and Chinese enterprises is required to facilitate trade and investment that unleash shared prosperity.
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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The 53rd Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank opened yesterday in Busan. AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina: Korea is a model for Africa’s industrialization
Underway, in Arusha: EAC Sectoral Committee on Trade
Later this week, in Johannesburg: SADC set to hold Technical Committee on Certification and Accreditation Meeting (24-25 May)
South Africa: Toyota, BMW, Ford battle over SA support plan (Fin24/Bloomberg)
South Africa is proposing automakers including Toyota, Ford and BMW more than double production, in return for tax breaks so generous that the companies can ship the cars all the way to Europe. With talks under way, the two parties are at odds on several issues – especially the state’s targets for what it wants the industry to achieve by 2035, according to NAAMSA Director Nico Vermeulen. A production increase over that period to 1% of global output, or as many as 1.5 million vehicles per year, is overambitious, he said. South Africa produced about 600 000 units in 2017, the majority for export, and NAAMSA forecasts an increase to 850 000 in 2020. “The levels of support proposed are inadequate and insufficient to realize the ambitious targets,” Vermeulen said by phone from Pretoria. “We need internationally competitive levels of support.”
A second point of contention in the negotiations is a government demand for the automakers to double the size of their combined workforce to about 225 000. That’s unrealistic given the global industry’s shift toward robotics and automation, he said. The manufacturers are committed to increasing production and employment if the incentives are adequate, Vermeulen said, but are reluctant to agree to specific targets. [Related: The R50bn plan to turn Tshwane into South Africa’s car manufacturing capital]
Nigeria: Dangote gets license to establish new Peugeot plant in Nigeria (Mairametrics)
The new assembly plant by Dangote-Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited DPAN is a joint venture between Dangote Industries Limite, the Kaduna State Government, and Peugeot of France PSA Groupe. This comes after the Dangote group made an initial ₦11bn bid for majority stake in Peugeot Automobile Nigeria from the Asset Management Company of Nigeria AMCON, an exercise which has remained unresolved for more than a year. Dangote group has now gone to invite tenders from members of the public for the construction of a new Peugeot Assembly plant to be located at Dutse, along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway, Kaduna, about 25 kilometers away from the present location of PAN Limited assembly plant in Kakuri industrial zone of Kaduna. [Edward T Hightower: Now is the time to kickstart an auto manufacturing revolution in Africa]
LLDC Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Transport, 16-17 May
Astana Ministerial Declaration (pdf)
We stress the importance of LLDCs integrating into regional and global value chains and call on development partners, transit countries and international organizations to help the LLDCs to strengthen their capacity to participate in regional and global value chains and in identifying the best opportunities for developing new products and export markets, given their comparative advantages; We emphasize the full operationalization of the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries to enhance the analytical capabilities of LLDCs, provide home-grown research to cater for their specific needs and support the development efforts of the LLDCs as well as strengthen their collective voice at global level;
Profiled country submission: Botswana (pdf): In this regard, we are in the process of finalizing the review of our customs legislation to align it with the WTO TFA and the Revised Kyoto Convention. Botswana and South Africa are in the process of interfacing their customs IT systems with a view to facilitate trade. Botswana is also working on implementing a National Single Window.
Profiled background note: Promoting international trade in the LLDCs and enhancing the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement – Session 3 (pdf): The 32 LLDCs account for less than 1% of global merchandise trade. The LLDCs’ participation in international trade, measured as the share of their merchandise exports in global exports reached a peak of 1.22% (2013), before suffering a decline to 1.19% in 2014 and 0.86% in 2016. The decline in the LLDCs’ share of their merchandise exports is attributed mainly to declining commodity prices. In 2017 the estimated share of the LLDCs merchandise trade slightly increased to 0.9%. Figure 1 below shows this trend as compared to a group of 34 transit countries that includes China and India. In all, transit countries share of merchandise trade was around 23% in 2016 and when China is excluded, the share of these countries stood at 9.5% in 2016.
A closer look at the disaggregated data at country level shows a clearer insight into the group. Figure 2 shows that only four LLDCs accounted for about 49% of the group merchandise exports. The majority of the LLDCs accounted for no more than 2%. The LLDCs’ share of merchandise exports is not only meagre compared to the developing countries but their export remains highly concentrated in a few products, in particular, primary commodities with very little value added. The volume and product composition of a country’s commodity trade determines its vulnerability to commodity price volatility. The LLDCs are therefore greatly affected by the volatility in the global demand and prices.
Ministerial meeting of LLDCs on Trade and Transport conference documentation
East and Central Africa updates
Central and Northern Corridors, other EAC institutions:
pdf
Report of the EALA’s sub-committee on-spot assessment
(4.09 MB)
The tour, undertaken by the EALA in February this year, was intended to assist the operations of EAC Institutions and Authorities/Agencies that provide services and to create an awareness among the EALA members on the gains and challenges of integration. The tour was also intended to inform the citizens of East Africa on the role of the EALA in the integration process; to receive requisite feedback and recommendations from the citizens on their perception of the integration efforts. [Companion EALA report: pdf Report of the Committee on General Purpose on the EAC Monetary Institute Bill, 2018 (2.79 MB) ; Secretary General concludes first phase of his visits to EAC Institutions]
Central Corridor:
pdf
Annual Performance Monitoring Report 2017
(1.98 MB)
The Annual Performance Monitoring Report 2017 compiles and publishes statistics covering four trade and transport performance areas, namely: volume of transactions, cost and rates, productivity and efficiency and transit time and delays. Under the four categories, the CCTO monitors over 25 corridor performance indicators, all of which are reviewed periodically. The efficiency and productivity indicators give a basic guideline on how well the corridor performs operationally. On port efficiency, container dwell time has reduced significantly even if it has not yet reached the BRN target of 5 days. The truck turnaround at TICTS terminal has improved from 3.6 hours in 2016 to 2.3 hours in 2017. The number of foreign registered transit trucks carrying transit cargo has increased significantly from 1.27% in 2013 to 8% in 2017; Tanzania-registered transit trucks still dominate the transit transport market. The increasing of transit trucks can be attributed to the harmonization of road user charges between Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi to $152 against $500 charged by Tanzania before.
EAC to roll out new export regime: a statement from the EAC Customs Committee said they started piloting the single customs regime for exports on 10 May, with a full rollout of all exports set for 1 June.
EAC integration: a commentary by Peter Munya (Daily Nation)
Nigeria: The blurry lines of domestic trade (BusinessDay)
But Kano – like her few sister trade/commerce hubs – in Nigeria is sitting in a super market that may be limiting her potential, simply because of the nomenclature that it’s a state or city within Nigeria. The simple but sad fact is that, if Nigeria had a strong unencumbered framework for optimizing internal trade, Kano would be far greater than Rwanda and the rest of Nigeria would be Kano’s equivalent of the EAC bloc. Imagine a market system, tailor-made infrastructure development and national plans, geared towards the systematic linkage of major hubs and the sharpening of weaker and blurry trade lines and corridors in Nigeria. There are plans, completed and on-going projects, especially in rail and road networks for linking some hubs; commendable! But they are yet to incorporate the global view or represent the scale of the situation. Even in the absence of any real trade borders between states in Nigeria; movement of goods is still constrained. The numerous transportation options available in peer countries are simply absent here and the available ones are simply sub-optimal. The obscure truth is that even Nigeria’s export potential is constrained by the poor structure of internal trade.
India: The ease of doing business conundrum (Business Line)
But this is only part of the explanation. Perhaps the key to the puzzle lies in the fact that perceptions about India reflect the actual interface between investors and businesses interacting with regulators and government departments on the ground. It is on this ground level experience that India falters, even compared with countries in the wider Asia-Pacific region that are perhaps formally more trade restrictive, or have less transparent laws and regulations. To my mind, this sub-optimal actual experience of those doing or wanting to do business in India can be ascribed to three broad institutional challenges in the Indian system. [The author, Pritam Banerjee, is Senior Director-South Asia, Deutsche Post DHL Group]
Today’s Quick Links: Botswana has, this morning, posted an update on crop import restrictions Namibia’s finance minister: Namibia can only fully take advantage of the AfCFTA if there is a seamless movement of goods in and out of Namibia’s borders. “We have to become much better at trans-border operations than we are now.” The African Union has posted progress reports from the respective Chairpersons of the Commission on Food Safety; Commission of the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility COMESA Ministers adopt new regional legal instruments: seamless airspace programme, Somalia’s membership Nigeria’s 2019 elections: ECOWAS urges FG to increase women representation Ghana: UNIPASS deal to boost revenue Rwanda, Ghana air service pact ‘to spur trade relations’ AfDB, UNIDO join forces to accelerate Africa’s industrialization Angola: IMF Executive Board concludes 2018 Article IV Consultation Nigeria’s GDP grew in real terms by 1.95% in Q1 2018 China-style state-led growth won’t work in Africa, Okonjo-Iweala warns Expatriates in Kenya get 60-day ultimatum to renew work papers Social accountability and service delivery: experimental evidence from Uganda Global Compact for Migration: UNGA preparatory conference debate |