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dtic announces economic recovery support interventions (SAnews)
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) has announced that the economic recovery support interventions announced by Minister Ebrahim Patel, a fortnight ago is open for affected businesses to apply. The R3.75 billion package is for the restoration of businesses adversely affected during the violent looting and unrests that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month.
Manufacturing output up 12.5% y/y in June – Stats SA (Engineering News)
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports that, in June, overall South African manufacturing production increased by 12.5% year-on-year as a primary result of positive contributions from the sectors of motor vehicles, metal products, wood products, food and beverage, as well as furniture and other manufacturing. The contributions made by the automotive sector, comprising the manufacturing of motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment, increased by 84.1%, contributing 4.9 percentage points.
Beyond the pandemic, growth opportunities abound for South Africa’s cosmetics industry – KAS Africa (Bizcommunity)
Consumer trends such as interest in sustainable products, the demand for multicultural skincare and haircare products (designed for different skin and hair types), the opening up of new export markets in Africa and the rise of new categories (e.g. greener products) will help to drive growth in South Africa’s cosmetics industry beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. “Even before the pandemic, the local cosmetics industry faced difficult market conditions due to Eskom’s load shedding and weak economic growth,” says Vinny Perumal, CEO of KAS Africa. “The hard lockdown last year was a severe blow, and the market has yet to recover entirely. However, many manufacturers are now looking at the market with renewed optimism. Trends such as more open trade between African countries, higher levels of government support for local production, and a new sense of urgency about addressing the power crisis bode well for the future.”
Ramaphosa: A Women’s Economic Assembly to be launched this month (The South African)
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a number of measures and interventions in support of advancing women in the country, including the start of a Women’s Economic Assembly, which is scheduled for later in August. While he didn’t give much detail about this Assembly, the president said it would be aimed at identifying the supply chain opportunities for women-owned businesses in key industries such as steel, automotive and energy sectors. “Work is underway to develop a financial inclusion policy to address the barriers experienced by women-owned businesses and low-income earners to access credit, to also access grants and other financial transactions,” Ramaphosa said.
Walvis Bay sees increase in salt exports (The Namibian)
Salt exported from the Port of Walvis Bay has increased by about 14,5%, or just over 20 000 tonnes in the last four months compared to the same period last year, the Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) announced over the weekend. Since April, Namport recorded a combined total of 160 186 tonnes of (bagged and bulk) salt exported via the Port of Walvis Bay to various destinations. The consignment consisted of 130 901 tonnes of bulk salt and 29 285 tonnes of bagged salt. “Such volumes are testament to Namport’s unending efforts to provide the best quality port services to all sea-borne trade through excellent customer service, sustainable growth and social responsibility, to contribute to the transformation of Namibia as a logistics hub,” said acting commercial services executive Elisa Hasheela.
‘Infrastructure to drive economic growth’ (Herald)
The massive investment the Government is putting into developing key infrastructure provides the bedrock needed by the economy to sustain accelerated growth and development, economists say. This comes after President Mnangagwa, while delivering his Heroes Day speech at the National Heroes Acre on Monday, said Government’s economic reform programme, guided by National Development Strategy-1(NDS1) was bearing fruit. The President said the economy was projected to grow by 7,8 percent this year while the resultant healthy public finances had allowed more resources to be channelled towards infrastructure development and rehabilitation, as well as health, education and a raft of social programmes.
Kenya’s Big 4 Agenda, Vision 2030 open up trade and investment opportunities for Korea: Kenyan top envoy (The Korea Herald)
The priority areas under Kenya’s Vision 2030 and its Big 4 Agenda – food security, universal health care, affordable housing and industrialization – provide a solid foundation for trade and investment for South Korean companies, according to Mwende Mwinzi, Kenyan ambassador to Korea. “There is a need to cooperate on mechanizing the agricultural sector to secure food, enhance the supply chain, enter the market space of food processing and value addition and develop the biopharma industry to produce medical equipment and adopt new technology for constructing decent and affordable housing,” Betty Maina, Kenya’s Cabinet secretary for industrialization said.
Only 13pc of Kenyans buy, sell products on e-commerce platforms (Business Daily)
Only 13 percent of Kenyans are using e-commerce platforms such as Jumia and Kilimall to sell and buy products, underpinning the use of social media networks by marketers and shoppers. A report on Kenya’s Digital Economy by a global advisory firm, Dalberg has shown retailers and shoppers prefer the social sites that support direct marketing, engagement between businesses and buyers, and goods are paid upon delivery. The rate of adoption of online market places in Kenya remains slow due to high delivery costs, highly fragmented markets and lack of clear named streets and buildings leading to supply chain barriers. High delivery costs, importing charges, lack of a national addressing system and concerns over arrangements for returns by customers associated with the e-commerce platforms remain a hindrance to adoption, according to a report by Communication Authority of Kenya.
TZ imports overtake exports from Kenya for first time (Business Daily)
Kenya’s imports from Tanzania have exceeded its exports to the East African Community (EAC) partner state for the first time in decades, signalling improved trade flows under President Samia Suluhu’s administration. Fresh data by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows that Kenya’s imports from Tanzania grew nearly three-quarters in the six months to June 2021 compared with a year earlier – coinciding with the thawing of trade ties between the two nations. The value of goods ordered from Tanzania – including cereals, wood, and edible vegetables – hit a high of Sh18.29 billion in the review period, according to data from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) published by the CBK. The 70.06 percent surge in goods bought from Tanzania outpaced that of exports, which grew at a five-year high, resulting in a rare trade deficit of Sh1.02 billion. The CBK data shows exports to Tanzania – including pharmaceutical products, plastics, iron, and steel – bumped 21.39 percent to Sh17.27 billion, the highest since the first half of 2016.
Samia steers Tanzania, Kenya maize business (Dailynews)
The maiden visit by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to Kenya has paid handsomely to traders in Tanzania and consumers in Kenya. President Samia met with her counterpart, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and discussed different issues including addressing challenges in business between the two countries after a stint of controversy. The visit that was in early May has cleared the way for maize exports from Tanzania that was banned for a while by Kenyan authorities, with reports saying that volume of exports has surged to more than sixfold. Authorities in Kenya have unveiled figures jumping from 16,137 bags in April to a monthly record of 118,329 in May after the bilateral deal eradicated the restraints that Nairobi had imposed on Tanzania’s maize export.
Tanzanian avocado exports poised to grace SA tables (The East African)
The South Africa Avocado Growers Association (Saaga) has been pushing to have the regulations to resolve a sanitary issue that has seen Tanzania’s Hass and Fuerte avocado exports to South Africa confiscated at the Beit Bridge border crossing because of a pest infestation scare. South African avocado importers say they seek hard, green, and undamaged fruits that pass sanitary classification and expect Tanzanian produce to be available in the market by December. Saaga’s Derek Donkin said: “South Africa and Tanzania being members of the World Trade Organisation and International Plant Protection Convention are engaged in the phytosanitary issues as trade partners according to the rights and obligations of the international trade organisations. Tanzania is also a member of the SADC regional trading bloc.”
So far so good as Zanzibar registers $321m projects in nine months (The Citizen)
Question: Zanzibar offers a wide range of investment opportunities ranging from blue economy, agribusiness to tourism, as the investment authority what major strategies do you put in place to ensure all these opportunities are utilised?
Answer: One of the leading approaches that have earned us a great number of investors on the island is physically meeting investors around the world and share with them opportunities of investing on our land because a few of them are willing to make investment decisions on the island without meeting physically, which usually acts as an introductory convention. We also use digital means such as websites and social media to show the world all corners of the island as well as reveal what it has to offer through the blue economy policy. Another strategy used is highlighting free economic spots through the creation of master plans that detail the areas of concern on different plots of land that are for investment.
Dar’s turn to eat Mombasa’s lunch as Rwanda looks south for trade across borders (The East African)
Rwanda and Tanzania have moved to reshape East Africa’s trade and logistics, with Rwanda being the latest landlocked country to divert its cargo traffic from the port of Mombasa to Dar es Salaam. This week Rwandan President Paul Kagame hosted Tanzania’s Samia Suhulu Hassan for two days, and their discussions largely focused on improving trade relations. Well-placed sources in Kigali told The EastAfrican that improving trade logistics was a priority on the agenda. The agreements add fresh impetus to economic diplomacy between the two East African Community partner states as they embark on key infrastructure and investment projects. “With the signing of these agreements, we are committed to ensuring that this visit leads to tangible results and gives renewed momentum to our bilateral relationship,” said President Kagame. “The challenges that our region face can only be addressed through unwavering solidarity and seizing the opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships.”
Kenya, Uganda should improve trade relations (Business Daily)
Kenya’s dwindling fortunes in the Ugandan export market is a worrying issue that deserves urgent action. Official data shows that Kenya’s exports to Uganda have been declining gradually since April in the wake of relentless trade feuds between the two nations.
The value of Kenya’s exports to Uganda stood at Sh9.05 billion ($83.25 million) in April before sliding to Sh7.8 billion ($71.78 million) and Sh7.2 billion ($66.85 million) in May and June respectively – a streak that saw Kenya toppled by Tanzania as Uganda’s main import market in the East African Community (EAC). This trend should be a major concern because Uganda has traditionally been Kenya’s single largest export market.
Nigeria Trade Ministry secures $1b agribusiness loan for MSMEs (Vanguard)
The Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment has obtained a $1 billion syndicated term loan for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in agribusiness through the Bank of Industry (BOI). The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo disclosed this yesterday at the launch of a digital agribusiness hub, I-Produce, in Abuja noting that the syndicated term loan would provide affordable loans alongside moratorium benefit to MSMEs. He said that a platform like I-Produce goes a long way in ensuring that farmers are able to derive maximum income from their businesses.
Egypt’s agricultural exports rise to 4.3 million tons (State Information Service)
Egyptian agricultural exports have passed 4.2 million tons so far, the Ministry of Agriculture said Sunday. Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation El Sayed El Quseir received a report presented by head of the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine (CAPQ) Ahmed el Attar pointing out the total export volume from January to August 4. The report highlighted 750,000-ton increase in the agricultural exports, compared to the same period last year. The list of exported agriculture products during this period included citrus, potatoes, onions, strawberry, pomegranate, sweet potatoes, beans, beet, guava, pepper, mango, garlic, grapes, peach, and watermelon, according to the CAPQ report.
Tunisia: Value of fruit exports up nearly 50% to 73.1 million dinars until August 4 (TAP)
Tunisia’s fruit export saw an increase in value by nearly 50% to 73.1 million dinars (MD) until August 4, 2021, from 49 million dinars, during the same period of the previous year according to data provided by the Inter-Professional Fruit Grouping (GIFruits). Quantities exported grew 75% to 30,617 tonnes from 17,535 tonnes, the same source added. Tunisia aims to export 80,000 tonnes of fruits throughout the year.
Sierra Leone’s Economy is Recovering from COVID-19 Contraction Although Uncertainties Persist (World Bank)
Sierra Leone’s economy is projected to recover from the COVID-19 contraction with real GDP expected to rebound by 3.0 percent in 2021, an upward revision of 0.8 percentage point relative to the 2020 forecast, according to the new World Bank Sierra Leone Economic Update launched today in Freetown. The report devoted a special section to examine the “Welfare and Poverty Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic” in Sierra Leone. The report found that restrictions put in place to contain the spread of the COVID-19, as well as the downturn in the global economy have led to a small increase in poverty, reversing the previous trend of poverty reduction. Urban areas, particularly the capital city, Freetown, have seen the largest increase in poverty. “Sustaining the economic recovery will involve structural reforms to accelerate inclusive economic growth, as well as resuming fiscal consolidation through robust revenue reforms and expenditure rationalization and a prudent monetary policy to support the recovery and stabilize the exchange rate,” said Kemoh Mansaray, World Bank Senior Country Economist and a lead author of the report.
AfCFTA-related news
Maiden AfCFTA-Angola business forum held in Accra (GhanaWeb)
The maiden African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - Angola Business Investment Forum, has been organised in Accra to expand bilateral businesses. The event forms part of activities marking the three-day official visit of President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço of Angola to Ghana. The aim of the Forum was to further expand bilateral business relations through the promotion of two-way investment and mutually complementary partnerships in the relations between the two countries. The forum was expected to drive networking for investment opportunities to boost trade and to discuss concrete solutions to attract investment, improve value addition and increase exports between Angola and Ghana. Mr Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, said the AfCFTA marks a new trade and investment era for Africa and offers a wide range of possibilities for businesses across various sectors in the member states.
Strategising to Optimize Trading with AfCFTA: What SMEs Must Know (Proshare Nigeria)
The Africa International Trade & Commerce Research, GIGI, and NOIPolls (2018) conducted a survey on Potential Benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Nigeria. The survey made the following findings: 94% of the businesses in Nigeria are aware of AfCFTA and the signing of the agreement. The sampled businesses believe the top three advantages of AfCFTA are a better business environment, promotion of local business, and business expansion. The top three disadvantages of AfCFTA are the influx of sub-standard goods, discouragement of local businesses, and loss of revenue for Nigeria. The top three sources of uncertainty are possibilities that AfCFTA will boost the economy, the need for time to understand its impacts, and the chances of the collapse of local industry. Overall, 78% of the businesses believe that AfCFTA will make a positive impact on local businesses; 10% believe that the impact will be negative while 12% believe it will have no impact. Over 50% of the businesses believe the country does not have the infrastructure necessary to reap the benefits and gains of AfCFTA. The consensus among researchers and analysts is that the benefits of AfCFTA for businesses and the economy depend on what and how each party handles the unique opportunities.
AfCFTA: ITC, NEPC train export workers on export (Daily Trust)
The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) are training export workers on international trade to prepare them for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) regime. The Executive Director of NEPC, Mr Olusegun Awolowo, made this known in Abuja during the Launch of Export Training Programme in collaboration with the ITC and the Institute of Export and International Trade. He was hopeful that the expertise, knowledge and skills gained by the staff would be used to develop innovative solutions and competitiveness in internationalization by Nigerian exporting firms in traditional and emerging markets including the AfCFTA.
Mfum Bridge’ll Enhance Nigeria’s Participation In AfCFTA – Fashola (The Tide)
Nigeria’s revenue-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio, which fell to between five and six per cent last year, is the lowest in the world, the World Bank said on Monday. The Country Director for Nigeria, World Bank, Dr Shubham Chaudhuri, said this during a panel session at a virtual public sector seminar with the theme ‘Nigeria in challenging times: imperatives for a cohesive national development agenda’ organised by the Lagos Business School. Chaudhuri, who stressed the need for private investment for the country to realise its potential, said the private sector in the country ‘is struggling to breathe’. “In Nigeria, I think the basic economic agenda is about diversification away from oil because oil has really been like resource curse for Nigeria on multiple dimensions,” he said.
AfCFTA: NICArb organises roundtable on trade, dispute resolution (Nigerian Tribune)
The Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb) has held a roundtable event to discuss dispute resolution mechanisms involving non-state parties with a focus on the implications of the current dispute resolution arrangement in Nigeria and how it will affect non-state parties. Jonathan Aremu, a Professor of International Economic Relations at Covenant University, emphasised that Africa was on the cusp of what could be a break in a previous decades-long cycle of poverty and economic shortcomings. He, however, noted that breaking this cycle would depend on the ability of African nations to put in place policies and regulatory mechanisms that would create more trade among themselves as well as attract and protect foreign intra-Africa investment. He went further to say the enactment of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement was a huge step in the right direction.
Businesses told to produce top quality goods (The Herald)
Businesses should produce goods of high quality and take advantage of alternative markets to boost their operations for the benefit of communities, Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza told a recent Women’s Business Leadership Roundtable. She noted the importance of the recently-agreed African Continental Free Trade Area, which seeks to boost intra-Africa trade. Dr Nzenza said Zimbabwe also continued to actively participate in the Common Market for East and South Africa (Comesa) and in SADC, a development that ensures huge markets for local businesspeople. “The provision of alternative markets should be fully exploited as it benefits the business community and the nation at large,” she said. “In order to fully harness and explore the opportunities that come with such noble interventions, I call upon you to produce high quality products that meet the continent’s expectations.
Africa
Africa Trade Insurance Agency supports Africa CDC in COVID-19 Response in Africa (Africa CDC)
Africa is facing a surging third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination remains a challenge. As a partner in the continents’ response to the pandemic, The African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) has provided financial support of USD250,000 to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The contribution will assist the efforts of the public health agency to bridge the gap in vaccination against COVID-19 across Africa. As Africa’s multilateral trade & investment insurer, ATI has made significant contributions in response to the global pandemic and to the economic development in sub-Saharan Africa, through the provision of unique insurance solutions that impact various sectors of the economy. Additionally, ATI has assisted African sovereigns to reprofile their financial obligations, helping reduce their debt burden and strengthening their debt management framework.
Revisiting the Relationship between Trade Liberalization and Taxation (AfDB)
This paper explores the dynamic effects of trade liberalization on tax revenue using a worldwide panel dataset. Results point to statistically significant negative effect of liberalization on (non- resource) tax revenues in the short term and no significant effect in the medium term. Liberalization also alter the tax structure tilting revenues toward indirect taxes away from direct ones. Economies which have implemented value added taxes prior to liberalization have mitigated its negative effects on tax revenues. The evidence is supportive of the complementarity role of state capacity to reap the benefits of liberalization.
Back to drawing board for EA domestic tax harmonisation (The East African)
East African member states have retreated to the drawing board on domestic tax harmonisation plan after failing to agree on the uniform tax rules and rates for the six-member economic bloc, casting doubts on the feasibility of several regional integration programmes. The EAC Secretariat said regional Finance ministers are set to meet next month to review the challenges so far met in the process of trying to harmonise value added tax (VAT), excise tax and income tax and set a new roadmap for implementation.
Kenyan private sector players have expressed optimism in making steps towards recovery of Covid-19, following a commitment by the East African Community Secretariat to prioritise strengthening public-private sector partnerships between the private sector in the region and EAC Partner States governments, to jointly invest in vaccine manufacturing in the region. The EAC Secretary General, Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki, said that there was need for a coordinated approach in handling COVID-19 in the region and emphasized on the need for local production of vaccines. “Truck drivers transporting goods across the region should also be included among the priority groups who need to be vaccinated,” Dr. Mathuki said.
Kenya to host EAC centre for aviation medicine (The Star, Kenya)
Kenya will host the East African Community Centre for Aviation Medicine. The centre is located next to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority headquarters, in Nairobi and is nearing completion. The project stands at a completion rate of 93 per cent, according to KCAA. Aviation medicine is a preventive or occupational medicine in which the patients/subjects are pilots, aircrews, or astronauts. Speaking during a visit to the facility, said the centre was a significant boost to the aviation industry in the region, adding that EAC will spare no effort to ensure the centre attained global aviation medicine status. “This is a huge boost to aviation in the region, and we are proud of the Kenya Government for supporting such a facility,” Mathuki said. Director General of the KCAA Captain Gilbert Kibe, disclosed that construction of the centre is fully funded by the government of Kenya.
COMESA-Africa CDC joint initiative to enhance vaccination uptake (COMESA)
The involvement of opinion leaders in enhancing the understanding of Covid-19 vaccines holds the greatest promise in removing barriers to vaccine uptake in the African region, according to regional health experts that attended a two-day webinar on strategies to improve Covid-19 vaccines roll-out and uptake in COMESA Member States. Rwanda Minister of Health Dr. Daniel Ngamije, said strong leadership from the highest level, efficient coordination mechanism, effective partnerships and community engagement, using opinion leaders as success factors to vaccine rollout and uptake. “There is a cost to pay in containing the Covid 19. Not doing what is required will cost more,” he said. As a way forward, Member States were called upon to support the implementation of the African CDC programme on Saving Lives, Economies and Livelihood Trusted Vaccines, which focuses on vaccines procurement, strengthened in-country vaccines logistics and roll-out, establishing vaccination centres, community engagements, monitoring side effects, genomics surveillance, digital support, and technical assistance.
SADC to hold 41st SADC Summit in Lilongwe, Malawi, on 17-18 August 2021 (SADC)
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold the 41st Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government in Lilongwe, Republic of Malawi on 17-18 August 2021 with a limited number so as to observe COVID-19 protocols. The Summit will be held under the theme “Bolstering Productive Capacities in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic for Inclusive, Sustainable, Economic and Industrial Transformation”. The Theme seeks to accelerate the implementation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020–2030, in particular, the Industrialisation and Market Integration pillar. The Summit will take stock of progress made in promoting and deepening Regional Integration in line with SADC’s aspirations as espoused in the RISDP 2020–2030 and Vision 2050, which envisage a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle- to high-income industrialised Region where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice, and freedom.
New Policies to Promote Digital Financial Services (COMESA)
COMESA Business Council (CBC) in partnership with Africa Nenda convened a High-Level Public-Private Dialogue, on 27 July 2021, under the theme, ‘Towards the COMESA Digital Integrated Common Payment Policy for Micro Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)’. A raft of recommendations were made on the Draft Model Policy for The Digital Payments Platform for MSMEs in COMESA, and the Draft Guidelines/Rulebook on the Operation of the Digital Payments’ Platform. They included the adoption of the proposed policy measures in the draft policy framework and the Rulebook to guide operation of the digital payment subject to the proposed changes.
How to encourage more young people to get involved in Africa’s agri-food systems (Africanews)
Africa has the youngest population in the world, with an estimated 420 million young people aged between 15 and 35 years old, and this is projected to rise considerably in the future. Conversations happening around the world right now, in the lead up to the United Nations Food Systems Summit, focus on the need to transform food systems to meet the Sustainable Development Goals including targets on ending poverty and hunger, ensuring sustainable agriculture, and creating gender equality, decent work and climate action. FAO’s Regional Office for Africa is working with partners from all quarters to remove barriers and make agri-business an attractive career choice so that young people can help build sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. When young people have access to quality education and training, decent jobs, digital technologies and internet connectivity, land, finance and markets, and have a voice in policy and decision making they can tap into their full potential.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A New Perspective on the Resource Curse (AfDB)
Military expenditure shares significantly affect the relationship between the risk of civil conflict outbreak and natural resources. We show that a significant positive correlation between the risk of civil conflict outbreak and resource rents is limited to countries with low military expenditure shares. In countries with high military expenditure shares there is no significant relationship between the risk of civil conflict outbreak and rents from natural resources. An important message is thus that a conflict resource curse is absent in countries with sufficiently large military expenditure shares. However, there is a trade-off: the larger military expenditure shares, the smaller is the effect that resource rents have on economic growth and democracy.
The Board of the African Development Bank Group has approved grants of $2.5 million to advance intra-regional harmonization of electricity regulations and drive cross-border power trading in the COMESA and SADC regional blocs, which cover 28 African countries. The grants, $1,500,000 for COMESA and $1,000,000 for SADC, will be sourced from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional financing window. The projects will be implemented through the Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Eastern and Southern Africa (RAERESA) and the Regional Energy Regulators Association of Southern Africa (RERA) respectively. “These Projects will contribute to ensuring that soft infrastructure requirements for the development of a regional power market are addressed to complement investments in hard infrastructure that the Bank and other development partners are making in the region,” said Dr. Mohamedain Seif Elnasr, Chief Executive Officer, RAERESA,
Dubai Chamber member exports and re-exports to West Africa up 42% in first 5 months of 2021 (Khaleej Times)
Dubai Chamber member companies’ exports and re-exports to West Africa surged 42 per cent in first five months of 2021 to reach a record $387 million, fuelled by a recovery in trade activity, recent analysis shows. The analysis was released by Dubai Chamber as it prepares to host the 6th Global Business Forum Africa in Dubai this October in cooperation with Expo 2020 Dubai. The data revealed that 3,201 Certificates of Origin for West Africa-bound shipments were issued between January and May 2021, marking a year-over-year increase of 20 percent. Nigeria was the largest West African export market for member companies, accounting for a 32 per cent share of the value of exports and re-exports to the region, followed by Ghana (17 per cent), Ivory Coast and Guinea with 12 per cent each, Senegal (8 per cent), and Mali (4 per cent). The commodities with the highest untapped potential for export and re-export companies in West Africa.
Accra becomes global headquarters of cocoa (Graphic Online)
In pre-independent Africa, Ghana was a torchbearer of political freedom. It spearheaded the continent’s emancipation agenda, fueled a reawakening for self-governance across the continent and went on to become the first in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to break free from the shackles of colonialism. Now, the country wants to do more for the continent. It is leading efforts to achieve economic freedom for the more than 1.2 billion people in Africa. In recent times, Ghana has played, and sometimes led, significant roles in the establishment and operationalisation of critical continental and regional bodies to pool resources and ideas to boost economic growth, empower Africans economically and reduce reliance on Western countries. The most recent one is the national effort that crystallised with similar ones to make the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) possible, leading to Accra becoming the trading headquarters of Africa. In the cocoa sector too, something monumental has been taking shape and Accra is now set to become the cocoa headquarters of the continent and by extension, the world.
High duty for hybrid vehicles attributed to ECOWAS CET (GhanaWeb)
Responding to concerns by a section of importers that the duties on hybrid vehicles are expensive compared to normal vehicles, despite the environmental benefits, he said that could be attributed to the ECOWAS Common External Tariff which applies to vehicles and goods from non-member states. Speaking on Eye on Port’s live interactive programme on the importation and clearance of vehicles at the Ports of Ghana, he said the duty for hybrid vehicles is currently pegged at 20% of CET. “ECOWAS established a Common External Tariffs of 20% for all vehicles like saloon cars, SUVs and wagons. So you realize that these are the categories the hybrid cars fall within,” he said. However, he said ECOWAS in 2015 when the CET was to be implemented put in a flexibility measure which is called supplementary tariffs measures for all member countries to avoid the harsh effect of the increment of taxes on the citizenry.
Africa’s international trade
NACC seeks stronger ties between Nigeria (The Guardian Nigeria)
The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) is seeking stronger relationships and empowerment from the commercial section of the United States Embassy through its consulate in Lagos, Nigeria. “We are seeking partnership and empowerment for our members who are into Small and Medium scale businesses and are desirous to take advantage of various U.S. programmes targeted at empowering SMEs including Prosper Africa,” said National president of NACC, Dame Adebola Williams. “We are looking at how best to work with the Commercial Section to encourage them to succeed within the remaining four years in the life of African Growth and Opportunity Act, (AGOA) which was signed by the U.S Congress on May 18th, 2000 and ending in 2025.
Big Announcements at the 13th U.S-Africa Business Summit (Africanews)
From July 27 – 29, 2021, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) hosted the 13th U.S.-Africa Business Summit. The Summit is CCA’s flagship event viewed as essential by those doing business in Africa. The 2021 Summit featured a stellar line up of African and U.S. government and private sector leaders as part of the program. CCA was delighted to provide more than 1200 participants with the access, connections, and insights on critical issues and policies impacting the U.S.-Africa economic partnership - the Summit theme. The Summit - held virtually - included 5 plenaries and 12 panel sessions highlighting key economic recovery strategies and focused on a range of sectors and issues, including health and vaccine access, trade, digital transformation, infrastructure, financing, SMEs, tourism, women’s leadership, and investment opportunities in various African countries.
At the Summit closing plenary session, CCA Board of Director Vice Chairs Diane Wilkens, Founder and CEO of Development Finance International, Inc. and General William Ward, Inaugural Commander Africa Command, noted the critical issues discussed during the Summit included equitable vaccine access, improving energy and transportation infrastructure, addressing climate change and food security, digitizing trade and maximizing U.S.-Africa trade and investment relying on initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Prosper Africa Build Together campaign. Their message: “now is not the time to retreat from Africa, now is the time to invest and find new partners on the continent.”
In Africa, Biden finds a free trade zone he can embrace (Nikkei Asia)
Eager to tap into a promising market while burnishing his administration’s credentials on free trade now that rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership looks as distant as ever, U.S. President Joe Biden appears ready to engage a new free trade zone in Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which took effect in January, is the largest such zone by number of countries since the creation of the World Trade Organization. Fifty-four of the African Union’s 55 members – Eritrea excluded – have signed on to the idea of creating a single market on the continent. At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, experts urged the White House not to miss out on the opportunity, and to back and engage with the new trade bloc. “The future of African markets, it will be shaped by the cellphone,” Aubrey Hruby, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told members of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa and global health policy. “This is the mirror of the world of hundreds of millions of young Africans,” she said, waving her smartphone. “And the question is, who is going to shape how this is used, what’s on it, the content of the future? And for me, that is what we should be thinking about.”
The COMESA Business Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Corporate Council of Africa (CCA) towards forging new pathways for stronger US-Africa engagements which will include developing a joint implementation plan to facilitate joint programmes for knowledge sharing. The signing ceremony took place on 27 July 2021 on the margins of the 13th US-Africa Business Summit. CBC Chairperson Mr Marday Venkatasamy described the occasion as a major milestone in the US-Africa business collaboration and partnership. “Through this MOU we strengthen the relationship to facilitate closer collaboration, joint advancement of the private sector business agenda, and provide a platform for consolidating the voice of the Private Sector,” said Mr Venkatasamy.
Kenya-UK trade deals open funding taps for green projects in EA (The East African)
When it comes to the big debates about climate change, Africa is the forgotten continent. It receives less than three percent of global climate finance and yet 30 out of the 40 most climate vulnerable countries in the world are in Africa. It contributes the least to global warming and yet extreme weather events are growing in both frequency and severity with a shocking knock-on impact on biodiversity loss.
The recent visit to London by the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta saw further progress with the announcement of UK investments in off-grid solar energy and a new fund to develop green, affordable housing. But it is in the area of green finance that the partnership between Kenya and the UK could prove to be even more significant. Although progress has been too slow and fragmentary, African countries have been getting themselves ready to receive a much bigger share of global climate finance.
Global
‘Full trade recovery at risk without equitable vaccine roll-out’ (The Guardian)
Notwithstanding the need to ensure that markets remain open and predictable, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has warned that failure to ensure wider access to COVID-19 vaccines could undermine the global economic and trade recovery. The WTO in its mid-year report on trade-related developments presented to members noted that despite strong monetary and fiscal policy support from governments, and the arrival of effective vaccines against COVID-19, which have been important factors in the rebound, COVID-19 continues to pose a threat to the global economy and to public health, as vaccine production remains insufficient, contributing to significant disparities in access across countries. The trade organisation noted that the situation is especially true for low-income developing economies, which are struggling to obtain enough doses to inoculate more than a small fraction of their populations. “This report clearly suggests that trade policy restraint by WTO members has helped limit harm to the world economy. However, some pandemic-related trade restrictions do remain in place and the challenge is to ensure that they are indeed transparent and temporary.” said Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who presented the report to WTO members.
DDG González underscores importance of women’s economic empowerment in trade (WTO)
Citing trade’s role in fostering women’s empowerment and advancing gender equality, DDG González said that gender responsive trade policies are important for lifting obstacles to trade for women, creating new jobs and reducing wage gaps. Noting the WTO’s work in this regard, she said the 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment was a milestone leading to the WTO’s broader engagement on gender equality and a catalyst for the establishment of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender in the WTO last September. In addition, the WTO is developing a number of gender and trade policy tools to help members empower women, including establishing a training programme to build WTO members’ capacity on trade and gender.
Africa Could Be Headed for a Financial Crisis as Monetary Easing Ends in Rich Countries (Foreign Policy)
COVID-19 has exerted immense pressure on the world’s emerging markets, yet some of the pandemic’s most painful economic episodes may be yet to come. In sub-Saharan Africa – where a third wave is gripping many countries, and a fourth wave is gripping others – it has become increasingly difficult for governments to get ahead of these challenges. The first challenge comes from beyond Africa’s borders, as central bankers in advanced economies deliberate an end to the monetary relief that has kept the global economy tenuously afloat for the past year. When the pandemic struck, investors fled from “riskier” emerging markets to the safe assets of advanced economies. Within the first four months of 2020, capital outflows from emerging markets reached $243 billion, producing a sharp depreciation in many currencies and a sudden spike in borrowing costs.
Building technological capacities can help countries escape commodity dependence, UN says (UNCTAD)
Developing countries whose economies depend on commodities must enhance their technological capacities to escape the trap that leaves most of their populations poor and vulnerable, says UNCTAD’s Commodities and Development Report 2021, published on 7 July. About two thirds of developing countries were commodity dependent in 2019, meaning at least 60% of their merchandise export revenues came from primary goods, such as cacao, coffee, cotton, copper, lithium and oil. The report, “Escaping from the commodity dependence trap through technology and innovation”, highlights the correlation between low technology capacities and high commodity dependence. It warns that most of the 85 commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs) will remain trapped for the foreseeable future unless they go through “a process of technology-enabled structural transformation”.
G20: FAO Director-General calls for closing of digital divide (FAO)
Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), today called for a closing of the digital divide and reiterated FAO’s commitment to promote the use of digital technologies, billing them essential for a much-needed transformation of the agri-food systems. Speaking at the G20 Digital Economy Ministers’ meeting, Qu made a strong case for expanding the use of digital technologies, especially in rural areas, where such technologies could be leveraged to address multiple market failures (for example, information asymmetry on prices of produce and inputs, lack of access to financial services, search costs for traceability) and help smallholder farmers access markets. Rural women, in particular, stressed Qu, were most disadvantaged by the lack of connectivity. “Connectivity has improved dramatically, but a digital divide remains between countries, between rural and urban areas,” said Qu.
IPCC report: ‘Code red’ for human driven global heating, warns UN chief (UN News)
Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Scientists are also observing changes across the whole of Earth’s climate system; in the atmosphere, in the oceans, ice floes, and on land. Many of these changes are unprecedented, and some of the shifts are in motion now, while some - such as continued sea level rise – are already ‘irreversible’ for centuries to millennia, ahead, the report warns. But there is still time to limit climate change, IPCC experts say. Strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases, could quickly make air quality better, and in 20 to 30 years global temperatures could stabilize.
Where’s the money in shea? (Trade for Development News)
In West Africa where most shea originates, it is traditionally women that collect shea nuts from nearby parklands, turning the oily kernels within into smooth shea butter. This requires many stages and processes, from the labor of collection and carrying to the work of boiling, drying, shelling, roasting and pounding. The effort is time-consuming and arduous, and is done by rural people living in some of the world’s poorest countries. Now that shea is big in beauty circles and pharmaceuticals due to its nutrient rich and anti-inflammatory properties, there is opportunity to try and guide the profits from sales of creams, salves and balms to the people who need it most, meaning women in countries like Benin and Burkina Faso and Togo.
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Business seeks to nudge localisation debate beyond import substitution (Engineering News)
Business is aiming to progress ongoing negotiations on the use of local-content regulations to revive manufacturing in South Africa beyond calls for blanket import substitution by identifying specific products or sectors where the country has the competitive advantages in place to increase domestic production. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has requested business to consider an import-substitution target of 20% for non-petroleum imports, which he says could drive progressive localisation worth up to R200-billion over the coming five years.
The Freight Forwarding Industry in South Africa 2021 (Research and Markets)
The freight forwarding and customs clearance sector makes a major contribution to facilitating trade in South Africa and co-ordinates over 80% of South Africa’s international trade. Ongoing waves of the pandemic continue to hamper the trade in goods by supressing consumer spending and causing congestion and disruptions at ports. These factors are driving up container freight costs and hampering the industry’s recovery. Most recently the sector has also been affected by rioting in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which disrupted trucks and port operations.
Uganda trade deficit widens, as imports from Tanzania hit 19pc (The East African)
According to the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Uganda and Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) latest data, imports from Tanzania have capped a seven-month surge, replacing Kenya as Uganda’s biggest source of imports in the region. Imports from Tanzania accounted for 19.2 percent of Uganda’s total imports bill in May, followed by China, India, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, at 15 percent, 9.6 percent, 9.2 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.
The deficit stands at $105.31 million with the EAC, with Tanzania accounting for the largest share of the deficit at $138.2 million. It more than offset the surpluses recorded with South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda of $50.5 million, $6 million and $0.02 million, respectively. Uganda’s imports from Tanzania were $149 million, followed by Kenya with $71.6 million; on the other side, South Sudan and Kenya accounted for the largest export destinations for Uganda, accounting for $51.5 million and $48 million, respectively.
Exports receipts from the EAC have grown by 73 percent from $67.31 million in May last year to $116.56 million, while imports have grown by 44 percent from $153.95 million to $221.87 million over the same period.
Why Kenya is seeking to ban Chinese fish imports (Nation)
Kenya will soon ban fish imports from China, the National Assembly’s Committee on Agriculture has confirmed. Kenya has enough fish stocks in its lakes, rivers and the ocean, the lawmakers said. The legislation, said chairperson Silas Tiren (Moiben), will improve the fisheries sector. “I don’t see why we should import from China when we have enough fish in the country. There is a lot of potential in our waters, we must capture it,” he said. “It’s clear that foreign countries are fishing from our waters and later selling to us, which shows we have enough fish and potential.”
Zimbabwe Bans Raw Chrome Exports (NewZimbabwe)
Cabinet has approved an immediate ban on all exports of unprocessed chrome ore in order to protect the ferrochrome industry, which it says is integral in the country’s attainment of an envisioned US$12 billion industry by 2023. Announcing the latest strategy to boost the mining sector during Tuesday’s post Cabinet media briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said the moratorium on raw chrome ore exports would promote the local value-addition chain. “In light of the need to safeguard the ferrochrome industry in the above regard, Cabinet approved a total ban on exports of raw chrome ore with immediate effect. The ban will capacitate current smelters and maximise the value chain to be realised from the country’s abundant resources as spelt out in the National Development Strategy (NDS) 1,” she said. As a measure to further hedge the industry, the external trade in chrome concentrates will be stopped effective July next year. Said Mutsvangwa: “This gives producers of chrome concentrates a year within which to make suitable arrangements for the value addition of the concentrates, the investment of which is low capital cost and relatively easy.”
Tanzania’s FDI inflows hit $1bn mark in 2020 (The Citizen)
Regardless of the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy, Tanzania’s Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) reached the $1 billion mark in 2020, the highest in five years. The country recorded a total of $1.01 billion in FDIs 2020, higher than the $991 million that it recorded in 2019, according to data from the World Investment Report 2021 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). The last time the country reported over a billion-dollar FDI inflows was in 2015: $1.56 billion. Then the inflows dropped to $864 million in 2016.
Key lessons for Tanzania from neighbouring Rwanda (The Citizen)
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Ms Liberata Mulamula, said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that some of the lessons learnt during the visit include developing infrastructure and putting in place a conducive environment for investment and economic growth. According to Ms Mulamula, it was also useful to note how bolstering Export Processing Zones (EPZs) can boost the country’s chances of attracting investors. “We developed our own EPZs some years back; but it looks like there were some issues that needed to be worked on,” said Ms Mulamula, briefing journalists on major takeaways from President Hassan’s just-ended two-day visit to Rwanda. In efforts to improve Rwanda’s balance of payments, factories operating under the Special Economic Zones system in that country are required to export at least 40 percent of their products.
Côte d’Ivoire’s sugar industry hopes to become self-sufficient in five years (The Africa Report)
Just like other West African heads of state, Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara has been implementing several measures to counter the rise in food prices and limit its impact on purchasing power. These include setting price ceilings for certain products, including rice, oil and flour; creating regional committees dedicated to fighting against the high cost of living and increasing the number of controls on regulated tariffs.
Group: Buhari Determined to Upgrade National Infrastructure (THISDAYLIVE)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign, a voluntary think-tank group of the ruling party, has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is determined to set new standards in upgrading national infrastructure. The group noted that projects Nigerians have looked forward to in decades would be completed and commissioned between now and May 29, 2023, when Buhari’s second and final term in office would come to an end. The group noted that the high rate of abandoned or slow-moving road projects across the country prompted the present administration to increase the amount of funding available for road projects
Opportunities in the maritime industry abound – Hassan Tampuli (3news)
Deputy Minister of Transport Hassan Tampuli has said out of the fifty-four (54) countries in Africa, thirty-eight (38) are coastal countries. He said it is therefore imperative that the countries leverage on this attribute for a collective development of the Continent. At the moment, he stated, over 90% of imports and exports are by maritime transport. “The 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy adopted in 2014 describes the maritime industry as the new frontier of the African Renaissance. “The opportunities in the maritime industry abound, representing trillions of United States Dollars’ worth of goods and services and millions of jobs. This ranges from sectors such as shipping, logistics, insurance, port management, tourism, fishing and aquaculture just to mention a few. “The sub-region can tap into the opportunities offered by this new frontier to propel its developments.”
Traders lament influx of imported tomatoes on Ghanaian markets (3news)
Tomato traders at Agbogbloshie market in the Greater Accra region are lamenting the influx of imported tomatoes mainly from Morocco, on the local markets. According to the traders, this development is negatively affecting their businesses since the imported items are gradually taking over the domestic market. They are also demanding that government place an embargo on importation of tomatoes and other food items into the country and help intensify the campaign of consuming local foods. The traders have indicated that they are compelled to import the tomatoes from the neighboring countries due to its scarcity in the country. The traders have attributed the shortage of the tomatoes and other local food stuffs to pest infestation and inadequate rainfall as well as bad farm practices adopted by Ghanaian farmers.
Experts reflect on performance of Egyptian exports to fellow African states (Egypttoday)
The Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) organized Wednesday a panel discussion displaying the opportunities and challenges impacting Egyptian exports to fellow African countries. There was congruence among the three panelists that the high cost of transportation because of the lack of the necessary infrastructure is the main hindrance. Chairman of the Egyptian African Business Association Yosry al-Sharqawy proposed that if the size of Egyptian exports rises, the prices of shipping and transportation will by default become lower. For instance, the costs of exporting just five containers are not like exporting 50. For that to materialize, the businessman reiterated supporting Egypt’s SMEs, and not just Egyptian large enterprises. He also suggests better integration with the international maritime transport system to ensure reliable access to African states.
Uganda misses agricultural opportunity to Malawi (Independent)
Africa’s newest state, South Sudan, has by-passed Uganda and signed a trade agreement with Malawi for the supply of grain and other agricultural commodities. This follows signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Minister of Trade and Industry of South Sudan, Kuol Athian Mawien and his Malawian counterpart, Sosten Gwengwe, in Juba recently, with the support of the African Export Import Bank. The five-year agreement will allow see South Sudan to import grain and other agricultural products from Malawi which is currently estimated to be having in excess of 1.2million metric tonnes of grain. Malawi will, meanwhile, be supplied with commodities such as petroleum products and bitumen, supporting development and wealth creation in the South Sudanese economy. Prof. Benedict Oramah, the President of Afreximbank said: “By taking their first ever steps into trade collaboration, both countries will unlock new channels for inclusive wealth creation and secure high-quality jobs for their people.”
ECA trains Cameroonian officials in use of new development planning, reporting toolkit (UNECA)
Twenty Cameroonian civil servants drawn from a wide range of ministries have affirmed their commitment to fully appropriate the Integrated Planning and Reporting Toolkit (IPRT), a web-based application developed in response to the needs for African countries to simultaneously adopt and domesticate both the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 into their national development plans and enable them to report their progress in a harmonized way. “This tool comes at a time when the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of Cameroon’s 2030 National Development Strategy (SND2030) is being constituted,” affirmed Mr. Eone Laurent of the Directorate General of Planning in the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT).
Africa
Africa open for business – AfCFTA General Secretary (Graphic Online)
The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Mr Wamkele Mene, has emphasised that Africa is open for business. He said the continent had tremendous business potential in various sectors, including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, natural resources and information and communications technology (ICT), which offered opportunities for African entrepreneurs. Speaking at the AfCFTA-Angola Business Investment Forum last Tuesday, the first-ever investment forum between the AfCFTA Secretariat and a party state, Mr Mene asserted that with its vast uncultivated arable land, Africa had the potential to ensure its own food sufficiency and be a major supplier on global food markets.
“While we are about to start working on the Protocol on Investments, the Protocol on Trade in Services already negotiated has provisions regarding investment: one of the general objectives is to ‘foster domestic and foreign investment’,” the Secretary General emphasised. He said additional protocols had strengthened value propositions of entrepreneurs and reduced their risks. “The introduction of a continental simplified trade regime should provide small and informal businesses with greater protection and support their participation in the new export opportunities created by the AfCFTA. “There is also the Protocol on AfCFTA dispute resolution which further enhances the value proposition for entrepreneurs by making investment in Africa less risky for investors,” Mr Mene added.
Sustainable and Inclusive: Regional Integration in Africa (ITC)
2021 is an important year for regional integration in Africa, as it marks the beginning of trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). As shown in joint research by ITC and UNCTAD, fostering intra-continental trade can contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth in Africa, as intra-African trade tends to favour structural transformation, the trade integration of small firms, and the economic participation of women.
So far, intra-African trade represents a relatively small share of African exports. However, as shown in joint research by ITC and UNCTAD, regional trade integration is already relatively high in view of the continent’s small share in international trade and the lack of overlap between African countries’ export profile and import basket. Moreover, there are substantial opportunities for export growth in Africa, and these are expected to increase through tariff reductions under the AfCFTA. With the right policy choices, African countries can leverage untapped export potential, create further opportunities, and foster sustainable and inclusive growth.
These findings are based on a joint technical paper by ITC and UNCTAD (forthcoming)
Sub-Saharan Africa growth opportunity at risk without right policy – S&P (Engineering News)
Sub-Saharan Africa’s labour force is set to more than double by 2050, boosting economic growth, but a lack of jobs, sound economic policy and investment in education might jeopardise its chance to catch up with developed countries, S&P Global Ratings said on Wednesday. The region is going to be the world’s main driver for working-age population growth in the next the 30 years, making up 68% of total global growth, S&P said in a report.
“SADC Summit opportunity for Malawi to shine” – Chilima (Nyasa Times)
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit due next week to be hosted by the South-eastern nation of Malawi is an opportunity to shine to the world at large because as the country geared to give it its best shot, Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima has said. “Malawi should regard the hosting of the Summit and the assuming of the SADC Chairmanship as a one time opportunity to show the world what it is capable of and display the beauty that the country has,” he said.
EABC urges partner states to fast-track implementation of EAC (IPPmedia)
According to findings from the latest policy paper by EABC, Costs and Benefits of ‘Open Skies’ in the East African Community, air-transport liberalization is set to lower flight costs by 9% and see a 41 per cent increase in flight frequencies. EABC chief executive officer (CEO), John Bosco Kalisa said report shows that despite the commitments of the EAC partner states at the international level specifically on the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) on liberalization of access to air transport markets in Africa and EAC integration efforts through the common market, the domestic air transport sector remains protected, reducing accessibility and increasing air transport cost at the expense of potential users. “Liberalisation of air services in the region is set to increase traffic volumes, improve connectivity and lower air transport fares. This will in turn increase trade and tourism, inward investment and productivity growth,” he mentioned.
Africa’s Common Position on Food Systems (AUDA-NEPAD)
The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, is engaging with and providing support to National Convenors on the UN Food Systems Summit Process, in order to have a common position as Africa. The Agency has been collaborating with the 4SD and the UN Food Systems (UNFSS) Envoy to ensure coordinated support to Africa’s UN Member States in their efforts to organise and manage their national dialogues in the build-up to the just ended UNFSS Pre-Summit in Rome and the main summit to be held in September in New York.
“The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD has worked to create a common African position ahead of the Food Systems Summit in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the SDGS, for Africa to pursue solutions in its priority areas,” President Kagame stated. During the session on ‘Building Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks and Stresses,’ Dr Mayaki highlighted the following as key: i) Regional approach: In Africa, strategies need to be regional if they are to provide optimal solutions at national level. ii) Governance: Africa needs to empower the frontline active players by providing them with tools to build the resilience needed. iii) Multisectorality: A fully adopted multisectoral approach for integrated solutions is also need. Investments need to be long-term: Short-term solutions do not work.
Africa announces the rollout of 400m vaccine doses to the African Union Member States and the Caribbean (Africa CDC)
His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa and African Union (AU) COVID-19 Champion, is pleased to announce the start of monthly shipments of vaccines acquired by the AU / African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to the AU Member States today. An initiative by the AU Member States to pool their purchasing power, the AVAT, on 28 March 2021, had signed the historic agreement for the purchase of 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, with the potential to order an additional 180 million doses.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was selected for this first pooled procurement for three reasons: first of all, as a single-shot vaccine, it is easier and cheaper to administer; second, the vaccine has a long shelf-life and favourable storage conditions. Last but not least, the vaccine is partly manufactured on the African continent, with fill-finish activities taking place in South Africa. President Ramaphosa said: “This is a momentous step forward in Africa’s efforts to safeguard the health and well-being of its people. By working together and by pooling resources, African countries have been able to secure millions of vaccine doses produced right here in Africa. This will provide impetus to the fight against COVID-19 across the continent and will lay the basis for Africa’s social and economic recovery.”
Global
Africa the big loser as global liner patterns shift to focus on more profitable east-west tradelanes (Splash247)
Africa is the big loser in the hugely reshaped global liner patterns over the course of the pandemic-strewn last year. Carriers have moved to deploy far greater tonnage on the more profitable three main east-west tradelanes – Asia-Europe, transpacific and transatlantic – at the expense of more regional coverage. New data from Alphaliner shows that capacity deployed on liner services to and from Africa is now 6.5% lower than one year ago. Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), for example, has shifted some 13,000 teu ships from African trading to the Pacific.
Commenting on Africa’s sudden drop in global maritime connectivity, Jan Hoffmann, head of the trade logistics branch at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told Splash: “Unlike the United States, African countries could not create significant economic stimulus packages, and their vaccinations rates are far lower than in North America. So the lower fleet deployment to African routes is a response of these two sides of the Covid pandemic. There is less demand, and the hinterland logistics system is even more strained than in the US.”
Empowering Female Entrepreneurs across Borders (THISDAYLIVE)
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) of Commerce for Middle East and Africa Camille Richardson launched the Women Empowered Leave Legacies through Trade and Investment (WELTI) Initiative. She briefed attendees about the WELTI initiative, which aims to bring together leading businesswomen from the United States and the MENA region to discuss strategies. DAS Richardson shared insightful statistics stating that “more than 90 per cent of enterprises around the world are considered as SMEs, which account for nearly 80 per cent of jobs globally.” She also mentioned that “women own nearly 10 million of the world’s SMEs.” DAS Richardson concluded with the fact that “sustainable economic growth and achievement of the [United Nations] Development Goals are possible only through the active participation of women.”
Decision on TRIPS waiver absolutely crucial: India (Millennium Post)
A decision on the “critical” proposal in the WTO about temporary waiver of certain provisions of intellectual property rights’ agreement for tackling COVID-19, is “absolutely crucial” to relevance of this multilateral organisation in these trying times, India has said. In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted the first proposal suggesting a waiver for all WTO (World Trade Organization) members on the implementation of certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19. In May this year, a revised proposal was submitted by 62 co-sponsors, including India, South Africa, and Indonesia.
According to a statement by India, delivered in a General Council Meeting held on July 27-28, few members refuse to engage in the text-based negotiation. And, those few WTO members have ensured that the organisation is unable to meet the deadline set by the TRIPS Council Chair for reaching the necessary landing zone on the proposal by end-July, it added. “The proposed waiver will enable the temporary suspension of the relevant TRIPS rules, providing the manufacturers around the world the freedom to operate and scale up production of vaccines. It is, thus, a necessary ingredient of a multi-pronged approach to combat the pandemic. “It is high time this organisation prioritises saving human lives and livelihoods over all other priorities. Needless to say that a decision on this critical proposal is absolutely crucial to the relevance of this organisation in these trying times,” India has said.
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Here are some of the major developments planned for South Africa – including car factories and new borders (BusinessTech)
Nedbank has published its fixed investment report for the first half of 2021, detailing some of the major developments announced for South Africa. The bank noted that fixed investment was exceptionally hard hit by the strict lockdown of last year. While some sources of demand bounced back quite convincingly, the recovery in fixed investment has been much more subdued, running out of steam in the first quarter of this year, contracting by 2.6% every quarter.
“The improvements in public sector investment appears to be related to government’s infrastructure plan, announced last year to accelerate economic recovery and job creation from the depths of strict lockdown in April 2020,” Nedbank said. “Although it is encouraging that the rollout of some of these projects has started, infrastructure investment relative to the size of the economy remains alarmingly low. The rollout will therefore have to gain considerable momentum, and this will need to be sustained for several years, to lift the constraint on the economy, lower production costs and raise the country’s potential growth rate.”
The manufacturing sector featured strongly, recording new projects worth R38.3 billion, the highest since 2018. The electricity, gas and water sector announced projects worth R6.5 billion, which also included projects listed in the government’s strategic infrastructure plan. The mining sector announced projects worth R21.4 billion, the highest since 2013.
How the mining sector gave SA’s economy an unexpected boost (The Citizen)
Against all odds: economic gloom, the adverse impact of the Covid pandemic and the recent unrest, South Africa’s economy has made an amazing unexpected come-back, driven by a huge tax windfall from strong commodity prices, which have lifted government revenue. At R57.7 billion, SA recorded a massive trade surplus in June – which Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings has described as “monster” – pushed by precious metal exports, which in the first six months, rose to 96.2%, compared to last year. This has made it possible for National Treasury to announce a R39 billion economic relief package funded by the higher-than-expected tax revenue, with the lion’s share going towards reinstating the R350 social distress grant for the unemployed. However, economist Thabi Leoka warned the economy was not yet out of the woods. “The strong trade surplus is not the salvation to our economic woes. SA needs to diversify its exports, support local businesses, open new markets for them, low- er input costs and look inwards regarding beneficiation. The country should not rely on a commodity boom it has no control over,” cautioned Leoka.
South Africa’s Power Giant Lays Out Plan to Move Away From Coal (Bloomberg)
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter laid out a funding plan to help the company, which generates the bulk of South Africa’s power from coal, transition away from the use of the dirtiest fossil fuel. De Ruyter said the company is proposing a multi lender loan facility from development finance institutions that would be paid out in segments over a number of years. Mandy Rambharos, the head of Eskom’s just energy transition department, has previously said the transition could cost $10 billion. He said the company is proposing a multi lender loan facility from development finance institutions that would be paid out in segments over a number of years. Mandy Rambharos, the head of Eskom’s just energy transition department, has previously said the transition could cost $10 billion.
Payabill to offer international trade finance to SA’s SMEs (Bizcommunity)
SA’s SMEs have not been able to easily access international trade finance. A local fintech spotted the gap and figured out how to offer international trade finance effectively to this market segment. Traditional lenders have neglected finance for small businesses due to the high costs associated with onboarding and assessing these customers, as well as managing their credit risk. In addition, small businesses do not meet the onerous credit requirements of banks and other specialised firms especially with respect to international trade finance.
Michal continues, “We take risk where it matters at the coalface of SA’s businesses by helping smaller businesses that have little security and struggle to get funding. We pay suppliers when sales aren’t yet guaranteed and take risks where no one else would consider it. We are intent on helping those businesses that are locked out of the market at a time when SA businesses need all the support that they can get.”
This type of finance is particularly relevant for SA’s SMEs wishing to rebuild after recent riots. Many goods categories are in short supply after extensive damage to malls, warehouses and factories and the looting of 3000 stores. The process of bringing goods into the country must begin again with business owners having to fund imports and freight forwarders.
SA cyber-attacks disrupt Namport cargo flow… similar incidents across Africa expected to increase (New Era)
The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) says recent unprecedented cyber-attacks on South African ports has heightened its awareness on the importance of safety and security amongst regional logistics chains, as any disruptions may have a serious effect on the general livelihoods of people. Namibia’s ports are strategically interlinked with South African ports on a coastal network – and, as a result, the recent attacks even disrupted the smooth flow of cargo to and from domestic ports. This is according to Namport CEO Andrew Kanime, who, in response to New Era questions, vowed that the ports authority takes cyber security “very seriously” and always strives in risk management plans to implement measures to be better prepared for cyber-attacks.
Namibia mulls direct export of diamonds and semi-precious stones to India (BusinessLine)
In a bid to further strengthen its bilateral trade, Namibia is exploring the options of exporting diamonds and semi-precious stones directly to India rather than exporting through other countries, according to a senior official of the Namibian government. “Currently, our diamond and semi-precious stones are exported through London to India, and we want to change that so that those commodities can be directly exported to India,” said Gabriel P Sinimbo, High Commissioner of Republic of Namibia. “Equally, Namibia can source agriculture implements and machineries, Information Technology and many more goods from India,” he added.
In 2018-19, India-Namibia bilateral trade was $135.92 million with India’s export valued at $82.37 million while imports stood at $53.55 million. India’s current exports to Namibia includes pharmaceutical products, cereals and preparation of cereals, sugar and sugar confectionery, meat and eatables, glass and glassware plastics, manufacturer of metals, machine tools and transport equipment among others. On the other hand, Namibia exports precious and semi-precious stones, iron and steel, zinc, non-ferrous metals, electrical machinery and equipment.
Fitch Affirms Lesotho at ‘B’; Outlook Negative (Fitch Ratings)
Lesotho’s economy contracted 9.5% in 2020, as infrastructure projects were disrupted as a result of two lockdowns in March 2020 and January 2021. Two of the biggest sectors in the economy, mining and textiles, also suffered from weaker global demand and containment measures affecting the domestic economy. A sharp decline in SACU revenue expected in FY21 and FY22, the impact of the third wave of the pandemic and associated containment measures on revenues and the resumption of capital projects will outweigh continued tight expenditure control using warrants and expenditure cuts backed by a mid-term budget review in October, and some progress on improving revenue collection and broadening the tax base.
Lesotho runs a structural current account deficit. Exports declined significantly in 2020, but this was partly offset by a SACU windfall and weak import demand, resulting in a smaller current account deficit of 2.8% of GDP in 2020. Fitch forecasts widening current account deficits in the coming years as imports related to LHWPII increase. The stock of international reserves fell to USD812 million at the end of March 2021, from USD864 million at end-2020.
Current account deficit seen ending year at 5.2 pc (Business Daily)
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) maintains that the current account deficit to close the year at 5.2 percent despite an uptick in imports that has pushed it higher in the past two months relative to the beginning of this year. The current account – which measures inflows and outflows of hard currency – widened to 5.4 percent of gross domestic product in the 12 months to June compared to 4.8 percent at the end of last year. This has been driven by a higher import bill due to rising oil prices and the continuing recovery of the economy that has raised consumer spending and industrial imports. Exports and diaspora inflows have also gone up, although at a slower pace compared to imports. The continuing struggles of the tourism sector have weighed against a lower current account deficit, with arrivals lower by more than 70 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Post-Brexit UK is better positioned to engage Kenya (Business Daily)
The deals concluded by United Kingdom and Kenya during President Uhuru’s trip last week are an indication that a post-Brexit UK is ready to freely engage and expand its investments and influences across the world, especially with commonwealth countries like Kenya where historical socioeconomic links still exist. A look at the deals concluded indicates that Kenya is set to benefit from increased UK investments, trade, health, and education partnerships. However, what is more important for both countries are that high level diplomatic channels have been established for sustainable socioeconomic cooperation. The first priority for the UK is to make up for whatever trade opportunities it may have lost by exiting EU trade block.
Rwandan importers face supply shortages (The East African)
For months now, Rwanda has had Covid restrictions that have affected commerce. However, new markets like Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Dubai have opened up, but the quantity, pricing and consistency of supplies is not enough to satisfy the market. “Importers are suffering because they can’t access China, and shipping costs have also skyrocketed,” said Joseph Akumuntu, the director of the Rwanda Chamber of Commerce at the Private Sector Federation (PSF), adding, “In one month’s time, the stock in warehouses will be depleted and that’s when the market will have it rough. By the end of August the scarcity will kick in. “When we are in a lockdown like now, consumption comes a bit down, but once people come out of the lock down consumption will shoot up and things will be bad,” he added.
Trade Ministry urges businesses to comply with COVID protocols (Capital News)
The Ministry of Trade and Industrialization has appealed to the business community to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 protocols as the country battles the fourth wave of the virus. Speaking during a press conference on Monday, Industrialization Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina said this will prevent the imposition of stringent measures that would negatively affect the sector. She further assured that the manufacturing industry will continue producing critical COVID-19 protective essentials to help in the fight against the spread of the virus. “The manufacturing sector is also very committed to supplying medical products and supplies used in the management of the COVID-19 cases. My message is simple, I implore you our partners and stakeholders ‘Be part of the solution’. If we can’t do it ourselves, no outsider will come to help us keep our business environment safe,” Maina urged.
Uganda angered by 7pc Kenyan levy on its milk (Nation)
Uganda has protested Kenya’s delay in abolishing a seven per cent levy on milk imports following recent bilateral talks meant to resolve the stalemate as Kenya attributes this on third wave of Covid-19 that has hit Uganda. In a letter dated July 19, Uganda’s Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries Frank Tumwebaze asked Kenya and Tanzania to allow Ugandan milk into their markets after a flawed soft diplomacy strategy. Trade Minister Betty Maina and her Ugandan counterpart had, in April, agreed to abolish the trade barriers that have strained relations between the two neighbouring countries since late 2019. “Despite the fact that many discussions were held between our countries on the subject, the promised actions of removal of the same were not implemented,” Mr Tumwebaze said.
AfCFTA: Ghanaian Trade Ministry to facilitate entry of 100 firms into African market (GhanaWeb)
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) has identified some 100 potential companies to be guided into the African market with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Head of Ghana AfCFTA Coordinating Office (MoTI), Dr Fareed Arthur, has said. The move, which is under the ‘Facilitation programme for companies exporting under AfCFTA,’ a strategic project by MoTI, forms part of efforts to get local companies to leverage the opportunities presented by the continental trade programme. These targeted companies fall under three main categories: companies already exporting into African countries, companies that export but not to Africa, and companies that produce traditionally for the local market. Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry wants Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that their policies take into account the potential for growing their capacity for export.
NITDA to leverage AfCTFA to build digital market (Daily Sun)
As Nigeria moves towards diversifying its economy using technology, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has proposed a partnership with the Republic of Namibia in the areas of innovations and entrepreneurship through African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This is because Africa as a continent lost out during the First, Second and Third Industrial Revolutions due to the huge capital investments but with the Fourth Industrial Revolution comes endless opportunities that all it needs is a talented, vibrant, young technology-driven generation. It is, therefore, imperative for African countries to encourage “Made in Africa” products by exploring and exploiting opportunities provided by emerging technologies to build an enviable global market standard.
African opportunities galore (Ahram Online)
The interest of Egyptian companies and international firms headquartered in Egypt in the African market has been growing, with many of them now wanting either to venture into the African market or to increase the volume of their operations across the continent. Prime among them are firms working in the food industry and manifested in particular through their participation in the Africa Food Manufacturing Exhibition held this week in Cairo. The expected rapid growth of African markets is the reason why many international companies are targeting the continent, she said, adding that Al-Wafa, which operates in six countries, is considering venturing into five English-speaking African markets.
Africa
African Development Bank launches new Transaction Guarantee to support SMEs and trade in Africa (AfDB)
The African Development Bank, through its Financial Sector Development’s Trade Finance operations, has launched a Transaction Guarantee instrument designed to provide up to 100% cover for non-payment risk to regional and international banks, for trade transactions initiated by local banks in Africa. The new instrument will provide much needed opportunities for local financial institutions to build relationships with international correspondent banks, increase links to a global network of trade finance partners and reduce the need for cash collateral, thereby increasing access to finance for SMEs across the continent.
Trade remains an important driver of Africa’s social and economic development despite the persistently huge trade finance gap. This is mostly due to lack of liquidity and risk mitigation facilities across the continent and has been exacerbated by recent market developments, such as increased banking regulations and global shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Africa’s strategic priorities to recover better (Africa Renewal)
The UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) has embarked on a strategic agenda that identified six priorities with great potential to enhance Africa’s development. The strategic agenda is clustered around six thematic areas: Financing for Development: Advocates for access to financing, combating illicit financial flows, enhancing international tax cooperation, engaging credit rating agencies, and reducing the cost of remittances. Sustainable Development to Promote Sustainable Peace: Promotes inclusive and equal institutional practices by countering conflict economies and building cohesive diverse societies as a driving force for peace. Governance, Resilience and Human Capital: Encourages placing human capital at the center of policymaking in Africa to build resilient societies. Science Technology and Innovation: Advocates closing the gap on digital literacy and the digital divide; and tackling issues of intellectual property rights to leapfrog development. Industrialization, Demographic Dividend, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Encourages harnessing the demographic dividend to stimulate industrialization through the AfCFTA. Energy and Climate Action: Focuses on Africa’s energy mix, climate change and green growth, energy transition, and environmental policies.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministerial Task Force on Regional Integration (MTF) and Committee of the Ministers of Trade (CMT) held virtual meetings on 30 July 2021 to deliberate on a number of issues pertaining to the regional integration which includes the implementation of SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015-2063). Regional integration helps SADC countries overcome divisions that impede the flow of goods, services, capital, people and ideas. These divisions are a constraint to economic growth, especially in developing countries. SADC’s main objectives is to achieve economic development, peace and security, growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of Southern Africa, and support the socially disadvantaged. These objectives are to be achieved through increased regional integration built on democratic principles, and equitable and sustainable development. On the other hand, the primary orientation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy is the importance of technological and economic transformation of the SADC Region through industrialisation, modernisation, skills development, science and technology, financial strengthening and deeper regional integration.
Africa needs regional airports upgrade for post-Covid recovery, SITA says (The Africa Report)
Developing countries in Africa may be tempted to take more risks on opening travel compared with rich countries to minimise the economic impact of the pandemic, Assaad says. That means the capacity of regional airports needs to be checked as passenger numbers increase. “It’s not happening most of the time.” The trade association of the world’s airports, Airports Council International, has predicted that in a worst-case scenario, global traffic may take up to two decades to return to pre-Covid-19 levels, and that it is possible that traffic will never fully recover.
Why Qatar, RwandAir deal is likely to hurt Kenya Airways (Business Daily)
The partnership between Qatar Airways and RwandAir is set to reshape the regional airspace with carriers such as Ethiopian and Kenya Airways staring at a possible loss of transiting passengers. The new partnership, which comes at a time when Rwanda and Qatar are at an advanced stage to have the latter take a majority stake at the East African carrier as well as its new airport, will see passengers travelling in either of the carriers connect flights from their hubs in Kigali of Doha. The move implies that passengers from Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda who would travel to Nairobi or Addis for trans-Atlantic flights, will opt to use RwandAir or Qatar to travel to countries like the US. “Africa is a hugely important market for us and this latest partnership will help support the recovery of international air travel and offer unrivalled connectivity to and from a number of new African destinations.”
EAC in deal to increase trade opportunities for youth (Capital FM)
The East African Business Council (EABC) has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS TCDC), set to scale up business opportunities for youths in the region. In his remarks during the signing ceremony, EABC CEO said,” the growing population, skills and knowledge of the youth is a great asset for the economic transformation of the EAC region and the continent especially now with developments such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), digitalization and e-commerce.” The partnership is set to see the two institutions organize and facilitate events, seeking to address policy and regulatory challenges hindering youths from investing in the region.
CEMAC postpones effectiveness of raw timber export ban to 2023 to prepare the sector for structural changes (Business in Cameroon)
In the CEMAC region, the ban on raw timber export will no longer become effective on January 1, 2022, as initially planned. It will instead become effective on January 1, 2023. This decision was issued during the videoconference of the CEMAC and DR Congo’s Ministers of Finance, Industry, Environment, Forest, and Budget on July 28, 2021. CEMAC is planning to establish a transitional period, running from January to December 2022, to carry out required studies and mature the wood processing investment projects selected during the first phase of the raw timber export ban process.
Seven African exchanges inch towards shared trading (The Guardian Nigeria)
Cross-border trading is set for a lift as the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) has signed a contract to roll out an African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP) link technology platform for routing orders and trade confirmations among stockbrokers on NGX and six exchanges. Seven of Africa’s leading securities exchanges are working together under the AELP to boost pan-African investment flows and bring more liquidity to African markets. Cross border deals are transactions that involve more than one financial jurisdiction or involving many stock markets and national regulatory authorities
Driving the energy transition in West and Central Africa (ESI-Africa)
With an ever-expanding population, countries in West and Central Africa are facing a rising demand for power. According to Kweku Frempong, recently appointed as area general manager for West and Central Africa (WACA) at Aggreko, as countries look to increase their energy generation capacity it is critical to look at flexible commercial and technical solutions that incorporate a mix of thermal and renewable resources. Kweku adds that along with the move to using alternative fuel sources in the region, there is also an aggressive push for decentralised power on the continent, especially in remote areas with small populations where it is not cost-effective to connect them to the grid. “We have seen growth in micro and minigrids in most parts of Africa and this is playing a critical role in ensuring energy security and supporting failing infrastructure.” He says that while it was anticipated that Africa would leapfrog into renewables, the transition has been modest to date.
The African Union Commission and TRAFFIC sign a Memorandum of Understanding to combat illegal wildlife trade and support development (African Union)
Protecting Africa’s wildlife from unstainable and illegal harvest and trade and the contribution legal trade and use can provide towards livelihoods and development of Africa’s people is at the heart of a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding between TRAFFIC and the African Union Commission (AUC). Under this agreement, the parties will collaborate to support the African Union Member States’ policies for environment, wildlife management and trade, and conservation and recognise that wild flora and fauna loss affect African people’s livelihoods, especially during post-pandemic recovery. It acts as a framework to combat the illegal exploitation and trade in Africa’s rich wildlife with a joint goal of protecting flora, and fauna on land, wetlands, and marine ecosystems.
3 lessons we can learn from marine protection in sub-Saharan Africa (World Economic Forum)
Across the African continent, we are seeing stories of transformation and hope in marine protection. Gabon has protected 28% of its national waters. Madagascar is using locally managed marine areas to empower its communities. And the Seychelles has restructured its debt for marine conservation – the first in the world to do so. Altogether, Africa has now protected over 1.8 million square kilometres, or 12%, of its waters. The future of Africa’s “blue economy” is brimming with promise but this depends on effective management. However, like the Diani-Chale marine reserve, many of the MPAs in this 12% are simply “paper parks” – MPAs drawn up on paper but not effectively managed.
Building on an Effective Africa Development Strategy (The Daily Signal)
With President Joe Biden’s intent to “revive” the Trump administration’s approach to relationship-building in Africa, to deliver effective commercial engagement across African markets, the Biden administration must build on recent successes and continue the strong starting point. Before the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. exports to Africa posted consecutive gains in 2018 and 2019, and the reciprocal interest from African peers in accommodating U.S. commercial partnerships and investments suggests the prospect of developing greater commercial ties – expanding market access for U.S. firms, promoting reforms and raising standards abroad, and serving supply chain resiliency on both sides of the Atlantic. Promoting U.S.-Africa commercial connections has many advantages beyond boosting trade or foreign direct investment.
Global
Global trade fortunes diverge, but China’s share of the pie has proved surprisingly sticky (Daily Maverick)
If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s to expect the unexpected. This is no truer than in the trade world, where China has gained market share notwithstanding its progressive decoupling from the US. SA trade continues to ride high as advanced economies move further into deficit. Recent research by Oxford Economics finds that China’s global market share has grown considerably to 18% over the past couple of years and that it has made the most significant trade gains in market shares in developed versus emerging markets. According to the consultancy, China’s market share gains in developed countries “were triggered in part by the nature of the recent increase in demand for imports in the developed world, which was fuelled by a (temporary) shift from services consumption to goods consumption and a surge in work-from-home (WFH) demand”.
India seeks review of WTO e-transmissions moratorium (Mint)
India and South Africa have started bringing pressure on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ahead of the 12th ministerial meeting (MC-12) scheduled to begin on 30 November, urging it to review a moratorium on imposition of customs duty on electronic transmissions so that developing countries can generate more revenues. “During the coming few months before MC-12, we need to engage constructively on various issues under the (e-commerce) work programme. We also need to have a clear understanding on the scope of moratorium, to enable us make an informed decision on extension or otherwise of the moratorium in the upcoming Ministerial Conference. As we have been repeatedly highlighting, a re-consideration of the moratorium is critical for developing countries, inter alia, to preserve policy space to regulate imports, generate revenue through a simple and direct instrument such as customs duties and achieve digital industrialization,” India said at the General Council meeting of the WTO last week.
Technology as a Driver of Structural Transformation in the LDCs (UNIDO)
“Industry 4.0 is a reality, also in LDCs”, said Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Managing Director, Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business, and Director, Department of Digitalization, Technology and Innovation. “New technologies are being used in creative ways to drive structural transformation; as such, we have to break the idea of sequential industrial transformation”. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and drones can help enterprises in LDCs enhance their productivity and competitiveness, and move up the value chain ladder in agriculture, industry, and the services sector. Similarly, digital goods and services trade enhances the opportunity for small‑ and medium enterprises (SMEs) to participate in global trade and enhance their financial inclusion. “Technology has changed the rules of the game and the possibilities are endless”, said Calzadilla-Sarmiento. “While exploring the opportunities, we need to narrow the digital divide, allow LDCs to benefit from the technologies and reduce inequalities, to leave no one behind. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, industrialization can also contribute to economic recovery and technology is the fuel to the engine”.
Agriculture negotiations chair introduces draft text for ministerial outcome on farm trade (WTO)
The Chair of the negotiations on agricultural trade, Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta (Costa Rica), introduced on 29 July her draft negotiation text aimed at facilitating consensus among members and seeking possible landing zones for an outcome on agriculture at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) starting in late November. The draft text sets out suggested ministerial decisions on 7 agriculture negotiation topics: domestic support, market access, export restrictions, export competition, cotton, public stockholding for food security purposes, and a special safeguard mechanism; and one cross-cutting issue, transparency.
Ghana, others to benefit from $650bn fund from IMF to fight Covid-19 pandemic impact (MyJoyOnline)
Ghana and member countries of the International Monetary Fund will benefit from a $650 billion fund approved by the governing board of the Fund to fight the impact of Covid-19 on their economies. The 190-nation lending institution said its board of governors approved the expansion of its reserves known as Special Drawing Rights, the largest increase in the institution’s history. The fund will help Ghana to deal with rising debts and fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic on its economies. ”This is a historic decision – the largest SDR allocation in the history of the IMF and a shot in the arm for the global economy at a time of unprecedented crisis. The SDR allocation will benefit all members, address the long-term global need for reserves, build confidence, and foster the resilience and
We need tourism recovery but crisis offers chance to rethink it (World Economic Forum)
This should be the time of year when people are packing suitcases and travel documents for their summer holidays – at least in the northern hemisphere. For many economies, these months are critical, and millions of businesses and workers are eager for tourists to return, especially given how badly the sector has already been hit. Last year was catastrophic for tourism and the millions of people who depend on it. We estimate that the crisis has cost the world about $4 trillion and placed over 100 million direct tourism jobs at risk. The impact is so big because of the numerous suppliers and businesses that are linked to the core sector.
UN Food Systems Summit: Biotechnology key to meeting SDG on zero hunger (MyJoyOnline)
Agricultural biotechnology is a crucial tool for transforming global food systems to meet the United Nation’s goal of ensuring zero hunger by 2030, say some scientists, academics and civil society representatives. Evidence abounds that biotechnology has had a positive overall impact on agriculture in the areas where it has been employed, they say. If adopted more widely across the globe, it could be instrumental in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, which aims to end world hunger, boost nutrition and support agricultural sustainability within the next nine years. More opportunities must be created for farmers to access crop biotechnology if the world’s food systems are to be transformed to meet the challenge of feeding the more than 811 million people who suffer hunger across the globe, he said.
India’s Opportunity to Become a Global Manufacturing Hub (World Economic Forum)
Beyond the unprecedented health impact, the COVID‑19 pandemic has been catastrophic for the global economy and businesses and is disrupting manufacturing and Global Value Chains (GVCs), disturbing different stages of the production in different locations around the world. Furthermore, the pandemic has accelerated the already ongoing fundamental shifts in GVCs, driven by the aggregation of three megatrends: emerging technologies; the environmental sustainability imperative; and the reconfiguration of globalization. The World Economic Forum’s new White Paper entitled Shifting Global Value Chains: The India Opportunity, produced in collaboration with Kearney, found India’s role in reshaping GVCs and its potential to contribute more than $500 billion in annual economic impact to the global economy by 2030. The White Paper presents five possible paths forward for India to realize its manufacturing potential.
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Cashing in on commodities: South Africa posts record trade surplus in June (Daily Maverick)
South Africa’s trade surplus widened to another record of R57.7bn in June, data from the South African Revenue Service showed. This is primarily a reflection of surging prices for the metals and minerals that South Africa pulls out of the ground and exports.
“Exports for the year-to-date (1 January to 30 June 2021) increased by 51.0% to R895.7-billion from R593.29-billion over the same period during 2020. Imports for the year-to-date of R640.16-billion were 19.3% more than the R536.58-billion recorded during the same period in 2020. The preliminary cumulative trade balance surplus for 2021 is R255.56-billion,” the SA Revenue Service said. That is almost five times the cumulative trade surplus of R56.71-billion for the first six months of last year. Exports in June amounted to R166-billion, almost 44% more than the R116-billion recorded in June of last year.
This is driven primarily by the commodities cycle. Exports of precious metals and stones rose 7% in June compared with May, to almost R51-billion. Base metals exports rose 9% to almost R14-billion. Overall exports only increased 2% between May and June.
Foreign investment into South Africa tanked in 2020 after Ramaphosa’s New Deal falters (Daily Maverick)
Foreign direct investment in South Africa fell by 39% to $3.1-billion in 2020, according to the latest data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development – a situation unlikely to improve this year following the damage done by the recent social unrest, revealing another crack in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s grand plan to resuscitate the ailing the economy. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is sought after by emerging, middle-income economies like South Africa as it often results in longer-lasting growth and employment, with money channelled into building factories and infrastructure such as roads and railways.
Coal-Reliant South Africa Invests in Gas Power to Go Greener (Bloomberg)
Power failures have become routine in South Africa. At the same time, the country wants to wean itself off the coal that generates more than 80% of its electricity and makes it the world’s 12th‑biggest source of greenhouse gases. The government aims to cut emissions to net-zero by 2050. Its energy blueprint envisions the construction of scores of solar- and wind-powered plants. But there are widespread doubts that those projects can happen fast enough, or be reliable enough, to replace coal.
Take advantage of trade agreements – Minister Shava (Chronicle)
Zimbabwean companies have been urged to take advantage of regional and continental trade agreements to market their products and pursue investment opportunities. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Frederick Shava said this after Friday’s meeting of the Sadc Committee of Ministers of Trade and the Ministerial Taskforce on Regional and Economic Integration held virtually. Zimbabwe has ratified the Common Market for East and Southern Africa-East African Community and Sadc Tripartite Agreement (TFTA). The country has also signed and ratified the agreement establishing the Free Trade Area and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Sh1.4bn Zimbabwean sugar to be destroyed in Mombasa (Nation)
Kenyan authorities are set to destroy 20,000 tonnes of condemned Zimbabwean brown sugar that has been lying at the Kilindini customs warehouse in Mombasa for three years. According to the Gazette notice of July 2, which the port operations chief manager, Mr Abdi Malik Hussein issued, the sugar worth over Sh1.4 billion will be crushed tomorrow. The sugar packed in 40 containers of 500 metric tonnes each, arrived at the Port of Mombasa on July 15, 2018, aboard MSC Nicole. It was imported by Nairobi-based company, Sirocco Investments (K) Ltd.
Cautious optimism meets Kenya’s bid for continental financial hub (The East African)
After eight years of preparation, Kenya says it is ready to become an African financial hub, leveraging the Nairobi International Financial Centre (NIFC), which this week received the support of London, the world’s leading financial centre. To position itself as a business and financial hub in East and Central Africa, Nairobi is seeking to attract global firms to set up their African headquarters. Nairobi is hoping to model itself as a financial port of call in Africa, modelled against London, Dubai and Hong Kong. Efforts to establish the centre have met several hurdles over the years, delaying its launch, which is now planned for later this year. Speaking in London, President Kenyatta said the NIFC will make it easier and more attractive to invest in Kenya.
US firms suspend investment plans in Kenya (The East African)
US firms have frozen investment plans in Kenya due to uncertainty about a new free trade deal between the two countries. Many American firms had already begun investing in Kenya, spurred by the prospects of a fresh bilateral trade and investment pact between Washington and Nairobi. Talks on the free trade deal were, however, jolted by the exit of President Donald Trump’s administration late last year. Scott Eisner, president of the US-Africa Business Center at the US Chamber of Commerce, confirmed the setback for American firms, even as President Joe Biden’s administration sought to review the proposed trade deal. “Many companies had begun investing in Kenya in the wake of the Trump administration’s talks with Kenya on a bilateral free trade agreement, but that those plans were on ice until the Biden review of that policy was completed,” he was quoted by Reuters as having said.
Kenya drops China debt relief bid as banks resist (Business Daily)
Kenya has withdrawn its request for China to extend debt repayment holiday to December in the wake of opposition from Chinese lenders that recently froze disbursements to local projects. The Treasury says that Kenya has decided not to seek an extension of the debt relief beyond June, adding that the country is fully paying Exim Bank of China – which funded the construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR). Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) did not offer reasons behind the fall. But World Bank data show the only major debt repayment for Kenya in July was for loans linked to SGR – signalling payment of Chinese loans. Chinese-funded projects faced a cash crunch in June, with contractors reporting delayed payments from banks like Exim Bank of China.
How Tanzania can avoid the debt trap (The Citizen)
Despite the fact that Tanzania has not entered the red zone of countries with a heavy burden of public debt, much needs to be dome to make the debt more resilient, and reduce the government’s appetite to borrow more. Experts warned yesterday that, even though Tanzania has been somewhat conservative in its approach to borrowing, strategies to reverse the growing tendency to borrow must be properly managed to prevent the situation from getting out of hand – as is the case in some countries in Africa.
New agreements between Rwanda and Tanzania to give impetus to joint projects like railway (Xinhua)
Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday said cooperation agreements signed between his country and Tanzania earlier in the day will give new impetus to the implementation of joint projects like standard gauge railway. “Rwanda and Tanzania share more than just a border. Our strong historical ties and common aspiration to deliver prosperity to our people have always been central to our cooperation,” Kagame told a joint press briefing with his visiting Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan in the capital city Kigali, shortly after they witnessed the signing of four cooperation agreements in the areas of information and communication technology, immigration, education and regulation of medical products. The signing of the agreements gives new impetus to key infrastructure and investment projects of mutual benefit, particularly the standard gauge railway line, milk production and improved port logistics, said Kagame.
AfCFTA: 114 new standards approved by FG to boost economic growth (Nairametrics)
114 new standards of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) have been approved by the Federal Government to boost economic growth for trade, as Nigeria prepares for free continental trade. This was disclosed by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, on Friday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. The Minister stated that the new standards cut across various sectors of the economy such as civil and building engineering, food technology, mechanical, liquefied petroleum gas, as well as energy management systems, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s Agenda on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
Fashola: Nigeria-Cameroon Bridge Will Facilitate Inter-country Trade (THISDAYLIVE)
The border bridge at Mfum and the Ikom bridge between Nigeria and Cameroon will facilitate international trade between the two countries when inaugurated, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said. “We have had very strong relationship with Cameroon in terms of trade and business and if you go to Aba, Enugu, Abakaliki, for example, this is the route that facilitates trade, agro produce, merchandise, manufactured goods from Aba in Abia State. “This is a very strategic infrastructure to take Nigeria to the future for many more decades to facilitate relationship between brothers and sisters in Cameroon and Nigeria and to strengthen the bond of relationship in a joint development with the Republic of Cameroon and Nigeria, “Fashola said.
Cargo haulage cost falls by 70% in 1 month over low import (Daily Trust)
The cost of cargo haulage from the Lagos ports has dropped by about 70 percent in the last one months, importers and operators have said. It was however learnt that the drop was due to a drastic drop in cargo throughput into Nigeria during the period owing to some factors. Daily Trust checks revealed that the cost of moving a 20 feet container from any of the ports in Lagos to any part of Lagos by truck which used to be between N750,000 and N800,000 now fluctuates between N200,000 and N350,000, which is about 65 to 70% drop from the period rate as of July 2021. It was learnt that some of the factors that account for the decline in imports include off-season for imports, after-effect of COVID-19 and the free fall of the naira to dollar.
Seychellois cargo service now exporting fish to Ethiopian, Ugandan hotels (Seychelles News Agency)
A Seychellois-owned cargo service, Euro African Star Transport (EAST), has begun exporting fish to African markets as part of its efforts to diversify Seychelles’ exports. The owner of EAST cargo, Carol Nalletamby, told SNA her company will be supporting the export of fish to Ethiopia and Uganda where there are five-star hotels willing to buy the product. Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, is currently exporting its fish products, mainly grouper and those that have little demand for Europe and the United States.
Africa
Strengthening digital infrastructure for AfCFTA (The Nation Newspaper)
In Nigeria and across the continent, there exists a massive investment opportunity to address digital inclusion. In line with global trends in civilised societies where the digital platform is the first option in everything, Federal Government, had in 2019, unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders unveiled a National Financial Inclusion Strategy that targeted the reduction of the percentage of adult Nigerians excluded from financial services from 46.3 per cent in 2010 to 20 per cent last year. Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Garba Danbatta, said it plans to invest N640 billion (about $1.5 billion) over the next three years to expand broadband access across country, in line with the Federal Government’s 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan (NBP) and in support of MTN Group’s strategy, Ambition 2025: Leading Digital Solutions for Africa’s Progress.
Experts seek AfCFTA dispute resolution mechanism for non-state parties (The Guardian Nigeria)
Ahead of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) implementation in Nigeria, the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators and other stakeholders are seeking dispute resolution mechanisms that will address concerns of non-state entities. “The main challenge here is that, in reality, the majority of the trading in goods and services, as well as other economic activities in AfCFTA, are not done by States but by private persons. So this leaves aggrieved persons or companies to find recourse by petitioning their participating home State to take action on their behalf,” Professor Jonathan Aremu, a Professor of International Economic Relations, at Covenant University as well as a Consultant to ECOWAS, said.
Angola, Ghana call to foster African trade (Prensa Latina)
Angola and Ghana on Sunday called to boost the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to favor economic growth and reduce the historic dependence on commodity exports. In statements to reporters, Presidents João Lourenço and Nana Akufo-Addo confirmed their common stance at the end of official talks on Monday in Accra, Ghana, the Angolan press agency (ANGOP) reported. The creation of AfCFTA took into account the need for African states to look inward, in search of internal solutions to achieve their development goals, Lourenço underscored. In both presidents’ opinion, the initiative’s implementation will be a long but feasible process, ‘if all countries are committed. “The deal to establish the AfCFTA shows that ‘we really want to change the current situation in our continent,” Lourenço noted, and advocated promoting communication routes, such as roads, highways, railroads, maritime and air connections.
Towards 41st SADC Summit (Southern African News Features, sardc.net)
The 41st SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled for August in Lilongwe, Malawi will be held in a hybrid format where some delegates will attend the meeting physically while others will follow the proceedings virtually. The theme for the summit is “Bolstering Productive Capacities in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic for Inclusive, Sustainable, Economic and Industrial Transformation.” The theme continues with the industrialization trajectory, as SADC has since 2014 held its summits under the industrialization theme.
EAC Secretariat holds consultative meeting with the Republic of Uganda (EAC)
In his opening remarks, Dr. Mathuki told the Minister that the objective of the consultative meeting was to report on the achievements and challenges of activities undertaken in various sectors and share available opportunities as well as come up with strategies to strengthen regional integration. “Some of the interventions made by the Secretariat include the establishment of the Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS), which facilitates free movement of people, goods and services in the region, as well as distribution of essential supplies in the region.”
Kagame, Suluhu commit to a stronger EAC (The New Times)
President Paul Kagame and Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan have reiterated their commitment to back a stronger, prosperous East African Community as well as economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Heads of State made the remarks on Monday, August 2, while addressing the press on the first day of President Suluhu’s two-day state visit in the country. Speaking after witnessing the signing of four bilateral agreements, Kagame said that Rwanda and Tanzania share more than just a border. “We share more than just a border; strong historical ties and common aspiration to deliver prosperity to our people have always been central to our cooperation,” he said.
Postponed Eco currency: Members fear Nigeria’ll dominate monetary policy – Rewane (Blueprint newspapers Limited)
The over two decade strive to have a common currency in West Africa may remain a dream, because the other member states are scared Nigeria alone may dominate the region monetary policy and stall expected benefits. It was therefore not surprising to many, when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recently announced that the launch and adoption of the Eco has been moved to 2027. The common currency should have been launched in 2020, but it did not happen due to the coronavirus pandemic. “While many believe that the adoption of the Eco would enhance trade within the bloc, ease the cost of doing business, increase job opportunities and boost economic growth, there are growing concerns that Nigeria could dominate monetary policy and stall the expected benefits,” said Bismarck Rewane, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited.
West Africa Bloc Plans to Start Cross-Border Debt Market in 2023 (Bloomberg)
A plan by 15 West African nations to link up their debt markets is on track to become a reality by the end of 2023, part of a wider push toward great integration for their economies and finances, a market regulator said. The aim is to open up the debt auctions of individual countries to investors from across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). To allow that to happen, regulators and stock exchanges from across Ecowas are working to put in place a passport system that would allow broker-dealers to trade across the different markets, he said. The idea is that by giving member nations access to a wider pool of lenders, they’ll be able to bring down their borrowing costs.
Egypt Hosting African Food Manufacturing Conference this Week (Quality Assurance & Food Safety)
This week, Cairo is hosting The Africa Food Manufacturing Exhibition in cooperation with Food Ingredients Global and ProPak Global Exhibitions. The exhibition will take place at the Egypt International Exhibition Center (EIEC) in New Cairo from Aug. 2-4, 2021. After the postponement of last year’s edition due to the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Informa Markets said it is keen on presenting the ninth edition while following and applying all the necessary health and safety precautions. The AFM exhibition will feature more than 150 participants from 20 countries around the world, who are expected to cover the four core sectors of manufacturing – food ingredients, processing, packaging and machinery and logistics.
Microsoft 4Afrika, IFC Partner to Promote Digital Transformation in Africa’s Agri-Food Sector (IFC)
To support digital transformation in Africa’s agribusiness sector, modernize supply chains and boost farmers’ productivity and incomes, Microsoft, through its 4Afrika initiative, and IFC today partnered to make digital tools and training resources more accessible to small-scale farmers, and agriculture-linked small businesses. The partnership will leverage Microsoft 4Afrika’s unique digital platforms and IFC’s Agribusiness Leadership Program to help small-scale farmers, their cooperatives, and “last mile retailers” access information and digital tools to strengthen farming practices, build business professionalism and improve food security and traceability throughout the supply chain.
Minister urges African Governments to consider Afrobarometer data in policy-making (BusinessGhana)
Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has urged African Governments to take into consideration Afrobarometer data survey reports in policy-making. She noted that Afrobarometer data would enable African Governments to improve on their internal processes such as good governance and democracy, which were extremely important. The Minister said Afrobarometer, which had expanded into 35 countries in Africa was now playing a very key role in the socioeconomic governance areas of the lives of the people on the continent.
We have to evolve, from a relationship based mostly on aid, to one based on trade. We must strengthen private sector ties between our countries, spur economic investment at a scale that could never be matched by foreign aid, and help Africans realize the kind of sustainable, independent future that they have long sought. Through Prosper Africa, USAID will directly connect American investors with African businesses ripe for investment by funding delegations and making crucial connections to local actors, leveraging our long-standing relationships on the continent. This work will help American businesses access Africa’s fast-growing markets, and create thousands of jobs for both African and American workers.
Partners bolster Africa’s fight against COVID-19 and poverty (US Embassy Rome)
The United States and international partners are investing $80 billion in Africa’s private sector to help end the COVID-19 pandemic and spur sustainable growth. The commitment that the Group of Seven (G7) nations and international development banks announced in June will support renewable energy and infrastructure development, as well as Africa’s manufacturing, agriculture and technology sectors. The United States “will continue to prioritize investments in vaccine manufacturing, COVID-19 response, climate mitigation and adaptation, and gender equity on the African continent,” said David Marchick, chief executive of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Recent investments build on the more than $100 billion the United States has invested in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 20 years to strengthen health security and save lives.
Time to bring Africa in: The case for a G21 – with the African Union added (Daily Maverick)
The Group of Twenty has become a pillar of multilateralism. Although the world has many high-level talk shops, the G20 represents the best kind, actively supporting global dialogue, debate and – most importantly – economic problem-solving. Fortunately, its biggest limitation – that it leaves out 96% of Africa’s population – can be easily remedied by including the African Union (AU). The AU’s 55 countries (more than one-quarter of UN members) are home to 1.4 billion people (17.5% of the global total) and $2.6-trillion in annual output at market exchange rates (almost 3% of world GDP). All told, Africa currently has roughly the same population as China or India, and an economy that would come in eighth – just behind France and ahead of Italy – in a country ranking. Africa’s share of the world’s population and output will grow in future years.
The G20’s sole African member, South Africa, has the 39th largest economy in the world, the smallest among the G20 member states. The GDPs of Nigeria and Egypt are actually larger than South Africa’s, but they still are not in the world’s top 20. As a result, African leaders outside of South Africa have been invited to the G20 only as observers. Africa’s very limited representation drastically limits Africa’s input in G20 deliberations on major global economic issues, not only at the annual G20 summits, but also in the year-round ministerial and technical meetings.
China Vows to Fortify Support to Africa (Walta Information Center)
Mission of China to the African Union said that China will continue to help African countries overcome the impact of the pandemic, seek a long-term way to achieve sustainable development, and work together to build a closer community of shared future for China and Africa. According to the information from Mission of China to AU, COVID-19 origin tracing should be studied as a serious and scientific issue without any politicization. Constant and long term origin tracing studies on a global scale in a sound manner should be actively promoted. China and Africa have also jointly launched the Initiative on Partnership for Africa’s Development, calling on the international community to enhance support to Africa in areas such as anti-pandemic fight, post-epidemic reconstruction, trade and investment, debt relief etc., which has set a good example for global solidarity against the pandemic.
Examining Africa’s Economic Recovery in a Post-Pandemic World (THISDAYLIVE)
Africa’s economy was one of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. With Africa’s economy falling to a negative for the first time in years, concerns about the continent have shifted from how it will survive the pandemic to how stakeholders can revive and sustain the economy. The ripple effect of the pandemic affected the economies of most African states, while some like Nigeria experienced a double whammy situation, in terms of the oil price crash which also affected Algeria and Libya. However, it was not all contraction in the continent. Guinea, for instance, was probably one of the fastest growing economies during the crisis with about 7%, largely inspired by its mining sector. The sector has also been active in Tunisia and Mauritania with smaller mining deals.
Examining the current situation, some African countries have begun to see a brisk recovery. Growth of about 2% is speculated for Nigeria and 4-5% for Senegal. The growth in terms of the macro recovery is dependent on various factors, the most notable being the vaccination programme. Africa has fallen behind the rest of the world in the vaccination race. The concern is that if the vaccine rollout is not sustained, restrictions will be reimposed.
Global
STDF Annual Report highlights efforts to boost SPS capacity despite pandemic challenges (WTO)
The COVID-19 pandemic had a massive impact on health systems and caused enormous disruption to the global economy, the report notes. Governments took measures to contain the spread of the virus, including travel restrictions, lockdowns, social distancing, and other safety protocols. Production and trade in agri-food products was scaled back, resulting in huge economic losses around the world that continue to be felt today. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the STDF adapted quickly across all its workstreams and kept delivering strong results in 2020, making efforts to understand the new realities on the ground and continuing to provide vital assistance to strengthen food safety, animal and plant health systems in developing countries.
“Trade is about people – about making their lives better,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a video to mark the launch of the report. “The Standards and Trade Development Facility works to enable small-scale farmers to meet international health and safety standards for their products. This opens the door to new markets and means higher incomes and more jobs and economic opportunities, particularly for women. It means safer food, lower trade times and costs, and greater capacity to protect plant and animal health capacity.
WTO issues 2021 edition of flagship statistical publication (WTO)
The WTO issued today (30 July) the latest edition of its annual publication on international trade statistics, the “World Trade Statistical Review”. The report highlights that the value of world merchandise exports declined by 8 per cent while services trade contracted by 21 per cent in 2020, with the most severe impacts of the pandemic being felt in the second quarter of the year. Trade began to recover as of mid-2020, but with major differences across regions and sectors. The recovery of merchandise trade was mostly due to trade in manufactured goods while services trade continues to be weighed down by continued COVID-19-related travel restrictions. “A full recovery for international travel, and for global trade in general, depends on rapid, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world,” Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stresses.
Productive Capacities Index (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD’s Productive Capacities Index (PCI) is a dynamic and practical tool to support developing countries in understanding the status of their productive capacity and how this can be improved. It builds on UNCTAD’s long-standing work on productive capacities, which are essential for generating inclusive and sustained economic growth and achieving sustainable development. “Productive capacities are the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop.” The PCI covers 193 economies for the period 2000-2018. The set of productive capacities and their specific combinations are mapped across 46 indicators. This makes our PCI multidimensional in its analytical abilities.
Shipping Safety: The Covid factors (Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty)
Covid-19-related travel and border restrictions, and the widespread suspension of international flights, have significantly impacted the ability of ship operators to conduct crew changes. Between March and August 2020 only 25% of normal crew changes were able to take place (ICS) while at least half a million seafarers have been affected. As of March 2021, it is estimated that some 200,000 seafarers remained on board commercial vessels, unable to be repatriated and past the expiry of their contracts, with a similar number of seafarers urgently needed to join ships to replace them. On any given day, nearly one million seafarers are working on some 60,000 large cargo vessels worldwide, according to the IMO.
Borderless Trade Network to Empower Female MSMEs (THISDAYLIVE)
As part of efforts to deepen access to funding of female-owned Micro, Small, Medium scale Enterprises (MSMEs), Borderless Trade Network has expressed its preparedness to support ad provide female entrepreneurs the access to funding, as well as technical support needed to upscale their business activities through its WINHER initiative. The WINHER project scheduled to commence on the 8th of August is dedicated towards empowering women to achieve financial wellness through the demystification of wealth creation; whilst creating an opportunity for women entrepreneurs to network, get educated on investment opportunities and principles, discover sources of funding, share experiences and build new partnerships to enhance their entrepreneurial capacities and improve their approach towards wealth generation. The programme, it added, was also designed to cater directly to female African entrepreneurs within the continent and in diaspora who are seeking to gain the ability to build long term wealth through financial education and access to high interest paying investment opportunities, whilst leveraging on the recently ratified African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
Impact Investing Continues to Flourish Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, IFC Report Shows (IFC)
Impact investing continued to draw strong investor interest in 2020 amid the turbulence caused by COVID-19, with investments reaching $2.3 trillion, a new IFC report finds. Investing for Impact: The Global Impact Investing Market 2020 provides an updated estimate of the size of the market for impact investing, defined as investments made with the intent to contribute to measurable positive social or environmental impact, alongside financial return. The report identifies $636 billion in assets with measured impact in 2020, compared with $505 billion in 2019. An additional $1.6 trillion were managed with the intent of positive impact, bringing the total market size to an estimated $2.3 trillion. The report also finds that there were more measured impact funds in the market than before – collectively, 1001 funds in 2020, compared with 887 funds in 2019. Impact investing’s ongoing popularity is being driven by increased awareness of climate change and social challenges such as unequal access to healthcare, and racial and gender inequality.
The Task Force on COVID-19 Vaccines, Therapeutics and Diagnostics for Developing Countries, established by the heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization to identify and resolve finance and trade impediments to vaccine, diagnostics, therapeutic production and deliveries, today launched a new website that includes the first phase of a global database and country dashboards on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics to guide their work and advocacy. The database and country-by-country dashboards, which also build on the IMF-WHO COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Tracker, seek to focus international attention and mobilize action by illuminating specific gaps, not just globally but also country-by-country.
UN regional commissions launch most comprehensive Covid Stimulus Tracker to date (Mirage News)
Government fiscal support to recover from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has reached nearly $19 trillion; however, the 132 low- and middle-income countries – i.e. 85% of the world’s population – account for only 10% of it, while the 62 high-income countries account for 90%. This stark inequality, raising questions on the world’s ability to recover quickly and equitably from the pandemic, is one of the many findings of the COVID-19 Stimulus Tracker, a global observatory on the social protection and economic measures of 194 Governments of UN Member States developed by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The Tracker is a pioneering tool which gathers, in an unprecedented effort, all government support measures for both people and the economy in one dynamic digital platform. It facilitates comparison and analysis of adequacy of those measures and determines their beneficiaries to help identify those left behind.
Five Things to Know about the Informal Economy (IMF)
The informal economy is a global and pervasive phenomenon. Some 60 percent of the world’s population participates in the informal sector. Although mostly prevalent in emerging and developing economies, it is also an important part of advanced economies. 1. The informal economy consists of activities that have market value but are not formally registered. 2. The informal economy is difficult to measure. 3. The COVID-19 pandemic hit informal workers particularly hard, especially women. 4. The informal economy is central to the economic development process. 5. A balanced approach is crucial in addressing the informal economy, as it currently represents the only source of income and a critical safety net for millions of people.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have long pursued unconventional economic development strategies, often with great success. Equally, because of their susceptibility to exogenous shocks, which can be disproportionately more destructive than in larger states, their progress remains fragile and can be set back suddenly and dramatically. It has taken some time for donors and multilateral institutions to recognise this, but climate change has brought the unique condition of SIDS to the fore and their ‘special case for sustainable development’ is now enshrined in the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (‘SAMOA Pathway’) and other multilateral agreements.
Global governance reforms are urgently needed to allow SIDS to exploit new niches and sustain levels of development in a post-pandemic and warming world. Key changes include altering the way official development assistance is defined, generating new forms of debt relief, reforming climate financing mechanisms, and facilitating access to the labour markets of the Global North.
New petroleum producers strive to forge a new development path (The Commonwealth)
Emerging petroleum-producing countries in the Commonwealth, and beyond, are striving to break the historical mould of fossil fuel-driven growth and forge a new path towards economic resilience. Government officials shared their experiences during a recent two-week pilot training programme on the theme ‘Aligning the Petroleum Sector with Climate, Energy and National Development Goals’ organised by the New Producers Group (NPG). The NPG is a network of around 30 countries, including 15 from the Commonwealth, jointly managed by Chatham House, the Natural Resource Governance Institute and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
“The clear message that emerged was the need for a national long-term strategy for managing the energy transition,” said Economic Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Naadira Ogeer, who led several of the training sessions. “Many emerging producers happen to be developing countries in extremely tenuous economic situations, who also face the daunting task of eradicating poverty, dealing with the harsh realities of climate change, while having to provide affordable and reliable energy for growing populations.”
2020 ICC Dispute Resolution Statistics published (ICC)
The 2020 ICC Dispute Resolution Statistics report includes a comprehensive overview of ICC Arbitration statistics including breakdowns by region, the constitution of the arbitral tribunals, figures for state and state-owned parties, place of arbitration, the geographical origins of arbitrators and parties, and statistics relating to gender and age diversity. “The 2020 figures reflect ICC’s status as the world’s preferred arbitral institution and our reach as a truly global arbitral institution. We remain committed to supporting the global business community with our range of trusted services and building on the growth and increased diversity of the Court,” said Claudia Salomon, who took office as President of the ICC Court as of 1 July.
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SA should reform fragmented financial services ombuds, World Bank recommends (SAnews)
A World Bank diagnostic study has recommended that South Africa restructure its fragmented financial services ombudsman structure. The diagnostic study, titled: “South Africa – Financial Ombud System Diagnostic”, was commissioned by National Treasury and prepared by the World Bank Group (WBG). It aims to provide an independent review of South Africa’s financial ombud system. It also seeks to recommend reforms to enhance customer protection and good-quality outcomes in the financial services sector. Recommendations to address the findings include establishing a National Financial Ombud, a new non-statutory body to replace the current seven schemes except for retirement funds; the proposed reformed Pension Funds Adjudicator would become the Retirement Funds Ombud. The report also suggests that the country introduces enhancements to the current ombud council framework; as well as implementing an update of complaint-handling requirements to improve consistency among financial services providers.
Holdup at Durban port could lead to food shortage, massive wastage (Moneyweb)
The Port of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal is running short of space to store containers and plug points to keep containers cool, which will result in massive food wastage if not resolved urgently. “Now that the Durban port has resumed operations, an urgent action plan by government is required to ensure imported perishable food containers are re-routed to inland cold storage facilities. “This is critical if South Africa wants to avoid chronic food shortages across the country,” say the two associations in a statement. “Besides requiring an urgent solution for cold storage of containers, an additional complication lies in the micro-biological, phytosanitary testing of food product coming into the port, and the authorities’ curtailed capacity to test arriving product due to the damage to some testing labs.”
Ramaphosa sees big green economy opportunity in ‘bold’ climate commitment (Engineering News)
President Cyril Ramaphosa says it is time for South Africa to “grasp the nettle” and embark on a “transformative path” towards a climate-resilient society both to fulfil its moral obligations in the face of an intensifying crisis, but also to seize the economic and job opportunities that are arising around the transition. Speaking during the third formal meeting of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), which he established in December 2020 and chairs, Ramaphosa said that, given the primacy of the climate crisis on the international agenda, South Africa could no longer be debating whether or not it should transition to a low-emissions society. “It is a must, otherwise we will be left behind on a number of fronts. “But the transition has got to be just, it’s got to be the type of transition that will take the interests of our people into account,” he said.
Govt to stimulate manufacturing diversification (The Herald)
The Government’s 2022 financial plan will carry measures aimed at diversifying Zimbabwe’s production structure as authorities target a dynamic economic development, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said. The local economy has for far too long been skewed towards the primary industries of agriculture and mining, which has meant that the country has been exporting mostly primary commodities. This dependency on primary commodities makes the country extremely vulnerable to the vagaries of the global market. And with the coming into play of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has provided an additional incentive for local manufacturers to up their game.
Minister Seeks Proper Sensitisation of MSMEs on AfCFTA Opportunities (THISDAYLIVE)
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo has called for the sensitisation of the Medium, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to enable them benefit from the continental market. The minister, while commenting on a report on, “Continental Integration and the Nigerian Economy,” during a roundtable on AfCFTA agreement, which was organised by the Nigeria’s Employers Consultative Association (NECA) in Abuja, reiterated the need to fill the knowledge gap on the possible effects of AfCFTA on the economy. The report was based on the surveys conducted for 1,800 MSMEs in five states, covering multiple sociocultural zones, to evaluate the awareness and preparedness of MSMEs for the implementation of the agreement.
2021 budget review: Expectations for trade and industry, job creation (Modern Ghana)
The 2021 Budget highlighted a few policy measures and programs that would help to increase the employment rate in the country. Policies issued through the African Continental Free Trade Area, ‘1 District 1 Factory’, Digitisation of the economy and the ‘e Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) Programme’ were highlighted as measures to provided alternative employment pathways for graduates.
Uganda petitions Kenya, Tanzania over milk exports (Daily Monitor)
Uganda has asked Kenya and Tanzania to remove prohibitive levies placed on its dairy products saying it could jeopardise trade relations and the East African Community spirit. In a July 19 letter , the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, has asked Kenya and Tanzania, after a flawed soft diplomacy strategy for the two countries, to allow Ugandan milk into their markets. Since 2020, Uganda has struggled to have its milk products sold in the two East African member states, something the minister said is a barrier to the EAC spirit and regional trade relations. Mr Tumwebaze also raised before the leadership of Kenya and Tanzania concerns of “ongoing taxes and levies charged on Ugandan dairy products” despite negotiation efforts.
OACPS Secretariat hosts a capacity-building seminar for Angola (ACP)
In support of the preparations for the upcoming 10th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), which will take place in Angola in 2022, and Angola’s six-month chairmanship of the OACPS Committee of Ambassadors from 1 August 2021, the OACPS Secretariat hosted a two-day Seminar for senior officials from various Angolan ministries and institutions as well as economic operators and civil society representatives, on 26 to 27 July 2021.
In his closing remarks Dr Ibrahim Norbert Richard, Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Political Affairs and Human Development at the OACPS Secretariat, stated that, “We have reaffirmed our commitment, to support Angola as they take the helm of the OACPS Council of Ministers and thereafter President-in-Office of the 10th Summit… We believe that the presentations shared during the past two-days, provided further understanding of the work of the OACPS, and how Angola as a Member State can take advantage of the various opportunities presented.”
Zanzibar offers tax benefits for residency, real estate investors (The East African)
Zanzibar is seeking to join countries such as Mauritius, Dubai, Oman, Singapore which have attracted real estate investors by offering tax incentives and non-citizen residence permits to three special categories of investors. The isles, through its Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA) is in the process of reviewing the law to add real estate buyers, scientists and prominent retired personalities as new categories of foreign investors who can settle on the archipelago as soon as the end of this year. ZIPA executive director Shariff A. Shariff said the current ZIPA law, enacted in 2018 and the archipelago’s “outdated” Investment Policy of 2005 will be changed to legalise the stay of the new categories of investors and their families. Mr Sharrif said the recently introduced “strategic investor” category has yielded the intended results. Strategic investors are required to have a minimum investment capital of $100 million in areas such as high end buildings and tourist hotels.
Can domestic tourism lay the groundwork for something bigger in Comoros and Djibouti? (Trade for Development News)
Djibouti is a least developed country (LDC), and for many such struggling economies, tourism offers promise of foreign dollars, jobs, better infrastructure and a route out of poverty. In its “Djibouti Vision 2035” plan for economic development created in 2014, the government recognized that promise and made tourism one of its priority sectors. Farther south, another LDC also set its sights on tourism. Comoros, although blessed with tropical landscapes and craggy black volcanic shores, also does not have a huge tourism market. The country’s National Tourism Office was implementing its own action plan to spur more tourism and to run through 2021. Then COVID-19 happened. The governments of both Djibouti and Comoros shifted their strategies, including taking a fresh look toward their own citizens as domestic tourists. Although the market may have changed, the pivot meant that burgeoning tourism sites and strategies could continue to be developed and refined while borders were closed.
Africa
Africa has a great strategic plan: now it needs to roll up its sleeves and take action (The Conversation)
When the United Nations started framing its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2012 – a shared blueprint for working towards global peace and prosperity by 2030 – Africa was the first region to submit its list of priorities. The continent was quick to act as it was in the process of finalising its Agenda 2063 framework, which sought to articulate African aspirations for the coming decades. It was a product of the celebrations of the 50th year of the Organisation of African Unity, now known as the African Union. Such a symbolic year was a cause for celebration and prompted reflection on what kind of Africa member states wanted to build in the next 50 years. As the continent battles to contain and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is confronted with a similar moment of reckoning. And the answer is the same: unify around a shared framework for the future that provides strategic direction for meaningful change. But it can’t be all talk, no action.
Washington Consensus Reforms and Lessons for Economic Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa (American Economic Association)
Over three decades after market-oriented structural reforms termed “Washington Consensus” policies were first implemented, we revisit the evidence on policy adoption and the effects of these policies on socio-economic performance in sub-Saharan African countries. We focus on three key ubiquitous reform policies around privatization, fiscal discipline, and trade openness and document significant improvements in economic performance for reformers over the past two decades. Following initial declines in per capita economic growth over the 1980s and 1990s, reform adopters experienced notable increases in per capita real GDP growth in the post-2000 period. We complement aggregate analysis with four country case studies that highlight important lessons for effective reform. Notably, the ability to implement pro-poor policies alongside market-oriented reforms played a central role in successful policy performance.
ECA, ITFC hold joint, AfCFTA training to facilitate Sudanese exports to the African market (UNECA)
The ECA Office for North Africa completed today in Khartoum (Republic of the Sudan) a five-day capacity building workshop on national goods’ access to the African market, jointly organized with the Ministry of Trade and Supply of Sudan and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). This training aimed to assist Sudan in developing a national action strategy to maximize economic and trade gains from the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Areas (AfCFTA) and help formulate national strategies for export promotion. Building on the stakeholder awareness raising workshop held last December, this training aimed to improve Sudanese officials’ capacity to design and implement national trade policies that will help turn these strong points into exports.
The East African Community (EAC) has hailed the decision by the Republic of Kenya to waive the requirement of obtaining a visa to enter Kenya for the citizens of the Republic of South Sudan holding a valid passport issued by the Government of South Sudan. The EAC Secretary General, Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki, said that the move was in line with the decision announced by the Chair of the EAC Heads of State, H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta, during the 21st Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State held on 27th February, 2021. “This demonstrates the goodwill among the EAC Heads of State in promoting regional integration and revamping relations, which is set to boost intra-EAC trade,” said Dr. Mathuki. “This is a positive step towards realizing the gains of the Protocol on Establishment of the EAC Common Market and a win for the Community. It is set to expand trade and investment opportunities and scale up economic and social progression across the bloc,” he said.
CEMAC in working order for the implementation of HS 2022 amendments (World Customs Organization)
From July 12 to 16, 2021, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) held a meeting of its Nomenclature and Tariff Committee in Douala, Cameroon, as part of its ongoing work to prepare for the implementation of the 2022 version of the Harmonized System (HS). This meeting, which was a follow-up to the initial work undertaken over the past 18 months, was organized in close cooperation with the WCO, within the framework of the EU-WCO Programme for Harmonized System in Africa (HS-Africa Programme) funded by the European Union. The Committee concluded the meeting by provisionally adopting a draft CET based on the HS 2022 and giving discharge to the Cameroon team to carry out final proofreading before transmitting the CET to the publishing house for printing.
Why central Africa is lagging behind in e-commerce (Quartz Africa)
Central Africa lags behind other regions in the continent in e-commerce but the region can progress quickly if governments implement policies to hasten the development of digital and e-commerce services, a new report says. The report by GSMA – an organization that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide – and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) identifies areas where action is required to increase access to e-commerce services, and digital services in general. Largely driven by expanding internet access, increasing uptake of digital payments, and changing consumer habits, e-commerce is scaling up in Africa. In the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), a body of 11 countries, mobile subscriber penetration rose from 18% in 2000 to 42% by the end of 2019 and is set to reach 46% by 2025, the report says. The number of mobile internet users was 52 million in 2020 and is expected to reach 86 million by 2025, it adds.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have reaffirmed their commitment towards strengthening proactive and functional early warning systems to improve food and nutrition security and, ultimately, end hunger in the Region. The commitment was expressed during a virtual courtesy call by the new WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa, Dr Manghestab Haile, to the SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, on 23rd July, 2021. The Executive Secretary highlighted that without food security, the SADC Region cannot achieve its aspiration of a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle- to high-income industrialised region, where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice and freedom as envisioned in the SADC Vision 2050. To achieve this aspiration, Dr Tax said SADC needs the support of partners towards the implementation of activities and development priorities outlined in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030 and other instruments.
Leveraging Smart Technologies And Techniques To Reduce Post-Harvest Losses In Africa (AUDA-NEPAD)
The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 2 is striving to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the world by 2030. The goal is to ensure that all world citizens, especially children, have sufficient and nutritious food. In Africa, this is articulated by the African Union’s Agenda 2063 Goal Number 6, which encourages Member States to pursue adequate agriculture to bolster food production and security to feed their citizenry. Therefore, the African Union is challenging Member States to ensure food security through the adoption of sustainable agriculture by supporting small-scale farmers. African countries are also encouraged to ensure that women, girls, and the most vulnerable groups have equal access to land, technology, and markets.
CFA franc reform has been delayed (yet again) to 2027 (The Africa Report)
During the latest summit of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which took place in Accra in late June 2021, the ministerial committee chaired by Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s finance minister, endorsed a new roadmap for the launch of the eco, the future single currency’s name, which is now scheduled for 2027. While waiting for this latest development, the Community was exempted from complying with the convergence criteria this year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on states’ macroeconomic performance.
Corridor Financing – Key To Unlocking Regional Economic Growth (Africa.com)
As we look to rebuild our economy in the wake of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, corridor financing and investing in productive infrastructure will be key to economic recovery and growth not only in South Africa, but across the African continent. Economic activity and connectivity are inextricably bound together. Thus, any plan to stimulate economic growth requires investment in transport infrastructure to feature prominently. Without reliable routes to market, we will not be able to attract the investment required to put us on a road to long-term, sustainable economic growth. Corridor financing therefore emphasises improvement that promotes economic activity and growth all along a transport value chain.
Sahara issue resolution necessary for Africa’s economic integration (GhanaWeb)
Participants at a day’s seminar organised by Imani Center for Policy and Education, a Ghanaian Think Tank, have considered the resolution of the Western Sahara issue a necessary step to enhance the continent’s economic integration. The seminar, which was held in Accra, was on the theme “The Imperative of Economic Recovery: How can the Resolution of the Sahara Issue Strengthen Africa’s Regional and Continental Integration?” A communique, issued at the end of the seminar, said, “In the current context, marked by the urgency of economic recovery – for the unity, the integration and the overall safety of the continent – the recent incident in Guerguerat demonstrates the need to overcome political deadlocks and unproductive ideological positions.”
Global
Chair urges members to focus on priorities, outcomes for MC12 (WTO)
Four months remain until the start of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which will take place in Geneva from 30 November to 3 December. Members are currently engaged on a wide range of issues where they are hoping to achieve outcomes in the run-up to, or at, MC12, including a global agreement on addressing harmful fisheries subsidies, ensuring rapid and equitable access for products critical in combatting COVID-19, securing progress on agricultural reform, and others. “We are operating in very challenging times,” Ambassador Castillo said. “For this Conference to be successful and to put the WTO on a positive trajectory, it will be essential that we focus our efforts on a few key areas.”
Tariffs are delaying the COVID response. The WTO must act (World Economic Forum)
When World Trade Organization (WTO) members meet in Geneva in November, they must do more than agree a high-level trade and health declaration. They should take concrete action to eliminate the trade-distorting measures affecting global value chains for the vaccines, therapies, and diagnostics needed to fight the pandemic. Measures such as tariffs and export restrictions continue to create unnecessary costs in these value chains, undermining the COVID-19 response and setting back efforts to extend manufacturing capacity. Ministers should launch new talks to address these trade barriers.
WTO report: Full trade recovery at risk without equitable vaccine roll-out (WTO)
“This report clearly suggests that trade policy restraint by WTO members has helped limit harm to the world economy. However, some pandemic-related trade restrictions do remain in place and the challenge is to ensure that they are indeed transparent and temporary.” said Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who presented the report to WTO members. “The multilateral trading system has shown resilience despite the severity of the global health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a platform for transparency, the WTO has a central role to play in ensuring that supply chains are kept open – which is an essential part of increasing vaccine production and distribution on the scale needed to end the pandemic.”
WTO Advances Gender Agenda Amidst Calls for Broader Gender Lens (IISD)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) moved closer to a ministerial deliverable this month, following the meeting of the WTO’s informal working group on trade and gender on 16 July and its “Friends of Gender” drafting group on 20 July. In parallel, the WTO Secretariat is implementing work on trade and gender, which also looks set to gain momentum. WTO work in this area builds on the Buenos Aires Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment, adopted in 2017 at the WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11). In contrast to several other areas of the WTO’s work, the gender agenda seems to be encountering little opposition from WTO members, and views appear to be converging smoothly as the outcome on gender and trade planned for MC12 takes shape. Civil society groups and academics have however voiced criticism of the WTO’s approach to the issue.
UK Launch Scheme to Drive Trade with Nigeria, Boost Jobs (THISDAYLIVE)
The UK Government has launched a consultation on new trading rules that will help countries like Nigeria grow their trade and build back better businesses and help British businesses and consumers at the same time. The UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) is a major opportunity to grow free and fair trade with developing nations. The proposed scheme will apply to 70 qualifying countries, including Nigeria, and include improvements such as lower tariffs and simpler rules of origin requirements for countries exporting to the UK, allowing countries to diversify their exports and grow their economies. The proposed new UK scheme will mean more opportunity and less bureaucracy for developing countries, for example by simplifying rules of origin requirements or reducing tariffs on imports. For instance, this could mean lowering tariffs on products including rice from Pakistan and raw materials from Nigeria.
Event: Revitalising Commonwealth Trade Post-COVID: Leveraging Maritime Trade and Shipping (The Commonwealth)
Maritime trade is indispensable for global growth and prosperity – around 80 per cent of world trade by volume and more than 70 per cent by value is seaborne. The maritime sector is also at the heart of trade and economic activity for the Commonwealth. Many Commonwealth countries have invested significantly in developing their port capacity and this is reflected in a stellar performance historically. However, the unprecedented pandemic has severely affected maritime trade, shipping and seaports that connect Commonwealth countries to each other and world markets. This webinar discussed the findings of a recent study by the Commonwealth Secretariat on the impact of COVID-19 on maritime trade. It explored maritime trade landscape in the Commonwealth and demonstrated how maritime trade and shipping can help to revitalise Commonwealth trade post-COVID.
IATA pushes for digital Covid test checks at airports (The East African)
Passengers could be exposed to inordinately long processing times at airports if travel rebounds to 2019 levels amid slow adoption of digital Covid-19 test verification by governments. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is asking governments to adopt the use of its TravelPass – an application that eliminates the use of paper documents to verify travellers’ Covid-19 test status. Speaking during a media round table recently, Willie Walsh, the director-general and chief executive of IATA, said departure and arrival processing times for passengers could increase from the current average of 1.5 hours to as long as eight hours. “If we continue using paper-based processes, waiting times would go from 1.5 hours to eight hours at 2019 levels of traffic,” Mr Walsh said, adding that were that to happen, the industry risks collapse again because a majority of people would simply give up on travelling.
Making The Digital Money Revolution Work for All (IMF Blog)
History moves in uneven steps. Just as the telegraph erased time and distance in the 19th century, today’s innovations in digital money may bring significant changes in the way we lead our lives. The shift to electronic payments and social interactions brought on by the pandemic may cause similarly rapid and widespread transformations. The rapid pace of change is a call to action – for countries to guide, and not be guided by, today’s transformations. There is a window of opportunity to maintain control over monetary and financial conditions, and to enhance market integration, financial inclusion, economic efficiency, productivity, and financial integrity. But there are also risks of stepping back on each of these fronts. We must enact the right policies today to reap the gains tomorrow.
We emphasize this in two papers published today, one on the new policy challenges, and one on an operational strategy for the Fund to engage with countries on the digital money revolution.
COVID-19 vaccine boosters may have ‘huge’ impacts on global supply (Devex)
If wealthy nations – currently flush with COVID-19 vaccines – decide to give their populations booster shots, it could have “huge implications” for the availability of doses globally, a World Health Organization official said during a press conference Thursday. The statement by Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti came a day after Pfizer said a third dose of its vaccine could improve immunity. While receiving two doses still provides strong, sustained protection against serious disease, effectiveness decreases over six months. The company said it plans to seek U.S. approval for a booster shot.
Related News
tralac Daily News
National
SA economy to recover to pre-COVID levels in 2023 (SAnews)
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni says the National Treasury now predicts that the South African economy will return to pre-COVID levels only in 2023. He revealed this during a media briefing on Wednesday on government’s Economic Support Package in response to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and the recent violent unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal that saw businesses gutted and looted. The two events, he said, had “very serious” negative consequences for the South African economy.
Tanzania Has an Opportunity to Ignite Inclusive Economic Growth by Transforming Its Tourism Sector (World Bank)
As Tanzania’s tourism sector recovers from the harsh effects of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic on businesses and employment, the latest World Bank economic analysis says the country also has a unique opportunity to revamp the tourism industry to drive inclusive growth over the long term, and promote climate adaptation and mitigation. The 16th Tanzania Economic Update, Transforming Tourism: Toward a Sustainable, Resilient, and Inclusive Sector notes that the near-cessation of tourism activities globally due to the pandemic deeply affected Tanzania’s tourism sector. Economic activity in the sector contracted sharply in 2020, resulting in job losses and business shutdowns which has had negative knock-on effects for inter-related sectors. While partial recovery is underway, business revenues and derived taxes for government still remain below pre-pandemic levels.
Burundi launches her own Trade Information Portal (EAC)
The Republic of Burundi has launched her own Trade Information Portal which is meant to map out all her imports, exports and transit procedures, fees and time. The next step after mapping will be to simplify and remove unnecessary and redundant bottlenecks. Trade Information Portals (TIPS) have already been launched and operationalised by Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The publication of Trade Information is a good sign that Burundi is committed to facilitate trade by making trade information more transparent. “For the government, the benefits come in the form of increased tax revenues, better use of resources and improved compliance by business operators,” said Hon. Capitoline Niyonizigiye, Minister for Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism
COMESA, Djibouti Signs €2.5m Sub-delegation Agreement to Upgrade Galafi Border Post (COMESA)
The COMESA Secretariat and the Government of Djibouti have signed an agreement that sub-delegates the implementation of coordinated border management activities at the Galafi border post, on the Djibouti-Ethiopia border. A total of EUR 2.5 million is allocated to this project under the European Union funded Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP). Activities will focus on automation of border processes and inter-connectivity of border agencies, upgrade priority cross-border infrastructure and procure equipment aimed to improve cross-border trade and transport facilitation at the Galafi border post between Djibouti and Ethiopia. The project will support capacity building of national stakeholders and the technical assistance to the Djibouti National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) in border management and coordination.
Rwandan Economy: The Rising Phoenix (Devdiscourse)
Rwanda has come a long way, recovering from the massive economic impact of the genocide in a very short span of time, with the government showing unexpected resilience in the face of this national crisis. It has launched a series of measures to arrest the dwindling economy, and the positive effects are quite palpable at ground level.
The country has very few natural resources, with the economy mainly based on subsistence agriculture. Rwanda has a few deposits of gold, tin ore, tungsten ore, and methane. However, the government has not invested a lot in their exploitation since this would require a lot of investments and foreign partnerships for the minerals to be of greater value to the country.
Rwanda is one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT with internet penetration at 26 per cent in January 2020. There are several avenues for growth for the ICT sector – from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications development and automation to becoming a regional centre for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research.
‘Harmonised trade policy key to implementing AfCFTA’ – Selasi Koffi Ackom (GhanaWeb)
The Ghana International Investment Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC) has advocated the urgent implementation of harmonized trade finance policy reforms across the Continent for effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Mr Selasi Koffi Ackom, the Chief Executive Officer of GITFiC, said an increase in trade finance would ease cross-border trade, enable capital and information flow, attract greater foreign and intra-continental investments and provide larger customer base for financial institutions to serve. He said lack of access to trade finance had been an impeding factor to trade, especially for Small and Medium Enterprises, across the African Continent, and called on Africa’s leaders to address the situation before the implementation of AfCFTA. Mr Ackom said the complete abolition of intra trade barriers and implementation of trade facilitation procedures under the AfCFTA were geared towards promoting regional markets as attractive export destinations, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of regional products.
FG moves to address impediments to Nigeria’s trade agreements (TVC News)
The federal government has begun taking steps to resolve the obstacles of private sector stakeholders taking advantage of signed Trade and Investment Agreements. Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, stated this during a sensitization session in Enugu. The purpose of Nigeria entering into Trade Agreements with other countries, according to Sani-Gwarzo, is to facilitate and develop trade relations based on reciprocity, equality, and mutual benefit. The thrust of these Trade Agreements, according to the Permanent Secretary include the most favored nation treatment, expansion of volumes of trade, strict adherence to international rules and regulations on exports and imports, settlement of disputes, safeguard measures, among others.
Nigeria’s payment system ready for AfCFTA – CBN (The Sun Nigeria)
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has boasted of having a resilient payment system that is more than ready for the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). According to him, Nigeria plans to become the hub for payment in Africa, and it requires a resilient payment infrastructure, which Nigeria already has. He also stated that Nigeria was recently ranked first in terms of payment system among its African peers. To also enhance the competitiveness of the economies of State Parties within the continent and global market, promote industrial development through diversification and regional value chain development, agricultural development, and food security amongst others.
AfCFTA: Nigeria needs standard goods to compete in continental trade – SON (Nairametrics)
The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has disclosed that Nigeria needs to produce goods up to standard to enable Nigerian producers compete fairly and have an edge on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Director-General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, said that as the AfCFTA commences, other African countries have set up standard protocols, which Nigerian producers need to comply with to make their goods favourable for exports, adding that it is the mandate of the SON to make it possible.
“This is very important because we have the new African free trade, where goods will be crossing borders without too much hindrances. So what that means for our country is, if our manufacturers are not producing standard goods, they will not cross over to the other countries, because other countries will set standards too and they will expect goods coming to their countries to be up to standard,” he added
Nigerian manufacturers battling stunted growth blame forex scarcity (Premium Times)
In 2020, the Nigerian currency was devalued twice, as a means of realising convergence across the numerous forex windows. At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, oil prices fell to as low as $18 per barrel, putting enormous pressure on the Nigerian currency, business owners and manufacturers of sundry products. But in the last quarter of 2020, oil prices built steam as coronavirus vaccine rollouts began in parts of the world.
Data shows that the real GDP growth of the Nigerian manufacturing sector in the past five years has been quite poor, with only 0.8% growth recorded in 2019. Between 2015 and 2017, the sector recorded negative growths of -1.5%, -4.3%, and -0.2% respectively. Mansur Ahmed, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said the lack of adequate forex has hindered manufacturers from purchasing raw materials and entering financial deals with foreign companies because they rely on forex from Bureau De Change (BDC) operators which comes at a higher cost. “The high cost import bill for the productive inputs decreases manufacturing working capital and feeds into manufacturing commodities prices, thereby making the sector less competitive,” he said.
Covidnomics: 2021 Mid-Year Budget Review – Never too late to be done (MyJoyOnline)
While the covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, distort economic principles, create a divergence in capital growth, ruin the lives of people and cause a steady global recovery from fiscal and monetary space, it is imperative that countries continue to implement sustainable and renewable measures that will propel economic and societal growth as well as combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Government of Ghana prepares to deliver its 2021 Mid-Year Budget Review, it is necessary to provide cogent and realistic policy directives that can help foster economic growth and development.
Egypt signs on joining statute for establishing African Medicines Agency (EgyptToday)
Egyptian Ambassador to Ethiopia and its permanent representative to the African Union Osama Abdel Khaleq signed Egypt’s joining the statute for establishing the African Medicines Agency (AMA). In a statement issued by the Egyptian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Abdel-Khalek said Wednesday, that “this new African body will have a pivotal role in promoting public health in Africa and in responding to diseases and epidemics in the continent.” He added that Egypt is at the forefront of the leading African countries in the field of pharmaceutical industries, including the localization of the manufacture of Coronavirus vaccines. “Egypt will continue to expand in this field in support of equal access to medicines and vaccines for African peoples,” he continued.
Africa
Covid-19, e-trade and gender predominate at tralac’s 2021 conference (African Newspage)
Deliberations at tralac’s 2021 Annual Conference centred on how Africa can build effective public health preparedness against Covid-19 and future pandemics as well as the role of women, youth and SMEs in the continent’s emerging digital trade space
As the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the African continent, tralac’s Annual Conference held virtually for the second time, last week, due to restrictions occasioned by the pandemic which has exposed Africa’s fragile healthcare systems. This has subsequently left the continent at the mercy of vaccine donations by developed countries of the world in an era of vaccine nationalism. This prevalent circumstance rationalizes tralac’s 2021 conference’s theme: ‘COVID-19 has changed Africa and the world. How do we respond?’ Thus, discussions at the 2-day convening centred on how Africa can build an effective public health preparedness system against Covid-19 and future pandemics; role of gender in trade; and the implications of the proposed AfCFTA Protocol on Women, Youth and SMEs as well as the Protocol on E-commerce (Digital Trade). The virtual convening also featured the launch of tralac’s: ‘Trade and Gender in Africa’s Trade Agreements’: a comprehensive review of all gender-related provisions in Africa’s trade agreements, including the AfCFTA.
Delay expected as deadline looms for AfCFTA rules of origin talks (Global Trade Review)
Talks aimed at finalising key aspects of the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are facing delays, as member countries work to reach an overarching agreement on rules of origin and tariff reduction schedules. As reported by Reuters at the start of the year, Silver Ojakol, chief of staff at the AfCFTA secretariat, said nearly 90% of the rules of origin had been agreed by that stage and that the remaining 10% would be completed by this month. However, the deadline for finalising the criteria is fast approaching and analysts say will likely be missed with countries still at odds over rules of origin on dozens of goods.
Leverage AfCFTA to enhance economic integration – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (BusinessGhana)
The Former President of Liberia, Ms Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has said that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) provides a ready vehicle for countries in the region to start the process to move towards more self-reliance to regional cooperation and integration. She said that Africa might well be at the crossroads because the pandemic hit at a time when multilateral and global collective action was under threat due to nationalism, isolations and exclusion. “There is a call to ensure that as we respond to the pandemic there is national budgetary allocation so that we don’t use official development assistance (ODA) but national efforts should be excelled.” “What path does Africa follow at this cross roads? Should it continue with the status quo of trying to be strong advocates for the continuation of support, and how do we achieve that? She quizzed during the third African Transformation Forum (ATF) held virtually.
Current structure of AfCFTA payment platform can delay process – Bawumia (Business & Financial Times)
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has said the current system adopted by the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) – wherein individual financial institutions are told to integrate directly into it – is inefficient and likely to impede trade. For him, it would be better and more efficient for the platform to be integrated with national payment switches across Africa, such as GhIPSS, rather than the current practice, as this will immediately bring along all the individual banks in Ghana and other countries. “If you look at the strategy and the mode that we are observing in implementation of the Pan African Payment and Settlement Systems, we are seeing that individual financial institutions are being asked to connect to the system. I think it’s a very inefficient way to proceed.
‘Funding Challenges Undermine SMEs’ Growth in Africa’ (THISDAY Newspapers)
Analysts who spoke at a recent webinar organised by the American Business Council in Nigeria, in collaboration with US Chamber of Commerce, Amcham Ghana and Amcham South Africa on the US-Africa relations, have identified lack of adequate funding as a major challenge to the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. Citing the case of Nigeria, the analysts said: “Despite the significant contribution of SMEs to the Nigerian economy, challenges still persist that hinder the growth and development of the sector. In Nigeria, SMEs contribute 48 per cent of national GDP, and account for 96 per cent of businesses and 84 per cent of employment.” According to a recent PwC survey, a funding gap of about N617 billion for small businesses exists in the country, necessitating the need for development finance institutions (DFIs) and other stakeholders to reduce access barriers against businesses in the country.
ECOWAS seeks private sector partnership to check poverty, infrastructure deficit (The Guardian Nigeria)
Worried by the high unemployment, poverty and infrastructural deficit in the West African region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has advocated improved private sector collaboration to bridge gaps in the region. “The growing importance of informal trade compels the ECOWAS to create a framework expected to engender more availability and reliability of up-to-date information on informal trade,” said President, ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Brou. “The framework also seeks to implement reform that is essential to eliminate obstacles to informal trade among others. It is important to improve investment, particularly, private investment, in all sectors and I stress that digitalisation must be at the centre of activities for economic recovery. Infrastructural deficit must be addressed as well as sustainable and cheaper energy for the competitiveness of products.”
The Imperative of Economic Recovery: How can the Resolution of the Sahara Issue Strengthen Africa’s Regional and Continental Integration? (African Media Association)
On 27 July 2021, Imani Center for Policy and Education, a Ghanaian Think Tank held a seminar, in Accra, on the topic: “The Imperative of Economic Recovery: How can the Resolution of the Sahara Issue Strengthen Africa’s Regional and Continental Integration?”.
Whilst economic integration represents an emergency and a major milestone in the consolidation and development of Africa, it would be jeopardized should the AU not rationalize its institutional architecture. According to the debates, the consolidation of such architecture makes it imperative for the AU to complete its institutional reform and build its resilience against separatist and secessionist agendas, which are a real threat in numerous African countries.
Frustrated, now Africa proposes that vaccines be produced locally (The East African)
Details have emerged of continued frustration by vaccine manufacturers in sending Covid-19 vaccines to Africa, a crisis that has given the African Union the impetus to become autonomous by having vaccines manufactured on the continent. Even though the continent will only be involved in the last steps in the manufacturing process of the vaccines known as “fill and finish”, African Union Special Envoy for African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), Strive Masiyiwa, said this would be a step towards ending the vaccine apartheid that has rocked the globe pitting industrialised nations against poor ones like Africa. AVAT too has now been institutionalised and made permanent by the AU with a mandate to purchase vaccines now and in future. It will henceforth be called the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Trust (and no longer merely a task force), as it moves away from solely relying on the Covax supplies.
Vaccine inequality makes a case for African pharma opportunities (Bizcommunity)
Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine challenges have been a bitter pill for many governments to swallow as they watch developed countries race ahead with their vaccination programmes. “Vaccines are powerful and essential tools. But the world has not used them well. Instead of being deployed widely to quell the pandemic on all fronts, they have been concentrated in the hands and arms of the lucky few, deployed to protect the world’s most privileged people … while the most vulnerable remain unprotected,” said World Health Organisation (WHO) director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, delivering the keynote address at the 138th International Olympic Committee Session on 21 July 2021.
Can Africa realise digital change? (Business Daily)
An article by Dr Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNCEA) in 2020, clearly brought out the importance of digital transformation in Africa. She emphasised that digitalisation was one of the most powerful tools for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Africa’s Agenda 2063. But the big question that everyone is still asking: Can digital transformation be realised in Africa?
One of the specific objectives of Africa’s digital transformation strategy is to create a harmonised environment necessary to guarantee investment and financing in order to close the digital infrastructure gap and achieve an accessible, affordable and to secure broadband, across demography, gender, and geography. The strategy has a target for an additional 300 million people in Africa coming online by 2025. It is expected that each member state will cascade the continental agenda nationally. The measure of progress towards meeting AU and Smart Africa objectives is the ICT readiness (access to ICT infrastructure), skilling and reskilling the workforce, cybersecurity resilience, and use of ICTs.
Digital currency is the way to go in boosting economic growth – Dr Bawumia (Ghana Business News)
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says it is time African governments embraced digital currency (bitcoin) to facilitate trade and enhance other productive sectors of their economies. He, therefore, lauded the Bank of Ghana’s decision to pilot digital currency later this year towards its nationwide roll-out in the near future, saying that it would give it the needed credibility and legal backing for usage. The Vice-President believed that the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) – a central payment and collection infrastructure – would allow businesses on the continent to clear and settle transactions in their local currencies without depending on third-party currencies. He said it would also provide an alternative to the current high-cost and long correspondent banking relationships by facilitating trade and other economic activities across the continent through a single, low-cost, and risk-controlled payment clearing and settlement system.
US-Africa Business Summit
Remarks of Ambassador Katherine Tai at the Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit (USTR)
In her remarks, Ambassador Tai highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to rebuilding partnerships in Africa and supporting a robust global economic recovery that delivers equitable growth and shared prosperity. When President Biden addressed the 34 th African Union Summit in February, he made clear that the Administration was committed to both rebuilding our partnerships around the world, including in Africa, and growing trade and investment in a way that advances the prosperity of all countries.
Biden Administration Launches Initiative to Build US-Africa Trade (Voice of America)
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has kicked off the Prosper Africa Build Together initiative by requesting $80 million from Congress to build trade and investment between the U.S. and Africa. Dana Banks, U.S. senior director for Africa at the National Security Council, said Wednesday in an online news briefing that the U.S. was ready to do business with the continent. “The campaign is a targeted effort to elevate and energize the United States commitment to trade and investment with countries across the African continent under the Biden and Harris administration,” Banks said. “And our goal is to substantially increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa by connecting U.S. and African businesses and investors with tangible deal opportunities.”
US firms freeze Kenya expansion in Biden trade review (Business Daily)
US firms have frozen investment plans in Kenya due to uncertainty about a new free trade deal between the two countries. Many American firms had already begun investing in Kenya, spurred by the prospects of a fresh bilateral trade and investment pact between Washington and Nairobi. “Many companies had begun investing in Kenya in the wake of the Trump administration’s talks with Kenya on a bilateral free trade agreement, but that those plans were on ice until the Biden review of that policy was completed,” he was quoted by Reuters as having said. Talks for the free trade deal between Kenya and the US took a major hit this month following the expiry of a key law known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would have expedited its approval by Congress.
President Biden’s administration on Tuesday announced a new push to expand business ties between US companies and Africa, with a focus on clean energy, health, agribusiness, and transportation infrastructure on the continent. Kenya is keen on signing a new trade deal with Washington before the expiry of the current arrangement under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which allows sub-Saharan African countries to export thousands of products to the US without tariffs or quotas until 2025.
USAID Advances the Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign
Global
Policy Brief: WTO Chief Hopeful for Deal to Get More COVID-19 Jabs to Developing Nations (IISD)
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says there is a “pathway” for a global agreement to provide more COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, even though governments are deeply divided over an effort to endorse a temporary waiver on some of the organization’s intellectual property (IP) rights provisions. South Africa and India, backed by many developing country members, want a temporary waiver of IP rights on COVID-19 vaccines as well as diagnostics, therapeutics, and medical devices. They argue that scrapping these protections will enable poorer countries to manufacture more vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and other vital medical tools needed to battle the coronavirus – and address the extreme inequity in access to vaccines. The idea for a waiver also benefits from support from the United States, as well as some other advanced economies, though they are still discussing differences on details.
World Tariff Profiles 2021 explores the use of non-tariff measures in international trade (ITC)
Jointly published by ITC, WTO and UNCTAD, this annual report presents tariff-based market access conditions for goods applied by more than 170 countries and territories. The report contains aggregated product statistics; tariffs imposed and faced by each economy; and an overview of non-tariff measures. The special topic of this year’s edition explores the use of non-tariff measures (NTMs) in international trade through the lens of three conventional indicators (frequency, coverage and prevalence) based on the global inter-agency dataset of NTMs.
Open trade policies vital to support growth in solar energy, highlights new booklet (WTO)
The WTO and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have launched a new booklet highlighting the need for open trade policies and harmonized product standards to support the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. By assisting an expansion in solar energy, trade can contribute to environmental goals and support economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, the booklet titled “Trading into a bright energy future: The case for open, high-quality solar PV markets” states.
Eco-growth and new normal post-Covid (Business Daily)
Globally, Covid-19 pandemic has caused a temporary reduction of human impact on the environment. It is expected, however, that a return to normalcy or adoption of the new normal will result to increase of environmental burdens exceeding levels recorded before the scourge. To address the above concerns, a new strategy for action has been identified, the so-called Green Growth Strategy. Green growth focuses on accelerating investments and innovations that will underpin sustainable development and provide new economic opportunities. This strategy will provide a cost-effective way of reducing pressure on the environment thus allowing for transition to new models of development. This will in turn will avoid crossing critical local, regional and global environmental threshold.
Food systems transformation a ‘silver lining’ in COVID crisis: UN deputy chief (UN News)
More than 500 delegates from 108 countries attended in-person, while thousands more joined virtually. Participants included government officials, smallholder farmers, producers, indigenous people, women and youth. “This meeting has shown us that there’s a silver lining to this COVID crisis: Food systems are a priority area for transformative investments, that can lead the transitions that we need to make,” said Ms. Mohammed. “Only by working together – as one people, in solidarity – can we have a sustainable and prosperous planet for all.” The Rome gathering paves the path to the UN Food Systems Summit in September, where countries will underline the need to transform how the world produces, consumes and thinks about food.
Stepping Up to Meet Low-Income Countries’ Pandemic Recovery Needs (Inter Press Service)
Low-income countries have been hard hit by the pandemic. Their large financing needs are only likely to grow as they deal with the crisis and its economic aftermath. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a far-reaching package of support that would expand their access to financial assistance at zero-interest rates, while providing stronger safeguards against taking on debt they cannot handle. For these efforts to succeed, economically stronger member countries will have to play their part.
Looking ahead, low-income countries will continue to require exceptional levels of external financial support as they recover from the pandemic, and boost investment to build more resilient and inclusive economies. Against this backdrop, the IMF has approved a package of far-reaching reforms to the PRGT to allow it to better respond to the financing needs of low-income countries over the next few years.
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National
Cyber Attack Harms Key African Port Network Hitting Citrus, Cars (Bloomberg)
A devastating cyber attack at South Africa’s state-owned ports and freight-rail operator that hobbled trade at key container terminals led the company to declare its second force majeure this month. Transnet took the measure after a July 22 security breach that forced the company to manually process container shipments at affected ports. It covered the Port of Durban, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest container hub, as well as the Ngqura, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town harbors. Transnet said Tuesday it’s made “significant progress” in restoring its computer systems, though companies including manganese producer Assmang maintained force majeures of their own that were first declared after deadly riots erupted on July 10 and temporarily shut key logistics arteries. The port disruptions are hurting citrus farmers in the country, which is the world’s biggest shipper of the fruits after Spain, in the middle of their export season. They’re also weighing on shipments from the auto industry, which accounts for about 14% of South Africa’s total export value.
4 South African ports working to reopen after cyberattack (AP News)
Four of South Africa’s largest ports are starting to reopen after having been closed by a cyberattack, the country’s state-owned rail and ports operator Transnet said Tuesday. The ports of Durban, Cape Town, Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) and Ngqura were forced to shut as the result of a cyberattack that started on July 22. The ports have begun functioning manually instead of through computer operations, Transnet said. “The terminals are berthing vessels as planned and facilitating loading and discharge operations with the shipping lines,” said the statement. “It is expected that some applications may continue to run slowly over the next few days, while monitoring continues,” the company said. “All operating systems will be brought back in a staggered manner, to minimize further risks and interruptions.”
Shipping liners reset network to serve Lamu (The East African)
Maersk Line and CMA CGM, two of the world’s largest container shipping liners, are redesigning their network to serve both the new Lamu port of Kenya and the traditional port of Mombasa. Maersk is targeting the Mombasa to Felixstowe and Rotterdam ports, by providing a single transshipment product via Salalah, in Yemen. Managing director Carl Lorenz said, “We welcome the redesign of our ocean network from Salalah which will connect our Kenyan customers’ cargo to Europe through a single transshipment. This enhancement ensures peace of mind to Kenya exporters by injecting more resilience, predictability, and reliability into our customers’ supply chains, particularly essential for perishable cargo from Kenya.” CMA CGM this month signed a memorandum of partnership with the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Bandari Maritime Academy and will increase its fleet to serve Mombasa and Lamu Port and also offer sea time training to BMA learners.
The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today (27 July) welcomed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to Mansion House in London to announce £132 million of new UK investment in Kenya. He also launched the Nairobi International Financial Centre, and its formal partnership with the City of London. At the start of a three-day visit to the UK to co-host the Global Education Summit with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Kenyatta witnessed the signing of a new memorandum of understanding between TheCityUK and the Nairobi International Financial Centre Authority, establishing a formal partnership, including closer collaboration with the London Stock Exchange. This will help to channel international investment into Kenya and the wider region, making sure firms and investors are able to make the most of trade and investment opportunities.
Kenya, UK to digitise trade after signing the EPA agreement (The East African)
The Kenya-UK EPA allows Kenyan products unfettered access to the British market, free of duty and quota restrictions. On Monday, July 26, Kenyan-based non-profit making organisation TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), and the UK-based Institute of Export and International Trade ((IOE&IT), signed a memorandum of understanding providing a framework for collaboration in the implementation of a digital trade corridor between the UK and Kenya. The Agreement, which was signed in London, provides for the implementation of the UK-Kenya Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP), which aims to eliminate paperwork and introduce much better visibility up and down supply chains that flow between the two countries.
UK opens up Market for Malawi’s Agro-Business Sector (Malawi Nyasa Times)
Malawi’s largest development partner, the UK Government, has announced that they are geared to opening up the Agro-business trade and investment for its former protectorate, Malawi as a way to get more Malawian products on the British retail shelves. British High Commissioner to Lilongwe, David Beer, said: “We would like to make Malawi’s Agro-business sector more competitive than the neighbours and we need to get more Malawian agro-products on the UK market.” Beer said the UK is looking at developing countries like Malawi to access the UK agro-business market as a way to boost the sector.
Tanzania strategises to up trade through Agoa (The Citizen)
Tanzania has expressed its commitment to pulling up its socks in undertaking a number of measures in an effort to boost export to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). As envisioned in the National Agoa Strategy 2016, the measures according to the Industry and Trade Ministry, include: cutting operational costs to spar production, building a Tanzania-US traders network and improving business environment through the blueprint which sets a stage for a raft of amendments to policy and regulatory reforms.
Nigeria receives $2.78 billion foreign inflows in H1 2021, 61% drop from H1 2020 (Nairametrics)
Nigeria received a sum of $2.78 billion as foreign inflows in the first half of 2021, representing a 61.1% decline compared to the $7.15 billion received in the corresponding period of 2020. This is contained in the capital importation report, recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for Q1 and Q2 2021. According to the report, foreign direct investments stood at $232.74 million as against $362.84 million recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Africa
Small business owners yet to know benefits of AfCFTA – Osinbajo (Daily Trust)
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday lamented that small business owners in the country are yet to know the benefits they derive from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. Osinbajo, who spoke in Abuja while declaring open a two-day programme on Organised Private Sector in Nigeria Roundtable Dialogue on Potential Impact of AfCFTA agreement called for more sensitisation of the Medium, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The vice president, who was represented by Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, noted that the sensitisation was imperative to ensure that the MSMEs in the country benefited from the continental market. While presenting his report titled: “Continental Integration and the Nigerian Economy”, he said it focused on the effect of AfCFTA on MSMEs in the country adding that the report was to fill the knowledge gap on the possible effects of AfCFTA on the economy.
U.S. Trade Chief Plans Summit to Discuss Africa Duty-Free Access (Bloomberg)
The U.S.’s trade chief plans to convene a meeting with African ministers before the end of the year to strengthen partnerships and discuss a law that provides duty-free access to the U.S. for thousands of goods from sub-Saharan nations. “It is important that we meet despite the pandemic to discuss how we can build on the successes of the African Growth and Opportunity Act,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Corporate Council on Africa’s U.S.-Africa Business Summit Tuesday. She added the U.S. wants to collaborate on labor and environment standards, anti-corruption, and good regulatory practices, and helping small businesses succeed and find new markets for their products.
Biden revives Trump’s Africa business initiative; focus on energy, health (Reuters)
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new push to expand business ties between U.S. companies and Africa, with a focus on clean energy, health, agribusiness and transportation infrastructure on the continent. U.S. industry executives welcomed the interest, but said dollar flows will lag until the administration wraps up its lengthy review of Trump administration trade measures and sets a clear policy on investments in liquefied natural gas. Dana Banks, senior director for Africa at the White House National Security Council, told a conference the administration planned to “re-imagine” and revive Prosper Africa, an initiative launched by former-President Donald Trump in 2018, as the “centerpiece of U.S. economic and commercial engagement with Africa.”
The broad objective of this study is to undertake research on development perspectives of an integrated agro-industrial ecosystem in Africa that the African Development Bank (AfDB) has developed and termed Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs). The SAPZ model is conceptualised by the Bank as its brand for a spatial development solution in the rural landscape aimed at the achievement of agricultural transformation across the continent. The study is conceived as a ‘knowledge product’ which is intended to provide relevant information and policy guidance that can be useful to the Bank for the design and programming of the SAPZ model. As a knowledge product relevant to the planning and implementation of SAPZs, the study: (i) defines and explains important conceptual and strategic questions; analyses key policy issues and institutional factors; and (ii) presents and interprets empirical evidence from a selection of abridged case studies drawn from existing agro- industrial experiences covering farming, intermediate agriculture, fisheries and forestry activities.
Allow National Switches to Integrate Into Pan African Payments And Settlement System – VP Bawumia (The Presidency, Republic of Ghana)
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has called on the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to re-examine the strategy it is currently using to implement a centralized payment and settlement system for intra-African trade and commerce payments. The Pan African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS), developed by the Afreximbank is the first centralized payment market infrastructure for processing, clearing and settling of intra-African trade and commerce payments. It is expected to facilitate payments as well as formalise some of the unrecorded trade due to prevalence of informal cross-border trade in Africa.
Kagame calls for sustainable food systems to halt overreliance on imports (The East African)
Rwandan President Paul Kagame Monday called for more inclusive, sustainable and holistic approaches to the world's food systems, as Africa strives to stop its overreliance on food imports. “For Africa our central goal is to halt our continent’s overreliance on food imports and malnutrition and create millions of new jobs in the food economy,” he said. “In doing so we’ll strike the right balance between people and the planet. The political commitment generated today is essential for solidifying the global partnerships needed to sustain the success of this historic process.”
Global
How to cushion consumers from high maritime freight rates (UNCTAD)
Containerized shipping underpins the transport and delivery of global manufactured goods, including inputs, parts, components and consumer goods. A set of COVID-19 pandemic-induced factors have combined to cause the strain on the maritime supply chain currently underway in the liner shipping industry. First among them is the unexpected and unprecedented swift rebound in containerized trade enabled by an early and rapid recovery in China. Second, the turnaround time for containers, trailers, and ships in ports and intermodal transport links is slower than normal, as ports, transport providers and shippers have to comply with health regulations and social distancing. Third, supply capacity is not growing fast enough to catch up with demand and the ability of ports to adjust is more constrained than that of shipping lines.
WTO fails to agree to medical waiver that could unlock Covid-19 vaccine supply (Fin24)
World Trade Organization countries failed anew on Tuesday to agree a proposal to suspend intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines in order to boost production and fill a void in poor nations. SA and India have been pushing for a temporary waiver of some IP rights on vaccines and other treatments, which could allow local manufacturers to produce the shots. The two countries have argued that this is essential to address inequitable supply.
WTO states held talks at the global body’s headquarters in Geneva but could not reach a consensus, WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell told reporters following nine months of discussions on what he called a “very emotional issue.”
World Economic Outlook Update: Fault Lines Widen in the Global Recovery (IMF)
Economic prospects have diverged further across countries since the April 2021 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast. Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line along which the global recovery splits into two blocs: those that can look forward to further normalization of activity later this year (almost all advanced economies) and those that will still face resurgent infections and rising COVID death tolls. The recovery, however, is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere.
A holistic and coordinated approach is urgently needed to transform agri-food systems and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This was the call made by the QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to world leaders participating in the opening today of the Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit. “Our agri-food systems are not delivering properly, and in many parts of the world these systems were not efficient, inclusive and sustainable,” Qu said, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the situation. “We need to change policies, mind-sets, and business models,” he told participants at the Pre-Summit opening ceremony that saw the participation of dozens of heads of state and government, ministers and other high-level representatives, some present in person while others connected by video.
Working group on small business close to finalizing ministerial declaration (WTO)
Group members discussed the draft declaration for MC12, focusing on reaching consensus on a few bracketed areas of the text where an issue is still under consideration. They resolved differences on most parts of the text while agreeing to further consultation on a few remaining issues. The draft declaration states the Group’s commitment to address challenges facing MSMEs seeking to trade internationally. It recognizes the negative impact of COVID-19 on small business and the need for a global coordinated response to help MSMEs recover from the pandemic. It also takes stock of the Group’s work since it was established at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December 2017, including the adoption of a package of six recommendations and declarations in December 2020.
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National
Transnet cyber attack confirmed: Port terminals division declares force majeure (Moneyweb)
In an unprecedented move, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) declared force majeure on Monday following the ongoing fallout from a cyber attack last week which hit the entire Transnet Group, South Africa’s state-run ports operator and freight rail monopoly. While the group has tried to play down the hacking – initially describing it as a “disruption on its IT network” – TPT’s confidential force majeure letter to customers on Monday confirmed that it is “an act of cyber-attack, security intrusion and sabotage”.
The letter is titled ‘Declaration of force majeure for Transnet Port Terminals container terminals in the Ports of Durban, Ngqura, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town – confidential notice to customers’. It was sent out by TPT chief executive Velile Dube. This confirms a major blow for Transnet Group, with TPT being one of its biggest and most important divisions. TPT operates the container handing facilities at Durban – sub-Saharan Africa’s busiest container port – as well as container terminals in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape ports of Ngqura and Port Elizabeth.
Namibia remains net importer of white maize …domestic demand still not met (New Era)
Namibia remains a net importer of white maize due to supply constraints faced by farmers, coupled with adverse climatic conditions. This year’s outlook on the local production of white maize from April to June 2021, shows the traditional harvesting season, is positive and some even expect a bumper harvest due to good rains received in the early months of 2021. However, should local demand outweighs local production, Namibia will be forced to import white maize, most likely from the country’s main trading partner, South Africa. The High Economic Intelligence (HEI) anticipates that the importation of white maize from South Africa in the coming months will be negatively affected due to compromised road infrastructure and supply chain disruptions as a result of the recent social unrest in that country.
Kenya, UK to use blockchain tech to free up trade logistics (The Star, Kenya)
An initiative to free up two-way trade between the UK and Kenya was launched in London on Monday. This was through the signing of an MoU between the Institute of Export and International Trade and TradeMark East Africa at the Kenya High Commission in London. The MoU provides a framework for collaboration to implement a digital trade corridor between the UK and Kenya. The UK-Kenya Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP) aims at eliminating paperwork and introduce a digital process that increases visibility up and down the supply chains.
Kenya, South Sudan abolish visa requirement for their nationals (The East African)
Kenya and South Sudan Monday announced an end to visa requirements for their nationals visiting the two countries in the latest move to boost integration. The decision means South Sudanese travelling to Kenya will be entitled to enter for free, as long as they carry a valid passport and meet other health conditions for travellers. In return, Kenyans will no longer need to apply and pay for South Sudanese visas online before travel. Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau said the move was in line with existing integration protocol at the East African Community. The countries said the move is in line with the treaty establishing the East African Community’s Common Market Protocol, an agreement providing for the free movement of labour and people from the member states.
Gold sustaining exports growth, says Finance Ministry (Daily Monitor)
Uganda’s earnings from commodity exports increased by 6.7 per cent, growing to $455.2m in May from $426.5m in April. According to the Ministry of Finance Monthly Performance of the Economy report for June, the growth was due to higher receipts from mainly non-coffee exports, among them mineral products, electricity, tea and beans among others. Gold, a key component in the mineral exports category, has become a major revenue earner for Uganda, making up at least 44 per cent of export receipts. However, the merchandise trade deficit widened by 50 per cent on a month-on-month basis from $269.2m in April to $322.1m in May. This was mainly on account of an increase in the import bill, which more than offset the growth in export receipts over the same period.
Tanzania snags South Sudan as market for maize, cereals (The East African)
The Cereals and Other Produce Board of Tanzania (CPB) will start exporting maize and other cereals to South Sudan after securing market in the country. Following a visit to Juba last month, the CPB director general Dr Anselm Moshi said they would export about 200,000 tonnes of cereals, starting with 60,000 tonnes of white sorghum this season. CPB is now in discussions with the World Food Programme over 50,000 tonnes of maize it wants to sell in the next harvesting season, to be distributed in South Sudan. Already, the CBP has entered into a partnership with Kapari Ltd to open warehouses in Nairobi, for storing 102,000 tonnes of maize in transit to South Sudan, said Dr Moshi. Minister for Agriculture Prof Adolf Mkenda said that Tanzania is now searching for maize and other grain markets in the region, taking advantage of the regional food markets. A team of is set to visit Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo to seek rice and maize markets.
Nigeria: The Lagos Free Zone – complete with port – aims to transform industrial growth (The Africa Report)
Many of those zones were designed by Singaporean planners, who learned from Japan, the famous ‘flying geese’ development model through which capital and know-how cascades from country to country. Will geese land in Nigeria? The country has 33 such zones. But only 15 are active, and the government has not fully backed them in the past. For instance, during Sanusi’s term as central bank governor, it did not allow repatriation of profits.
Pharmacists seek technological revolution in Nigeria’s pharma sector (Vanguard)
Nigerian pharmacists have called for technological enhancement of local drug production towards advancing pharmacy practice and medicine security in the country. Adelusi-Adeluyi, who is the President of the Nigerian Academy of Pharmacy, stressed that without technological advancement, the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry would be left behind. “If you are an analog person in a digital world, you will be left behind by the train of development,” Adelusi-Adeluyi remarked. In his keynote address, the President of the Industrial Pharmacy Section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation, Pharm Sola Solarin, called for what he described as “revolution of the mind” among pharmacists if they are to remain relevant professionally.
Charting A New Course For Economic Development Through Non-oil Export (LEADERSHIP)
When the federal government inaugurated the steering committee to implement its N50bn Export Expansion Facility Programme (EEFP) under its Economic Sustainability Plan, its focus was clear: While its primary goal is to increase Nigeria’s export capacity in the near term and its export volumes in the medium term; the EEFP aims to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-oil export businesses, thereby safeguarding jobs and creating new jobs as well as accelerating growth of non-oil sector to effectively diversify the Nigerian economy.
“The Ultimate aim of the Export Expansion Facility Programme as an intervention following the devastating economic effects of COVID-19 to exporters and MSMEs in Nigeria will be to save jobs, create jobs, support resilience in shoring up foreign exchange, diversification, modernisation of Nigeria’s economy and acceleration of economic growth and economic support,” Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo said.
Nigeria, Cameroon border bridge will facilitate free trade – Fashola (Vanguard)
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has said the construction of a new double lane bridge on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon will facilitate free trade. Fashola said this on Monday while inspecting the newly constructed 1.5km, two-lane bridge on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon in Ekot-Mfum, Etung Local Government Area of Cross River. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that construction of the bridge began on April 28, 2017 and was completed in March 2021 at the cost of $35.9 billion. Fashola said that the administration’s plan to renew and expand old infrastructure would take the two countries to the future for many more decades and strengthen the relationship between them.
‘There is great potential in our fisheries industry’ (The Point)
James F. P. Gomez, the minister of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters has said that The Gambia has great potential in the fisheries industry but was quick to add that, to achieve those potentials, “we need to develop certain issues in the industry.”
He further said “We want to have a situation where government can facilitate the involvement of more young people in the fisheries industry and ensure they have startup capital and/or equipment.” He noted that if all fisheries actors in the country come together as one they can make a big difference, adding that if fisheries is working in any country, it is because they have a common agenda. According to him, now is the time for Gambians to take over the fisheries industry.
AfCFTA Opportunity: Ghanaian women entrepreneurs urged to be innovative (BusinessGhana)
Madam Roslyn Ngeno, Senior Investment Expert, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has urged Ghanaian women entrepreneurs to venture into technical oriented fields to pioneer innovation and be competitive in the free trade market. Women entrepreneurship, she said played an important indicator for the country’s development agenda because their work impacted positively on the socio-economic wellbeing of society. She urged businesses to ensure that the quality and packaging of their products met standards to attract the attention of consumers.
Dr Angela Lusigi, the UNDP Resident Representative, said research indicated that over 70 per cent of cross-border traders, especially those engaged in informal trade were women, and that understanding their needs and giving them platform would enhance their businesses. She said to ensure that the promise for women yielded expected results, it was critical that the unique challenges they faced were brought to the fore for solutions to foster utilisation of opportunities in the AfCFTA.
Investing in Key Sectors to Help Nigeriens Recover From the Health and Security Crises (World Bank)
The Covid-19 pandemic crisis and the security situation continue to undermine the Nigerien economy, wiping out years of hard-won gains in poverty reduction. A number of fiscal policy options are, however, available to help the country enhance public expenditure efficiency and increase its GDP by up to 2%. These are the findings of the World Bank’s latest economic and poverty update for Niger, “Maximizing Public Expenditure Efficiency for Rebuilding Better“, published today.
Africa
Vaccine and Ventilator Shortages Show Need for African Free Trade (Bloomberg)
Although the spread of coronavirus has highlighted the urgency of the continent’s new free-trade pact, it’s also stalled progress on putting it to work. Trading under the new AfCFTA rules was supposed to start in July 2020, but travel restrictions delayed discussions to finalize the legal arrangements, and it’s unclear when they’ll be completed. The economic damage from Covid-19 could also complicate negotiations over cutting tariffs within Africa, which countries will have to do within five to 15 years, depending on the size of their economies. Duties are an important source of revenue, and some countries burdened by high levels of debt before the pandemic are counting on relief programs to ease the strain. “The AfCFTA is absolutely necessary for Africa; we don’t have a choice,” says Trudi Hartzenberg, executive director of the Trade Law Centre (tralac) in Stellenbosch, South Africa. “But we have to be realistic about what the states are capable and willing to do, and that’s become even more complicated and more complex with Covid-19.”
African Continental Free Trade Area Strongly supports bid of Made in Africa to buy Vlisco (Africanews)
It has been brought to the attention of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat that our strategic partner, a leading African financial institution supported a $200 million bid by Made in Africa to purchase Vlisco, a textile company that sells almost exclusively in Africa. Whilst we respect the rights of parties in a private transaction, as a matter of public interest for Africa’s market integration, regional and global competitiveness, we do find it curious that the bid of Made in Africa was rejected by the seller. We totally support the bid by Made in Africa, which is financially backed by one of the leading trade finance banks in Africa.
Vaccines, digital infrastructure will prosper Africa – WTO, US (Punch Newspapers)
The World Trade Organisation and the US Ambassador to the United Nations say access to vaccines, digital infrastructure and women and youth inclusion will propel economic prosperity in Africa. Okonjo-Iweala said: “We have to talk of one important thing that will bring Africa back on that sustainable path and that is the vaccine inequity. “The second is youths and digital. Our youths are our resource and more than 40 per cent of them are on the internet doing amazing things, starting amazing businesses. “The other is women and micro, medium and small enterprises inclusion. If we can empower our women and get liquidity to our micro, medium and small enterprises and both work in tandem, because about 50 per cent of many of these enterprises are owned by women, I think that will help us propel a recovery.”
African womens’ decade on financial & economic inclusion (The East African)
The African Union’s Strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) emphasises on the need for economic empowerment of women for Africa to achieve its goals for inclusive and sustainable development as envisioned in Agenda 2063. At the Global Gender Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda in November 2019, the idea for a dedicated period for Africa to work towards the financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women was proposed, as a means to eliminate obstacles that impede equality between men and women, through the implementation of innovative solutions to provide financial access to women.
What followed was the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government convened in February 2020 that took up the mantle and declared the years 2020 to 2030 as the Decade on Financial and Economic Inclusion for African Women. In their declaration, African leaders recommitted to scale up actions for progressive gender inclusion towards sustainable development at the national, regional and continental levels. “In addition to access to financial products, technologies and services, achieving financial inclusion for women would require overcoming socio-cultural norms and gender barriers.”
Continental Consultative Meeting held to develop an Africa Food Safety (IPPMedia)
Economic impact studies by the World Bank in 2018 estimated that unsafe foods cost sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, about $110 billion in lost productivity and medical expenses alone. African countries have also witnessed costly trade rejections and in some cases loss of market share due to trade in unsafe food. Despite the huge potential of Africa’s agricultural sector, the presence of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) risks and hazards are major constraints to Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda. Trading in safe food, thus, will require significant investment by both the public and private sector to improve compliance with internationally accepted food safety requirements.
Unfortunately, efforts by AU Member States to address food safety in their respective countries has not improved the overall situation in the continent because of different levels of capacities interms of operating functional and efficient national food safety control systems. Again, the capacity differential could undermine the integrity of the AfCFTA as some Member States may not have the requisite capacity to fully assert control and that could result in circulation of potentially unsafe or low quality food. The development of the AFSS therefore would empower all AU Member States to attain an acceptable threshold of capacity to effectively address food safety challenges and that would goa long way in building consumer trust, facilitate intra-African trade in food and boost confidence in the AfCFTA
Africa’s central goal is to halt over-reliance on food imports: Kagame (The New Times)
Africa Mobilizes Common Position for the upcoming UNFSS (IPPMedia)
To deliberate and validate a draft common position of Africa for the forthcoming United Nations Food System Summit (UNFSS) scheduled for September 2021. The UNFSS is aimed at galvanizing and pushing the world to take action to transform the world’s food systems as part of the Decade of Action to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will therefore bring together various stakeholders from the world of science, business, policy, healthcare, academia, farmers, indigenous people, youth organizations, and consumer groups and environmental activists among others to explore how to achieve that. The meeting, which was virtual, was to help establish a common position by African countries at the UNFSS, with focus on providing an aggregation of views on key issues that will shape the continent’s food systems over the next decade.
AfCFTA will help cocoa-producing countries to boost value addition – Wamkele Mene (Modern Ghana)
The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, H.E. Wamkele Mene, says the full implementation of the agreement will help cocoa-producing countries on the continent add value to their cocoa beans to boost revenue generation. Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria account for 68% of the global cocoa supply. Collectively, they produced 3.4 million tonnes out of a worldwide total of 5 million tonnes of the cocoa supply between 2019 to 2020. However, Africa’s cocoa-producing countries capture just 3% of global chocolate industry revenue as they continue to sell the product unprocessed. Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are the top cocoa producers in the world, and are responsible for producing up to 60% of the world’s cocoa, but receive less than 6% of the plant’s $100 billion (USD) global processed cocoa market share. To avert this, and as part of the efforts to earn better income from the industry, both countries are considering value-added processing and marketing or trading of processed cocoa.
Missing links as fintech adoption in Africa grows (Business Daily)
The internet and the mobile phone have made the world a village. Of the top 10 companies globally, five are technology-focused, linking people socially via connected devices. A buyer from one part of the world can see the product range from a seller on the polar opposite side and initiate an exchange. The existing hurdles are culture, currency, and logistics, which have many solutions to address them. The fintech sector in Africa over the past 24 months has received the lion’s share of investor attention and coins. Unfortunately, there seems to be a template, from which most are reading, predicated on being marketplaces.
SACU migration from HS 2017 to HS 2022 the benefits, progress and outlook to January 2022 (SACU)
Despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe, the work in SACU under the Programme continued virtually. The SACU and WCO Secretariats facilitated the two more Regional Meetings, one in July 2020 and another one in April 2021. The purpose of these Meetings were to take stock of progress made on the Activity Plan for the implementation of the HS 2022 amendments in SACU and discuss the way forward to ensure successful implementation of HS 2022 amendments by January 2022.
Looking forward to the rest of 2021 towards January 2022, an intense work programme lies ahead for SACU. It is expected that by October 2021, most of the work on preparation of amendments for implementation will be complete. After October, more work will be addressed at national level as Member States will be undertaking final national processes to meet the January 2022 target. Another Regional Meeting is also anticipated before January 2022 to make a final assessment of the Member States’ readiness.
SADC public debt increases, foreign investment shrinks (News24)
Public debt for SADC (Southern African Development Community) member states is expected to worsen this year and surpass 60% of their GDP, largely due to investment in the public health system to curb the spread of Covid-19. According to the latest pdf SADC Regional Economic Performance and The Business Environment in 2020 and Medium-Term Prospects report (1.13 MB) , public debt for member states is forecasted to increase to 69% of GDP this year.
Although FDI flows in Africa are expected to decline by between 25% to 40% due to the pandemic, Africa could draw some strength from the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, which came into effect in January. “In addition, investment initiatives for Africa by major developed and emerging economies could help the recovery. In 2019, FDI flows to Africa had already declined by 10% to $45 billion. Increased FDI flows to some of the continent’s major economies, including Egypt, were offset by reductions in others, such as Nigeria and South Africa.”
Fresh bid to market EA as a single tourist destination (The East African)
Tanzania has in the past been opposed to the protocol on grounds that it proposes to promote the use of an EAC Single Tourist Visa (STV) as a means of collecting revenue in the tourism sector. The argument back then was that, the country stood to lose revenue in case tourists chose to visit Tanzania via another country as the entry point into the region, thus paying visa fees to that country. Now, Tanzania wants the application of STV to be managed by Immigration departments as opposed to having it under the tourism docket. The proposed amendment calls for use of a Single Tourist Visa for the six EAC partner states among other proposals, and which has been a subject of delays. It will now be forwarded to the Council of Ministers for adoption.
Private Sector a top priority for EAC integration process, says Secretary General (EAC)
The Secretary General of the EAC, Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki has reaffirmed EAC’s commitment to make the private sector a top priority in driving the regional integration agenda. Dr. Mathuki said that the private sector was the engine of regional integration and therefore called for the private sector in the region to bring to the table the challenges the sector encounters. The Secretary General informed his guests about plans to steer the EAC bloc to greater heights by spearheading EAC economic recovery from Covid-19 and repositioning the bloc into opportunities availed by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Dr Mathuki urged the private sector in the region to work closely with the youth by creating mentorship programmes which will not only give the youth experience and provide opportunities for self-employment, but will also develop a succession plan for the business community.
COMESA Develops a Virtual Knowledge Management Portal on Climate Change (COMESA)
COMESA Secretariat through the Climate Change Programme has developed a virtual knowledge management portal. The portal is intended to promote national and regional sharing of information on diverse activities on climate action being undertaken in the region. The portal was activated on 14 July 2021 during a webinar which brought together COMESA Member States and non-members. It was developed by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), a longstanding COMESA partner and will be populated with content by users (Member States). The portal is expected to increase understanding of critical issues around climate change, while providing a broad knowledge-hub to strengthen cooperation between technical organisations and Member States. It will respond to the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) pilot programmes coordinated by COMESA involving five member states: Eswatini, Madagascar, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.
Africa wants to produce a coronavirus vaccine – and Big Pharma’s not happy (POLITICO)
Africa is poised to make a bold move that could turn around its fortunes in coronavirus vaccine manufacturing – taking the continent from import dependence to self-sufficient production of life-saving jabs for coronavirus, TB and maybe even one day for HIV. Two manufacturers are establishing an mRNA vaccine technology-transfer hub at the tip of the continent that could let it produce its own vaccines, on its own terms. It’s a way to address just how exposed countries are if they don’t have their own vaccine manufacturing capacity. Africa imports about 99 percent of routine immunizations – and is the least vaccinated against coronavirus in the world. One counter-measure to address this dearth of vaccines kicked off in October 2020, when South Africa and India, scrambling for options, proposed an intellectual property waiver at the World Trade Organization. The move would allow lower-income countries to produce coronavirus vaccines without fear of infringing on patents. The proposal has remained deadlocked, with the EU being the major blocker. But even if the proposal were accepted, it wouldn’t address one important problem – how to actually produce the vaccines.
Preparations for the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) 13th U.S.-Africa Business Summit being held virtually on July 27 – 29, 2021 are well under way. The Summit is CCA’s flagship conference that is considered essential for those doing business on the continent as well as the U.S. and African leaders shaping U.S.-Africa economic engagement. The theme of this year’s Summit is “New Pathways to a Stronger U.S.-Africa Economic Partnership” and will focus on the unique opportunity for the new U.S. Administration and its African partners to reset and redefine their relationship, working together to shape the path for economic recovery needed as a result of the COVID pandemic.
Much has happened since the last U.S.-Africa Business Summit held in Maputo, Mozambique in 2019. As countries and companies look to recover from the health and economic impacts of the COVID pandemic, 2021 presents a special time and opportunity to relaunch and even redefine the commitment to developing and, more importantly, implementing business-friendly initiatives and policies that foster a stronger U.S.-Africa economic partnership.
How US Exports to Africa Help Fight Global Poverty (Borgen Project)
Despite being the second most populous continent, Africa represents only about 1% of U.S. trade goods. The value of trade to Africa continues to decline while China grows as the largest trading partner of the continent. The U.S. has a history of passing legislation to reverse this trend, first with the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 and then with Prosper Africa under the previous administration, both attempting to strengthen trade ties. However, these initiatives did not significantly increase U.S. exports to Africa because of a lack of direct support to potential investors and a lack of trade-enabling environments.
An undiscovered land – trading with Africa (RNZ)
The latest tensions between New Zealand and China have renewed the push to find more trading partners, but few people are talking about a brand new trading block with 1.2 billion people and a growing middle class. “Africa is a continent that has a huge amount of opportunity and potential that we have undercooked so far,” says Esther Guy-Meakin, who handles trade and strategy for the Meat Industry Association. The industry itself exports $34 million worth of product to African nations, a tiny fraction of its total $9.2 billion of exports.
Guy-Meakin points to the challenges of exporting to Africa and the fact that New Zealand does not have long-standing traditional trade relationships with the region. “It is a more difficult part of the world to export to,” she says. “And there are a variety of reasons. “There are a range of tricky import requirements in many of those countries. Those issues take a lot of time and resource to resolve and to date that has held back trade with Africa.”
Global
Turbulent prices on the high seas: Are calmer waters on the horizon? (UNCTAD)
The maritime industry and ports are capital-intensive sectors. They’ve transitioned over the decades, based on the principle of economies of scale, massification and the integration of several key players into giant logistics supply chains. Over the last few months, a series of negative shocks that have rippled in a short period at an unprecedented scale have exposed serious weaknesses in global supply chains. These include trade imbalances, lockdowns (full and partial), quarantines, shortages of critical staff, scarcity of medical supply, high dependency on self-limited factories around the world, operational challenges beyond existing scenarios and sophisticated cyberattacks. The global transport and logistics system is built on taking advantage of optimal costs of inputs and creating added value around the world with the lowest possible maritime transport costs.
An inclusive COVID-19 recovery needs reliable and timely data (UNCTAD)
“Policymakers need timely economic data and more granular information to detect inequalities that may have been exacerbated by the health crisis,” said UNCTAD senior statistician, Anu Peltola. “Also, more transparency is needed on financial leakages, especially illicit financial flows, to harness resources for an equitable recovery,” she added. The pandemic has exacerbated imbalances and disrupted progress towards the 2030 Agenda, making it crucial to keep an eye on inequalities. “International trade affects these imbalances with differentiated impacts across society, including on women and men,” Ms. Peltola said. She said policymakers need better indicators to shed light on gender issues in trade.
WTO’s Holiday From Vaccine Equity Talks Draws Calls for Action (Bloomberg)
An urgent global effort to rebalance the inequity between rich, vaccinated nations and poor nations sliding further into pandemic misery is colliding with an immovable calendar conflict: the European summer holiday. Next week World Trade Organization delegates are planning to depart Geneva for their August break and, in doing so, pause their fractious debate over a proposal to waive intellectual-property protections for Covid-19 shots until the second week of September. Before they leave, members will adopt a report that acknowledges they’ve made scant headway on the proposal aimed at making doses more widely available, which the world’s top health expert says is critical to ending a “moral failure.” “With so many lives on the line, profits and patents must come second,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual summit last week.
Africa Must Build Vaccine-Making Capacity, WTO Chief Says (Bloomberg)
Opposing countries must stop filibustering negotiations on ‘TRIPS Waiver’ at WTO (MFS Campaign)
As countries prepare for the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council meeting tomorrow, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged the European Union (EU), Norway, the UK, and Switzerland to stop stalling the landmark proposal to waive intellectual property (IP) on lifesaving COVID-19 medical tools at the WTO, and join forces with more than 100 countries supporting it by openly engaging in formal negotiations to expedite the consensus. Since the proposal was first tabled nearly 10 months ago, the pandemic has worsened and increasingly hit many countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia, with the disease having killed officially more than 4 million people globally.
Dr Tom Ellman, director of MSF’s Southern Africa Medical Unit, said: “It is outrageous to see countries blocking the TRIPS Waiver that is desperately needed as an important tool to remove legal barriers and allow production to be scaled up by multiple manufacturers for critical COVID-19 drugs, diagnostics and vaccines.”
Vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa is urgent (The East African)
The Group of Seven (G7), at the G7 Summit in Cornwall, recently committed to immediately share at least 870 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, supporting global access and helping to end the acute phase of the pandemic. The G-7 leaders also reaffirmed their support for the UN-led equitable vaccine distribution initiative Covax. Though the move is a step in the right direction and has been welcomed, a global vaccination plan is still needed.
The pandemic is exacerbating pre-existing challenges and will have grave and long-term socio-economic implications, making it ever harder for countries in the region to achieve pre-pandemic objectives and the Sustainable Development Goals. Covid-19 has reinforced tendencies to further shrink political space and derail democratic processes, challenged the implementation of reforms and peace agreements and slowed down peace talks. Lockdowns reduced economic activity and constrained the operations of governmental institutions and aid agencies, further straining service delivery.
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National
Strengthening economic co-operation between South Africa and China (IOL)
China’s economy, which accounts for 18% of global GDP, is characterised by near-frantic planning, consolidation and expansion activities. The economic growth rate of 18.3% in the first quarter of this year will, according to the World Bank, result in an annual growth of between 8% and 9% for 2021. As the world’s largest market and with huge consumption potential, the Chinese current “dual” approach of enhancing domestic economic activity while reinforcing international economic interaction, will provide exciting new trade and investment opportunities inter alia for South Africa, Africa and the developing world .This was one of the key messages that emerged from a productive and useful China-South Africa Trade and Investment Roundtable in Hangzhou, capital of China’s prosperous Zhejiang province, last week with the theme “A New Development pattern with New Opportunities”.
The new World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework (CPF) is aimed at supporting cooperation with South Africa in its efforts to stimulate investment and job creation as the country recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on lives, livelihoods, and the economy. The strategy covers five years from 2022 to 2026.
South Africa continues to experience significant challenges that are compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 7% in 2020 and the fiscal deficit is estimated to have reached 12.9% of GDP resulting in rising public debt which reached 78.8% of GDP in 2020. The number of people living in extreme poverty increased by an estimated 10% in 2020, and the most vulnerable continue to be disproportionally affected by the economic fallout from the pandemic. The WBG will focus on three broad areas under the new CPF: (i) increased competition and an improved business environment; (ii) strengthened micro, small, and medium enterprises and skills development to boost job creation; and (iii) improvements in the infrastructure investment framework and selected infrastructure services.
Day-old chicks crisis hits Kenya after new tax cuts production (Business Daily)
The country has been hit by a shortage of day-old chicks after the State introduced a 25 percent excise duty on imported fertilised eggs from July 1, a poultry industry association has said. The Kenya Poultry Breeders Association (KPBA) said production of day-old chicks would drop by 28.57 percent to one million this week from an average of 1.4 million per week. Hatcheries have been relying on imported fertilised eggs from Turkey to meet the high demand from local egg incubators amid disruption caused by the Covid-19. In the newly passed Finance Act 2021, all imported eggs attract two types of excise duty such as fresh/table eggs (tariff 0407.21, 0407.29 and 0407.90) and fertilised eggs for incubation/hatching (tariff 0407.11 and 0407.19).
Sugar imports up 9pc in May on increased demand (Business Daily)
The volume of sugar imports grew by nine percent in May as the government covered for a slump in domestic production, a new report shows, cushioning consumers from a potential rise in prices of the sweetener. The Sugar Directorate data indicates the volumes imported in the review period stood at 24,735 tonnes up from 23,138 in the corresponding period last year. Enhanced imports have seen a kilo of the sweetener drop to Sh109 a kilo from an average of Sh117 in the same period last year. “Imports amounted to 24,735 tonnes in May 2021. The white refined sugar imports totalled 8,120 tonnes while mill white/brown was 16,615 tonnes,” said the directorate in the monthly report.
WTO working to facilitate trade, investments in Nigeria – Okonjo-Iweala (The Punch)
The Director-General, World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the global trade agency was working to facilitate trade and investments in Nigeria. She explained that the WTO under her leadership was involved in the actualisation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to enable Nigeria to benefit more economically. This, she said, would generate more industries, manufacturing, and also increase trade between Nigeria and other countries.
“One of the things I’m thinking about now is how the WTO can help support trade and investment in the country. How can we help with the actualisation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement? We have the largest population and the largest market. “In order for us to benefit more from the trade, we have to add value to our own products and so, we have an investment facilitation agreement here at the WTO that we are negotiating. Once we do that, it’s something that can create a better environment to attract investment.”
Nigerian companies manipulate govt concessions in N4.8trn manufacturing, exports trade (Vanguard)
There are indications that companies operating in the Nigeria’s manufacturing sector may be manipulating the tariff concessions in foreign trade in manufactured goods valued at over N4.8 trillion in the first quarter of 2021. Details of the manufacturing trade statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, shows that rather than produce locally under the concessionary tariff, the goods are imported. Moreover, the same round-tripping is said to be going on in export manufacturing where concessions are used to import the items and then re-export them. Consequently, on both counts huge foreign exchange is expended in supporting local manufactures that are heavily import dependent.
Manufacturers, importers stranded over N6.5m duty on transit goods (Guardian)
Still reeling from the effects of Nigeria’s border closure on its economy, the government of the Republic of Benin has imposed new import duty of CFA9 million (N6.5 million) per transit truck on Nigeria-bound cargoes transiting through the country, which are exempted from all forms of duty under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocols on transit goods.
In what appeared to be payback over Nigeria’s closure of some borders in 2019 that lasted more than a year, the Republic of Benin, two weeks ago, stopped 3,700 Nigerian-bound cargo-laden trucks from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo at Ilakoji – the border between Togo and the Benin Republic. It was gathered that the Benin authorities claimed it suspected the goods were not produced in West Africa. By law, a transit good is not supposed to be charged for import duties in the transiting country, it is expected to just pass through but the trapped trucks can still not cross the Ilakoji and Seme border up till date, according to importers. Many of the importers lamented that majority of the goods were billed to be sold during last week’s Sallah festival but they could not move them down to Nigeria, which has resulted in heavy losses as some have even collected part payment from their customers.
Nigeria, UAE to track illegal gold trade – Minister (Vanguard)
The federal government in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to track huge illegal movement of gold from Nigeria to Dubai. Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, announced this in the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum. According to Adegbite, Nigeria government is currently negotiating a bilateral agreement with the UAE to check every gold entering Dubai from Nigeria. He noted that huge quantity of gold were being moved from Nigeria illegally on a daily basis to Dubai, adding that the gold passed through UAE police freely unknown to them that royalties were not paid to Nigeria.
Partnership with Private Sector is Key in Closing Rwanda’s Infrastructure Gap (World Bank)
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has pushed the Rwandan economy into recession in 2020 for the first time since 1994, according to the World Bank’s latest Rwanda Economic Update. The 17th edition of the Rwanda Economic Update: The Role of the Private Sector in Closing the Infrastructure Gap, says that the economy shrank by 3.7 percent in 2020, as measures implemented to limit the spread of the coronavirus and ease pressures on health systems brought economic activity to a near standstill in many sectors. Although the economy is set to recover in 2021, the report notes the growth is projected to remain below the pre-pandemic average through 2023.
Algeria Economic Monitor: Accelerating Reforms to Protect the Algerian Economy (World Bank)
While the Algerian economy showed signs of recovery during the second half of 2020, firms and workers have been deeply affected by the economic recession. The temporary decline in international oil prices further deteriorated the fiscal balance, banking liquidity and the external balance, despite the depreciation of the Algerian dinar. The economic outlook points to a fragile recovery throughout 2021, and its sustainability hinges on the acceleration of reforms to foster private sector growth and restore macroeconomic balances. GDP is expected to grow by 3.7 % in 2021 and 3.3% in 2022, when it is expected to reach its pre-pandemic level. While the Algerian economy is expected to benefit from the rebound in gas production in 2021, the recovery in non-hydrocarbon sectors is expected to be slow and gradual.
New IMF reports
IMF Staff Completes Virtual 2021 Article IV Mission to the Republic of Congo
IMF Executive Board Concludes 2021 Article IV Consultation with Côte d’Ivoire
Africa
Establishment of AfCFTA to boost Economic growth, strengthen integration in Africa – Amadi (Blueprint)
A Legal Practitioner, Mr Ebenezer Amadi has said that the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was set to boost the trade and economic growth of Africa and to strengthen integration among African country. He stated that the market designed to contribute to the movement of capital and natural persons and facilitate investments building on the initiatives and developments in the State Parties and RECs; Lay the foundation for the establishment of a Continental Customs Union at a later stage; promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development, gender equality and structural transformation of the State parties, enhance the competitiveness of the economies of State Parties within the continent and the global market.
AfCFTA Prosperity Requires More African Seafarers, Ships and Ports (The Maritime Executive)
The standard expectation would be that AfCFTA trading – taking place on a continent of few islands and many landlocked states – would happen mostly by rail, road or plane. In fact, the first goods traded under the AfCFTA regime were carried by ship from a Ghanaian cosmetics company to Guinea on 4 January. AfCFTA interconnectedness is needed to drive economic growth and development across the continent in the coming years. Africa’s maritime industries and actors will be vital in achieving this outcome, as sea transport offers the cheapest and fastest way of moving the largest quantity of goods across long distances.
African decision makers must prioritise the expansion and improvement of the continent’s maritime transport infrastructure, which struggles to deal with the current level of import and export. The development of port infrastructure in most African countries lags behind the rest of the world – only three African ports are featured on the 2020 list of top 100 global container ports. High freight rates, poor turnaround time in cargo clearance, and inadequate storage capacities are just some of the many problems that strain African ports’ competitiveness.
Why AfCFTA will not succeed – GUTA explains (GhanaWeb)
Since the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in January this year, it has been fraught with some challenges. Key among these stumbling blocks is the global pandemic, coronavirus. Though the AfCFTA Secretariat is trying its best to make this a dream come true, the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) believes the initiative will not flourish as expected. According to the President of the Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, data on the Free Trade Area is scanty hence, depriving traders of knowing the advantages of AfCFTA. Dr Obeng, addressing the press during the week intimated that AfCFTA will only be successful if African countries solely trade in goods manufactured in their country of origin to prevent dumping.
“Continental Free Trade Area will not succeed… it can never succeed until we have made conscious efforts to industrialize Africa…. It’s about time that the Continental Free Trade Area let the citizens of Africa know the dos and don’ts. If they are multi-dumping, they should let us know so that if a country has gotten its law discourages dumping, then everybody understands that it is never in contradiction with the rules and engagement that is set by the Continental Free Trade.”
Africa-based firms still keen to expand despite AfCFTA enactment challenges (The East African)
African countries continue to face substantial financing gaps as they take on projects of all sizes in pursuit of development. To tackle the slowdown in foreign direct investment since the onset of the pandemic, some African countries are actively courting their diaspora and looking for pockets of cash-rich businesses around the continent. Each country is on its own development trajectory. However, continental and regional initiatives, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), are being harnessed as broad-based wealth-creation vehicles.
But to ensure that the AfCFTA serves as a framework for progress, development and inclusive economic growth of Africa, Amadi said that policy makers should make supportive complementary policies designed to support structural transformations, complementary policies such as consumer protection and competition policies need to be put in place.
Small and medium-scale enterprises in Africa continue to face trade facilitation challenges despite improvements achieved on the continent as data for 34 countries. According to the Fourth United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation released last week by the UN regional commissions, countries across the globe are moving towards a seamless and efficient trading environment within and beyond national borders by simplifying and digitalizing formalities in international trading. This is helping to sustain international trade despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it reveals.
Push for production of virus vaccines within EAC (The Citizen)
The East African Community (EAC) bloc must invest in the production of Covid-19 vaccines so as to hold back the pandemic. High cost of vaccinations, low access to vaccines and slow roll out risk holding back the regional economies from quick recovery. “EAC bloc should urgently embark on joint investments in vaccine manufacturing,” said Nicholas Nesbitt, the chairperson of the East African Business Council (EABC). He said international investors should be reached out for the ‘local’ production of the vaccines in order to hold back Covid-19 onslaught.
T he EAC has been implementing the MRH programme since March 2012 with the aim of harmonising technical requirements and optimising processes for medicines regulation to facilitate timely access to safe, affordable, efficacious and quality essential medicines, vaccines and medical devices for treatment, management and diagnosis of diseases of public health importance. Once complete, the common information management system, which will be linked to all Partner States and the EAC Secretariat and will facilitate implementation of harmonised regulations, guidelines, templates and tools for medical products, vaccines and medical devices in line with Article 118 of the Treaty of the Establishment of the EAC.
SADC regional economic performance and the business environment in 2020 and medium-term prospects (SADC)
This report presents economic performance for the SADC region in 2020. It also presents the outlook for business environment in the region for the same period. In addition, the report presents the economic outlook in the short to medium term for the region; and main factors behind the outlook. Further, it highlights issues to inform policy direction both at national and regional levels.
Economic growth in the region contracted by 4.8 per cent in 2020 lower than the growth of 2.1 per cent recorded in 2019. The region’s current account balance as a ratio of GDP widen from an average deficit of 4.2 per cent in 2019 to a deficit averaging 4.7 per cent in 2020. SADC international reserves increased to 5.9 months of import cover in 2020 from 5.3 month of import cover in 2019 as a result of the subdued demand. Global growth in 2020 contracted by 3.3 per cent from a growth of 2.9 per cent in 2019, largely driven by the decline in commodity prices, trade policy uncertainty, escalation of trade tensions and rising debt.
pdf SADC Regional Economic Performance Report for 2020 (1.13 MB)
ECOWAS organizes seminar to accelerate the implementation of tax transition in West Africa (ECOWAS)
The ECOWAS Commission through the West African Tax Transition Support Programme (PATF) has organized a two (2) day awareness seminar on the implementation of tax reforms in the region. In his opening address, the representative of the Commissioner, Economic Policy and Internal Taxation Mr. Habasso Traore said that “West African Tax Transition Support Programme (PATF) is a new programme funded by the European Union delegation for the benefit of UEMOA, ECOWAS and Member States”. He highlighted the four main objectives of the programme as improving management of domestic taxation, strengthen the regional fight against fraud and tax evasion, optimizing the institutional capacity of UEMOA, ECOWAS and Member States and promoting public debate on domestic taxation in partnership with civil society, private society and the academia.
Hundreds gather for Third Japan-Africa Business Forum, prelude to TICAD 8 (AfDB)
Around 1,600 people from all over Africa and Japan gathered over six days to explore closer business ties at the Third Japan-Africa Business Forum, which this year attracted the highest number of participants since its launch. Koji Yonetani, a senior official in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered a speech on issues to be addressed at the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) next year. Yonetani, Director General in the African Affairs Department, identified two major themes that should be addressed at TICAD 8. Firstly, the solidarity of the international community to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, a “better recovery” in Africa by utilizing the power of the private sector. He said “public-private dialogue will be an indispensable and important element of TICAD 8 next year, in order to harness the power of the private sector.”
China, Africa and the big coronavirus debt relief question (South China Morning Post)
When the coronavirus began to batter economies around the world early last year, G20 members – including China – came up with a debt relief scheme to help the most vulnerable countries. The Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) launched on May 1, 2020, offered temporary help to dozens of African nations. In all, about US$5 billion in assistance to 40 eligible countries has been granted under the scheme, including US$2.1 billion from China. In November, China clarified, saying it had suspended US$2.1 billion of debt service payments from 23 African countries. As the coronavirus continues to ravage Africa, trade flows and economic activity have yet to recover and some countries from Angola to Zambia are appealing for further bailouts.
Global
Services trade slump persists as travel wanes; other service sectors post diverse gains (WTO)
Global services trade remained sluggish in the first quarter of 2021, falling 9% year-on-year after posting a 21% decline for the full year of 2020 driven by continued weakness in travel services. New COVID-19 variants have further delayed the recovery of international travel; however, other services sectors, such as transport, are starting to bounce back, with variations across regions due to the uneven distribution of vaccines and differing rollback of pandemic restrictions.
Members chart course for autumn negotiations on fisheries subsidies, other issues ahead of MC12 (WTO)
At a meeting of all WTO delegation heads on 23 July, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on members to bring focus and flexibility to intensive negotiations scheduled for the autumn so they can strike meaningful agreements in areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture and pandemic response ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12). The chairs of different negotiating groups set out their plans for taking talks forward immediately upon delegations’ return from the August holiday.
Is the emerging world still emerging? (IMF Finance & Development)
Two decades on, the BRICs promise lingers
Without COVID-19, GDP growth in the past decade would have been about 3.6 percent – just below the 3.7 percent experienced in 2000-09. Not bad given all the challenges, and contrary to the mood of pre-pandemic times. Indeed, each decade has witnessed stronger economic growth than the 1980s and 1990s, each about 3.3 percent. Hundreds of millions of people have been taken out of absolute poverty as a result, in part because of the growth miracle led by the so-called emerging markets, of which my beloved BRICs were front and center.
The year 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of my coining the acronym “BRICs” to summarize the likely rising economic relevance of Brazil, Russia, India, and China and the implications of their rise for global governance. As the world looks to the remainder of 2021 and beyond, what can we expect from emerging markets?
The reforms approved by the IMF’s Executive Board seek to ensure that the Fund can flexibly support Low Income Countries (LICs’) financing needs during the pandemic and the recovery while continuing to provide concessional loans at zero interest rates. The centerpiece of the approved policy reforms is a 45 percent increase in the normal limits on access to concessional financing, coupled with the elimination of hard limits on access for the poorest countries. The Executive Board also approved a two-stage funding strategy to cover the cost of pandemic-related concessional lending and support the sustainability of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). The first stage of the strategy aims to secure SDR 2.8 billion in subsidy resources (to support zero interest rates), and an additional SDR 12.6 billion in loan resources which could be facilitated by the “channeling” of SDRs.
Vaccine inequity undermining global economic recovery (UNDP)
COVID-19 vaccine inequity will have a lasting and profound impact on socio-economic recovery in low- and lower-middle income countries without urgent action to boost supply and assure equitable access for every country, including through dose sharing, according to new data released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Oxford. An acceleration in scaling up manufacturing and sharing enough vaccine doses with low-income countries could have added $38 billion to their GDP forecast for 2021 if they had similar vaccination rates as high income countries. At a time when richer countries have paid trillions in stimulus to prop up flagging economies, now is the moment to ensure vaccine doses are shared quickly, all barriers to increasing vaccine manufacturing are removed and financing support are secured so vaccines are distributed equitably and a truly global economic recovery can take place.
Fewer women than men will regain work during COVID-19 recovery: ILO (UN News)
In Building Forward Fairer: Women’s rights to work and at work at the core of the COVID-19 recovery, the International Labour Organization (ILO) highlights that between 2019 and 2020, women’s employment declined by 4.2 per cent globally, representing 54 million jobs, while men suffered a three per cent decline, or 60 million jobs. This means that there will be 13 million fewer women in employment this year compared to 2019, but the number of men in work will likely recover to levels seen two years ago. This means that only 43 per cent of the world’s working-age women will be employed in 2021, compared to 69 per cent of their male counterparts. The ILO paper suggests that women have seen disproportionate job and income losses because they are over-represented in the sectors hit hardest by lockdowns, such as accommodation, food services and manufacturing.
No pathway to reach the Paris Agreement’s 1.5˚C goal without the G20: UN chief (UN News)
“There is no pathway to this goal without the leadership of the G20. This signal is desperately needed by the billions of people already on the frontlines of the climate crisis and by markets, investors and industry who require certainty that a net zero climate resilient future is inevitable”, the Secretary General urged in a statement. The UN chief reminded that science indicates that to meet that ‘ambitious, yet achievable goal’, the world must achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and cut dangerous greenhouse gas emissions by 45 % by 2030 from 2010 levels. “But we are way off track”, he warned.
How blockchain can power sustainable development (UNCTAD)
Like any technology, blockchain can contribute to the SDGs in various ways – from providing food vouchers in refugee camps to enhancing property and land registries to improving access to national identification. So far, however, blockchain innovation has mostly focused on speculative gains in crypto-financial assets instead of creating real value through new products and services. Blockchain is potentially a key technology in a new technological paradigm of increasing automation and the integration of physical and virtual worlds. Its impact goes beyond the economy, as it can transform social interaction, public institutions and our relationship with the environment, and affect countries’ options for pursuing sustainable development.
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Cost of containers, freight have increased on the back of Covid-19 (Engineering News)
The cost of freight containers, rental costs and shipping freight rates have increased as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, says container freight company Container Intermodal Trading (CIT) CEO and co-founder Kashief Schroeder. The price of shipping containers, however, needs to be adjusted as they are significantly undervalued as a trading commodity and it is positive that container factories are realising their worth in the global logistics market. It is an opportunity for South Africa to rethink its position, become more technically orientated, pour more resources into again becoming more manufacturing orientated and building a more diverse local economy that is not so reliant on imports for its survival.
“As our economy struggles under the strain from the pandemic, we should work together to consider longer-term strategies to help protect us from increased consumer debt and decreased consumer savings in the future. Invest in our local economy and become more conscious of what and how we consume to mitigate the price increases that are out of our control.”
South African violence leaves trade in tatters and claims piling up (Global Trade Review)
South African supply chains have been thrown into chaos after violence engulfed the country, with warehouses, distribution centres and trucks destroyed, and major trade routes disrupted. The state insurer, Sasria, must brace itself for an onslaught of claims from businesses. Transnet, the state rail and port company, said on July 16 that for Durban port and Richards Bay the situation had “improved slightly” compared with earlier in the week. However, it added that “fuel and food shortages, as well as remaining road closures in the Durban port vicinity, continue to constrain the rest of the supply chain as trucks cannot get into and out of the port, resulting in backlogs. In Richards Bay, where trucks handle dry bulk commodities, truck movements are underway.”
Supply chains are ‘largely back on track’ as Department of Trade and Industry loosens rules to ensure smooth flow (Daily Maverick)
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition said on Monday that supply chains for food and other products “are largely back on track” after last week’s riotous destruction and looting. And while the department has a penchant for making rules, it has actually relaxed some to allow the links in the supply chain to join up. The department said in a statement that: “Large retail chains have reported that supply of food and other products to South African stores and neighbouring states, affected by disruptions in supply-chains in KwaZulu-Natal, are largely back on track.
“The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, had also issued an exemption from certain provisions of the Competition Act, to enable firms to collaborate and ensure availability of basic food and consumer items, emergency products, medical and hygiene supplies (including pharmaceutical products), refined petroleum products and emergency clean-up products,” the statement said, without elaboration.
Meat importers call for expedited flow of product through Durban port (Engineering News)
The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (Amie) has called for urgent intervention to fast-track imports through the Durban port. The association says the import food industry has lost 40 000 t of cold storage capacity and that significant volumes of raw material has been lost as a result of the past weeks’ unrest in KwaZulu-Natal.
South Africa garment sector threatened by China’s illegal imports (Just Style)
South Africa’s textile and garment sector is being undermined by illegal imports from China, unions have said, which are threatening the revival of the industry. The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). The union said the country used to manufacture yarn for fabrics that were sold locally and in Sub Saharan Africa but not anymore. In addition to Chinese imports, others threats include a lack of clarity on how the African Continental Free Trade Area will benefit smaller economies, and how regional economic integration will be implemented. “The unbridled influx of cheap, inferior, Chinese textiles onto the Ghanaian textile market due to the so-called globalisation, trade liberalisation, trade agreements and protocols, dealt a devastating blow to the textile industry,” said Solomon Kotei, general secretary of ICU.
Deputy Minister Gina Welcomes Report on Empowerment of Women in the Green Industry (the dtic)
The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ms Nomalungelo Gina has welcomed the assessment report on the Empowerment of Women in the Green Industry Policy. Gina addressed the virtual launch of the report today. The report is the result of the collaboration between the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and United Nations Women, and the German government. The report is part of the global joint programme called, “Economic Empowerment of Women in Green Industry” (EEWiGI), whose purpose is to advise policymakers and practitioners on the establishment and implementation of a policy framework to integrate gender and green industry policies. The aim of the programme is to effect change and empower more women to take leadership roles and participate in green industry as entrepreneurs or industry professionals.
Booming Chinese economy sucks in South African exports (Independent Online)
The booming Chinese economy is sucking in massive amounts of South African exports as it needs our mineral exports such as coal and iron ore to fuel its economy. According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs of China, South African exports to China showed an 83.2% year-on-year (y/y) surge in the first of 2021 to $15.89 billion (about R230bn), while South African imports from China grew by 52.4% y/y to $9.43bn, resulting in a trade surplus in South Africa’s favour of $6.46bn. China’s economy sustained a steady recovery in the first half of the year, with the production and demand booming, while employment and prices remained stable, the National Bureau of Statistics said. It added, however, there were concerns about the global spread of the pandemic and unbalanced recovery domestically. In the first half, the economy grew by 12.7% y/y, due in part to base effects as it was measured against last year’s coronavirus-triggered slump.
South Africa is not the only beneficiary of a booming Chinese economy, as the total trade value between China and Africa grew by 41.9% y/y to reach $116.89bn in the first half of the year. Similar to South Africa’s growth rates, China’s imports from Africa grew faster than its exports to Africa, but unlike South Africa, the balance was a surplus in China’s favour. China’s exports to Africa grew by 38.2% y/y to $66.79bn, while China’s imports from Africa increased at a faster pace of 47.1% y/y to US$50.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus in China’s favour of $16.78bn.
Tony Elumelu Foundation’s contribution to Namibian growth (Namibian)
For many countries the inverse effects of the pandemic have highlighted the critical role the private sector must play in supporting economic advancement. Within the last year alone, the pandemic caused a decline of about 87% in international tourism, translating to a massive loss of thousands of jobs. Indeed when it comes to youth empowerment the private sector can deliver much more impact to reduce the pool of unemployed young people and increase the success rate of youth start-ups.
In 2019, European exports to Namibia were worth over 425 million euro (N$7,2 billion). Additionally, the recent Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) concluded between the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community’s EPA states, of which Namibia is one, will also accommodate duty-free, quota-free market access for Namibia to the EU, strengthening a plethora of market opportunities that will generate economic prosperity – especially in the manufacturing sector. On the horizon, the future looks promising.
Zim exports rise 9,5 pc (The Herald)
The value of Zimbabwe’s total exports clocked US$486,8 million in May this year, signifying a marked increase of 9,5 percent from $444,7 million earnings realised in April, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) has revealed. The increase in total export earnings has been attributed to a spike in tobacco earnings since the commencement of the selling season for the golden leaf in April. Growing exports is at the heart of Zimbabwe’s economic transformation towards an upper middle-income status by 2030. The drive has seen the Government, guided by the National Development Strategy (NDS1-2021-2025) blue-print and working closely with the private sector, pushing for increased domestic production anchored on high value exportation.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a loan of $4.25 million to the Lesotho Revenue Authority to provide digital tax services, including e-taxation and e-payment, that will broaden the country’s tax base and boost government revenue. The funds, to be sourced from the African Development Fund, the Group’s concessional lending window, will go to support the Supplemental Financing of the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project. The project follows the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project (LTMP) approved in November 2017, and for which the African Development Bank Group provided $7.09 million, in financing. Specifically, financing will be used to procure and install e-taxation, e-payment, and e-invoicing software and hardware and to integrate financial institutions and mobile money providers into e-payment systems.
Locally assembled vehicles rise 80pc on demand surge (Business Daily)
The number of motor vehicles assembled locally rose 80 percent in the first half of the year in what players attributed to pent-up demand arising from the reopening of the economy. Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) data shows that formal dealers led by Isuzu East Africa, Toyota Kenya and Simba Corp produced 4,357 vehicles in the period, up from 2,425 the year before. This means that the assemblers produced nearly 70 percent of all the 6,246 new vehicles sold in the period, with the balance mostly comprising imports of fully-built cars.
Agents, importers want stability at KPA (The East African)
Clearing agents and importers have raised concerns over a leadership vacuum at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). This comes in the wake of the Kenya government failing to appoint a substantive managing director and three other board members including the chairman. Clearing agents and importers said replacement of Rashid Salim, who has been an acting managing director since March last year, without a full board will likely affect the process of making key decisions at the port. “The business community prefers working with a stable institution and some might opt to other ports such as that of Dar es Salaam,” said Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association chairman Roy Mwanthi.
URA misses 2020/21 revenue target by Shs2.4trillion (Indepdent)
The Commissioner General for Uganda Revenue Authority, John Rujoki Musinguzi, has an uphill task of collecting taxes from businesses and individuals that continue to face the COVID-19 pandemic hit. His supervisors at the Ministry of Finance have set targets for him and appears not to bother much about the environment under which he operates. In the just concluded FY 2020/21, Musinguzi and his technical staff only managed to collect net revenue of Shs19.2tn, a 14.99% growth in comparison to the previous year. However, this is below the Shs21.6trillion target.
Tanzania opts for natural gas to reduce import fuel costs (The East African)
Tanzania is pushing forward with the development of and use of natural gas in various sectors of the economies and has set aside Tsh30 billion ($12.89 million) for compressed natural gas (CNG) projects only. This will assist the government in reducing import fuel costs while going green to preserve the environment. Data from the Energy Ministry shows that the country spent nearly Tsh2.9 trillion ($1.246 billion) last year importing fuel. Tanzanian already uses and supplies natural gas for electricity generation by major industries, manufacturers and households for domestic use. About 3,000 households are already connected to CNG supplies in Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Lindi.
Tanzania and Rwanda agree to promote telecommunications sector (The Citizen)
Tanzania and Rwanda have agreed to work together to promote the telecommunications sector, especially Information and Communication Technology, in order to increase productivity in the sector’s contribution to the development of the two countries. “As you know, our countries have long-term relations but also both countries are making great strides in the telecommunications and ICT sector; but at the same time are countries that are interdependent in matters of communication, “said Minister Ndugulile.
Nigeria To Leverage ECOWAS Network To Boost Trade Volume (LEADERSHIP)
Following the official launch of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trade Promotion Organisations (TPO) Network last Friday, towards increasing the volume of trade within the region, Nigeria is poised to boost its non-oil exports leveraging the platform. The Executive director / chief executive officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo, who is also the inaugural president of the ECOWAS TPOs and the NEPC, is now repositioning the nation’s export through the implementation of its N50 billion Export Expansion Facility Programme (EEFP), a part of the economic sustainability plan which development and implementation is being led by the Vice President. The export expansion facility programme (EEFP) is expected to significantly raise the volume of non-oil exports in Nigeria, and it’s a spin-off of the zero oil plan developed by Mr. Awolowo and approved by the president.
Protecting small scale fisheries (The Nation Newspaper)
Fish is an important source of food. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has pointed out that the small scale fisheries sector is vital to the success and sustainability of the blue economy. Fifty per cent of seafood globally, analysts said, is supplied by small scale fisheries. Also, they said the supply chain in the small scale fisheries provides livelihood for millions of women. But growth in industrial scale fishing deployed by advanced countries in the West African waters is nosediving and putting the livelihoods of local fishermen at risk.
Managed Labor Migration Can Help Unlock Nigeria’s Unrealized Economic Potential (World Bank)
As Africa’s most populous and largest economy, Nigeria’s economic prosperity has implications for the continent and the rest of the world. The labor market in Nigeria has not kept pace with the rising working-age population and has significantly worsened following the 2016 recession and COVID-19. Large numbers of educated youths are unable to realize higher economic returns from investing in their human capital.
The Government of Nigeria (GoN) has developed institutional and policy frameworks that recognize international labor mobility as a tool to address unemployment, increase remittances, and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and investments from its diaspora, and has simultaneously worked on initiatives that curtail irregular migration. At GoN’s request, the World Bank supported through the Employment, Skills Partnership and Labor Migration Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA). The ASA, which commenced in 2019, broadly assessed Nigeria’s policy and institutional framework for international labor mobility and explored the feasibility of expanding new and innovative labor migration partnerships with countries of destination in Europe, culminating in two recently published reports.
Multimillion-dollar local apparel industry lays dormant (Business & Financial Times)
Though the Ghanaian apparel industry is regarded as a major pathway to industrialisation, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has said low-cost high-volume competing apparel exports from China and other Asian countries in the global market continuously overwhelm Ghana’s exports. Despite the numerous opportunities available to the industry in Ghana – including unexplored niches in the global market such as original woven Kente, diaspora market potentials; proximity to global apparel markets – Europe and America; and the existence of bilateral and regional trade agreements such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), inadequate promotion of Ghanaian textiles and Afrocentric fashion in mainstream apparel channels abroad remains a bane of the sector.
Currently, the industry employs more than 6,000 Ghanaians and exports more than US$30million on average annually. Export revenues from the sector in 2020, according to GEPA, stood at US$43million compared to the US$137.4billion worth of apparel and accessories that China alone exported last year to the US market.
IMF Executive Board Concludes 2021 Article IV Consultation with Ghana (IMF)
Ghana was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government response helped contain the pandemic and support the economy, but at the cost of a record fiscal deficit. The economic outlook is improving, even though risks remain, including from the evolution of the pandemic and rising debt vulnerabilities. An economic recovery is underway. Growth is expected to rebound to 4.7 percent in 2021, supported by a strong cocoa season and mining and services activity, and inflation remaining within the Bank of Ghana target. The current account deficit is projected to improve to 2.2 percent of GDP, supported by a pickup in oil prices, and gross international reserves are expected to remain stable. However, this outlook is subject to significant uncertainty, including from new pandemic waves and risks associated with large financing needs and increasing public debt.
Informal banking lifeline for Malawi SMEs (The Southern Times)
High interest rates and other prohibitive costs of doing business with commercial banks in Malawi have pushed SMEs to seek informal financial services. This has driven the rise of community-based banking, called Banki M’khonde (veranda or village bank). A FinScope survey says over half of Malawi’s population is unbanked. While access to business and agricultural credit for Malawi’s rural population, who largely depend on subsistence agriculture, is limited and requires collateral, it is also expensive requiring high-interest rates and comes with specific conditions for borrowers. Economists say Malawi needs a stable, liquid, competitive and efficient inclusive financial system in order to expand agricultural production, micro and small enterprises, employment and to increase household income in a sustainable way.
Tunisia foreign trade up in June 2021 (INS) (TAP)
Tunisia’s foreign trade edged up in June 2021 reaching levels surpassing those reported before the pandemic (February 2020), after declining for two consecutive months. Exports rose by 17.1% while imports only edged up 10% compared to May 2021, data on foreign trade at constant prices published Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) show. As such, the balance sheet for the first half (H1) of 2021 has reported a significant 27% rise for exports and 23.3% for imports, compared to the same period in 2020. However, these levels are still similar to those logged in 2019. The monthly trade deficit for June 2021 has narrowed by 102.4 million dinars (MD), standing at 1451.7MD.
Sudan railway network to get US$ 643M revamp (Construction Review)
As part of current governments’ efforts to revive an economy ravaged by decades of dictatorship and global isolation, the Sudan railway network, half of which is abandoned, is set for a US$ 643M make-over. According to the state-owned Sudan Railways Corporation (SRC), the African Development Bank, China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd., and undisclosed Gulf firms have already expressed interest in helping the North African country restore the approximately 2,400 kilometers of idle rail lines.
Africa
AfCFTA prosperity requires more African seafarers, ships and ports (ISS Africa)
The standard expectation would be that AfCFTA trading – taking place on a continent of few islands and many landlocked states – would happen mostly by rail, road or plane. In fact, the first goods traded under the AfCFTA regime were carried by ship from a Ghanaian cosmetics company to Guinea on 4 January. African decision makers must prioritise the expansion and improvement of the continent’s maritime transport infrastructure, which struggles to deal with the current level of import and export. The development of port infrastructure in most African countries lags behind the rest of the world – only three African ports are featured on the 2020 list of top 100 global container ports. High freight rates, poor turnaround time in cargo clearance, and inadequate storage capacities are just some of the many problems that strain African ports’ competitiveness.
Report: AfCFTA Success Depends on Regional Integration of Public Good (THISDAY Newspapers)
The African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) has stated in its African Transformation Report 2021 that countries in the continent should look beyond trade and markets and collaborate in delivering regional public good. This, it noted was to ensure the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and achieve growth in their respective economies. The report titled, Integrating to Transform, stated: “But while past regional integration efforts have often struggled, Africa’s transformation requires much more progress on regional integration. “To achieve growth with depth and for the AfCFTA to succeed, countries have to look beyond trade and markets and collaborate in delivering regional public goods such as transport corridors, free movement of people, well-managed river basins, cross-border digital connectivity, and systems to control future outbreaks of pests and disease.
Paving ways for women in trade through AfCFTA (New Era)
To provide a platform for women to voice their needs and interests regarding trade in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Namibia last week held a national consultation for the AfCFTA protocol on women in trade. In a virtual event, the economic advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Wilmot Reeves said the aim of the consultation was to understand the export profile (sectors) in which women are engaged in cross border trade and to identify broader value chains linked to the export profile. To identify key challenges and issues and required policy interventions to maximise women engagement, an entrepreneur Hilya Herman, who owns PH Niche Investments CC gave her testimony, emphasising the need to direct entrepreneur education and training skills for the youth and women.
AfCFTA: Re-double resolve for economic integration – Wamkele Mene (GhanaWeb)
Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat Wamkele Mene has called on African leaders to re-double their resolve to forge ahead with economic integration of the continent. According to the Secretary-General much work remains ahead in the implementation of the AfCFTA. “There will be challenges that may seem unsurmountable, it is at that point that we should re-double our resolve to forge ahead with economic integration of our continent.”
As the world warms up to Nigeria, others for improved trade (Guardian)
The AfCFTA holds the ace for African countries to improve intra-African trade and replace activities that were hitherto dominated by third-party countries to Africans. Despite this potential, there are challenges about the ability of African countries to remove red tapes and encourage trade. Indeed, the recent African Trade Report by Afreximbank showed that despite ranking the third contributor to intra-African trade, Nigeria’s share of trade remains low considering its status as the biggest economy on the continent. This is even as raw commodities dominate items exported from the continent. The report showed that though the outlook for 2021 is positive and Africa’s trade is expected to rebound strongly as global economic activity picks up and demand for African exports increases, informal cross-border trade (ICBT) remains dominant.
Why logistics will power AfCFTA and Africa’s e-Commerce export potential (Vanguard)
For e-Commerce giant, Jumia, headquartered in Nigeria with a presence in about 11 countries within the region, COVID-19 had an overall net negative effect on business in 2020. According to the brand’s 2020 financial report, “As a result of only limited recourse to nationwide lockdowns across its footprint, the pandemic did not lead to a drastic change in consumer behaviour nor meaningful acceleration in consumer adoption of e-Commerce at a Pan-African level”.
Africa’s 2021 Growth Prospects: A puzzle of many pieces (Afreximbank)
The global demand and supply shocks triggered by the outbreak of Covid-19 plunged the world into economic recession. In a marked reversal from pre-pandemic forecasts, global growth contracted by 3.5% in 2020. Africa suffered its first recession in 25 years amid contracting global trade and a sharp fall in commodity prices and tourism revenues. Aside from rising infections and negative commodity terms of trade, African economies were equally affected by a third shock, mainly through financial channels. In the immediate aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, the sharp tightening of financial conditions triggered massive capital outflows and hampered countries’ ability to finance rising health expenditures and public investment to support growth. Heightened uncertainty affected investment, with foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Africa falling by 28% in the H1 2020 compared to the same period the year prior. Sharp declines in tourism revenues and remittances further exacerbated liquidity constraints and undermined economic growth.
What building back better looks like (The Southern Times)
“Building back better” has become the catchphrase of the recovery after covid. It suggests that the pre-covid normal was inadequate, even problematic, and the crisis has created an opportunity to rebuild better. Everywhere else, building back better means a full embrace of a carbon-neutral future. Governments are introducing policies and passing laws to get the transition underway, and activist investors have rebelled against large multinationals whose transition plans were seen as not sufficiently ambitious. All these policies are unfolding outside Africa, but their impact will be felt here. How does Africa build back better? What does better look like?
Why Africa needs to manufacture its own vaccines (Logistics Update Africa)
Currently, there are at least five African countries that manufacture vaccines at different levels. Some are more focused on fill and finish, while others manufacture vaccines from end-to-end. Dr John Nkengasong is a Cameroonian virologist and director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), which is working to strengthen the ability of Africa’s public health institutions to detect and respond to disease threats and outbreaks. He explains why Africa should manufacture more of its own vaccines, and how to achieve this.
EAC end-year meet to review monetary union roadmap (The East African)
The East African Community Council of ministers is set to meet before the end of this year to review the roadmap towards the implementation of a single currency regime after agreeing that the initial 2024 deadline was not attainable after all. The delay in implementation is set to subject regional traders and travellers to prolonged exposure to costly currency conversion transactions and exchange rate risks, which are adversely impacting the volume of intra-regional trade.
COVID-19: EAC mulls recovery plan for tourism sector (IPPMedia)
AN extraordinary meeting of the East African Community (EAC) Sectoral Council on Tourism and Wildlife was convened mid this month to consider, among others, the bloc’s COVID-19 tourism recovery plan, regional guidelines for resumption of services in the tourism sector and hospitality establishments.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened a virtual Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment and the SADC Peer Review Panel meetings on 15th July, 2021. For her part, SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr. Steromena Lawrence Tax underscored that the challenges facing the Region, including those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic call for effective national and regional policy measures to keep regional supply chains safe and stable, maintain regional financial stability, spur quick recovery of the regional economy and minimise the economic and social damage. She indicated that the challenges facing the Region call for the need to speed-up the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Agenda by, among others, utilising comparative advantages, national and regional potentials, and natural resources to the fullest.
Dr. Tax noted that the research paper by the Bank of Botswana on Global Trade Tensions, titled Opportunities and Risks to the SADC Region, recommended implementing the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap that emphasises development of value chains in three priority areas, namely the agro-processing, pharmaceutical, and mineral sectors, especially mineral beneficiation.
COMESA’s key targets to promote the agro-industry (COMESA)
Stakeholders in the agro-industry in collaboration with the COMESA Business Council (CBC) have developed a road map to be implemented from this year aimed at promoting the industry. Among the activities identified is the development of a regional anti-illicit policy and implementation framework, which will include sensitization of industry players on the need to establish a track and trace system at national and/or regional level. Besides, CBC will seek funds or technical assistance to undertake a study on the development of a mutual recognition framework for pre-packaged food in the COMESA region.
Regional integration in West Africa: Is there a role for a single currency? (Brookings Institution)
In early 2019, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) set a goal of achieving a monetary and currency union by January 2020. While the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of macroeconomic convergence among member countries precipitated the postponement of this goal, ECOWAS leaders have continued to move forward with the project, with the new goal of launching the new currency – “the eco” – in the coming years. Proponents of the currency union argue that it would free businesses and visitors from the burdens of exchanging currencies and encourage intra-area trade, leading to a more deeply integrated and prosperous region overall. However, the effort comes with significant costs along with operational challenges and transitional risks. In Africa, it is uncertain whether the benefits of the eco will be spread evenly across the community given the disparate levels of development and various sizes of the national economies involved. Skeptics of the eco project also note that many of the hoped-for benefits of the shared currency will require an accompanying set of fundamental reforms, including stronger domestic institutional and macroeconomic frameworks.
Second Continental Meeting on Harmonization of ICT & Digital Policies and Regulations (African Union)
Following the Continental Consultative Meeting on Harmonization of ICT Policy and Regulatory frameworks held in September 2019 where Experts and Senior Government Officials from fifty (50) African Union Member States and Regional Organisations identified a number of areas of common interest that require continental harmonization. The AU Commission, within the framework of implementation of the Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA) project, started working on two topics namely “Conditions of Entry into the Market (Authorization/Licensing Regime)” and “Data Protection & Location” and established an Expert Working Group for each topic with the aim to enhance the Pan-African harmonization status of each topic and assess the impact on Africa economy and society.
African Union Launches a Continental Green Recovery Action Plan (African Union)
The African Union Commission launched a new five-year continental Green Recovery Action Plan 2021-2027. In his opening statement H.E President Felix Tshisekedi highlighted that a clean and resilient recovery in Africa will not only create jobs in the industries of the future but also overcome challenges related to public health, prosperity and climate change. He also emphasized that the challenges confronting us today are a reminder of the need to think of a recovery that is both inclusive and respectful of the environment and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
COVID-19 has triggered the deepest economic recession in nearly a century and the impacts on Africa have been particularly stark. Food insecurity and debt has been rising, and hard-won development gains are being lost. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds in Africa, the situation remains fluid and rapidly evolving, with measures needed to ensure the trajectory of the recovery remains in line with the Paris agreement and the ambition of COP26.
Prospects for developing green aquaculture in Africa (AfDB)
This note on sea cucumber farming is part of a series to analyze the different forms of green aquaculture, assessing potential environmental, economic, and social benefits. Aquaculture offers advantages on several levels closely aligned to the Bank’s strategy. Not only helping to feed Africa, green aquaculture can also contribute to Africa’s industrialization, enhance local added value and improve the living conditions of African people by providing livelihoods and the long-term skills to provide resilience.
Joint Statement of the SADC-EU Ministerial Political Dialogue (SADC)
Trade and Investment subjects of mutual interest
In the challenging context of COVID-19, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to use all avenues possible to strengthen and diversify their economic and trade relations, and to stimulate regional integration, with the aim to achieve sustainable growth and decent job creation, as well as promoting transformative, competitive, clean, circular and resilient economies. This cooperation would take place at a crucial moment for Africa’s integration, with the start of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the progress of the sub-regional economic integration processes through the implementation and widening and deepening of existing Economic Partnership Agreements – EPAs (with six SADC and five ESA states). The importance of COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), in which SADC is a member, was also noted, as significance stepping stone towards the operationalisation of AfCFTA.
Both sides showed interest in cooperating to improve governance and sustainable production and creating value addition in key economic sectors, as a means of driving economic and social development through legal and sustainable exports. They agreed to step up exchanges on transforming linear production models towards greater circularity, reducing waste and creating new business models and job opportunities.
The EU doesn’t have a 40% tariff on African food imports (Full Fact)
The EU has a 40% tariff on food from Africa. Our verdict False. There isn’t just one flat tariff on food. Regardless, the EU doesn’t apply tariffs on the vast majority of African countries, due to trade agreements and efforts to support developing nations. “On tariffs, [we’re] reducing the European Union’s 40% tariffs on food from Africa”. Following the government’s decision to reduce its commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on foreign aid to 0.5%, Conservative MP George Freeman appeared on Newsnight to talk about the other ways in which the government supported poorer nations. One thing he claimed was that the UK had reduced the EU’s 40% tariff on food imports from Africa. It was something he previously said in Parliament in April. But the EU doesn’t have a 40% tariff on food from Africa.
EU blasted over unethical Africa trade policy as Brexit offers UK new path (Express)
The UK can help African countries move away from their reliance on selling raw materials to expand their manufacturing and industrial capacities. This will help to boost African economies and stem the tide of economic migrants from the continent, he suggests. He points out how the EU secures cheap raw materials, while slapping punitive tariffs on imports of processed goods from African countries. the UK should ditch such exploitative practices and use its technological and financial expertise in pursuit of an enlightened trade policy that would be mutually beneficial to the UK and Africa. “The EU has been a poor friend to Africa, all the while talking up its progressive ideals.” By contrast, post-Brexit Britain has a unique opportunity to build a new type of partnership to develop African industry, starting with English-speaking Commonwealth countries, utilising diaspora networks, and demonstrating that sound ethics and economics need not be incompatible in the world of international trade. Currently, Africa accounts for just 2.5 percent of the UK’s trade.
Global
How LDCs can reset policy to attract more FDI (Trade for Development News)
As foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries tumbles to 25-year lows, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have an opportunity to buck this trend by dismantling trade barriers and developing stable policies that incentivize and de-risk value-add investment into strategic sectors. Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are missing out on the foreign direct investment (FDI) they need to transform their economies and benefit from meaningful progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But it doesn’t have to be this way. According to the 27th Global Trade Alert Report, Advancing Sustainable Development with FDI: why policy must be reset, an annual average of only two new greenfield FDI projects in SDG-intensive sectors were announced in each LDC between 2015 and 2019. This comes amid broader declines in the real value of FDI into developing countries that started with the 2008 financial crisis and have accelerated during the pandemic.
Global trade has rebounded, but stresses remain (The Strategist)
Globalisation is back with such a vengeance that the shipping lines are struggling to keep up, sending freight rates to astronomic levels. The onset of the pandemic early last year slashed trade volumes and highlighted the vulnerability of the extended supply chains that are the hallmark of globalisation, with different elements of production located in various countries. At one stage, 70% of the world’s ports were affected by Covid-19, leaving ships unable to dock and more than a million crew members stranded at sea. Political leaders around the world started talking about strengthening the resilience of supply chains and repatriating production. The backlash against globalisation was itself global.
By May last year, world trade volumes had dived 17%, but then the fall stopped and by October, global trade volumes were back to pre-pandemic levels. The World Trade Organization, which had expected trade across the year to be down by 13%, instead recorded only a 5% fall. However, imbalances in the recovery are bringing stresses. Comparing the three months to April with the last three months of 2019 before the pandemic struck, the volume of US imports is up by 8.6% while the volume of exports is still 4% lower.
Members discuss possible work programme on sustainable agriculture and related issues (WTO)
At a meeting of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures on 15-16 July, WTO members discussed how to further enhance the implementation of the SPS Agreement in light of the opportunities and pressures created by the evolution of the global agricultural landscape. Some members suggested launching this work on sustainable agriculture and related issues through a proposed SPS Declaration for the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12), while others preferred to undertake this work in the SPS and other WTO committees.
The intention of the Declaration, co-proponents said, is to recognize and examine the SPS impact on global issues, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainability of food systems, food security and the need for innovation, and how the SPS Committee could contribute to these discussions. Co-sponsors observed considerable common ground and urged members to remain optimistic that it will be possible to achieve consensus on this important forward-looking initiative as a vital contribution to the success of the upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference.
WTO publishes list of bottlenecks and facilitating measures on critical COVID-19 products (WTO)
The indicative list is based on issues identified and suggestions made by speakers at the WTO webinar Regulatory Cooperation during the COVID-19 Pandemic, on 2 June 2021, and the WTO symposium COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Regulatory Transparency, on 29 June 2021. On trade-related bottlenecks, the list identifies a series of issues raised by speakers at those events in relation to: vaccine manufacturing and its inputs; vaccine regulatory approval; vaccine distribution; therapeutics and pharmaceuticals; and diagnostics and medical devices. Regarding possible trade-facilitating measures, the list includes suggestions by speakers in connection with: general import, export and transit procedures; vaccine manufacturing and its inputs; vaccine regulatory approval; therapeutics (pharmaceuticals); diagnostics and medical devices; and general regulatory aspects.
Global poultry sector set to improve post-Covid (Poultry World)
In its latest quarterly report (Q3 2021), Rabobank says improved vaccination rates will help the recovery of global, regional and especially foodservice demand, which makes up one third of global poultry demand. Nan-Dirk Mulder, senior analyst animal protein, said as supply usually responds slowly to such increases, significant price inflation in the second half of the year could take place, particularly because feed prices remain high and avian influenza continues to disrupt global trade of breeding stock. Mr Mulder said global trade flows were shifting, with less focus on China, due to local supply growth, and the Middle East, because of food security ambitions, and more focus on northeast Asia and Europe. Demand for poultry products is slowly recovering, but high feed prices will lead to more expensive production and eventually to price inflation at retail level.
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SA logistics sector bleeding R100m-plus a day, supply chains must be restored (Engineering News)
South Africa’s logistics sector will “undoubtedly” see the closure of some logistics businesses owing to the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng, says South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) chairperson and Savino Del Bene South Africa director Dr Juanita Maree. “Some businesses, especially small businesses working from load to load, might have already closed their doors.”
Unrest in South Africa disrupts agricultural logistics, raises food security concerns (S&P Global)
Reports of planted crops being set on fire in affected region Major port faces force majeure, road transport impacted Long-term impact unlikely on grains production, trade Unrest in South Africa’s eastern provinces is posing a threat to the country’s already precarious food security situation by disrupting agricultural trade and transportation, and damaging infrastructure and planted crops in the region, various sources said.
South Africa is a major producer of grains, particularly corn, and last year most of its grain exports headed to Zimbabwe, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s attache. In 2020-21, corn exports from the country were forecast to rise 40% year on year to 3.5 million mt. KwaZulu-Natal, the epicenter of the rioting and looting, is a major producer of sugar, milk and poultry, and also serves as an entry point for imported food products including wheat, rice and palm oils, said Wandile Sihlobo, Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa. “The biggest risk in the short term is the free movement of goods, including food and agricultural produce on the roads, specifically to and from the Durban port,” Sihlobo said. Durban port is the country’s entry and exit point for agricultural products, he added.
SA continue to deliver goods to Namibia without interruption: Dr Pandor (Devdiscourse)
International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, has assured Namibia that transport corridors will continue operating without interruption to deliver goods and services, particularly essential ones needed to fight COVID-19. This comes after Namibia expressed concern at the incidents of looting and criminality prevailing in pockets of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
She said the government is working around the clock to restore law and order and to ensure economic activity resumes in South Africa. In the meantime, Pandor said the government is keeping the borders open and working closely with businesses to ensure that goods continue to move during the worst effects of the pandemic. “It’s South Africa’s duty to ensure the free flow of goods between countries in the region and South Africa. In fact, the biggest trading partners of South Africa are on the African continent, so we have a duty to restore order for economic activity to continue.” The Minister expressed concern at the nature of violence that has played out for days in the country. “We should be worried because sometimes, these things sometimes spillover.”
The rise of eCommerce – is Namibia ready? (Namibia Economist)
According to the United Nations’ report on eCommerce global view, global eCommerce as a share of global GDP was estimated at 30% in 2020, while its share of global retail sales has increased from 14% in 2019 to 17% in 2020.
Although the relatively small size of the African economy should be considered in this context, the low adoption rate of eCommerce amongst African countries is further mirrored by low intra-Africa trade of 17%. This points to the fact that, despite considerable progress achieved on the continent with respect to economic integration, cross-border barriers, poor transport infrastructure and non-harmonization of critical services for trade facilitation have partially hampered the growth of an eCommerce ecosystem in Africa.
However, Namibia’s intention to grow as a global and regional economic player raises the question around institutional readiness to effectively reap the benefits of the African market. The extent to which Namibia can reap the benefits of the wider regional market through eCommerce platforms as an evolving method of conducting transactions, would depend on the country’s digital readiness and enabling environment. This readiness, in turn, relies on two critical enablers: the quality of internet infrastructure, connectivity, and availability to rural areas; and secondly the quality of postal services, reachability, and awareness.
Zimbabwe to feel heat from SA riots (Chronicle)
Zimbabwe’s industries will likely feel the pinch of the violent demonstrations and looting unfolding in South Africa, its largest trading partner, as trade channels get clogged and supply chains disrupted. Other than the impact on Africa’s biggest economy, the insurrection has negatively impacted regional trade due to disruptions of operations at the Durban Port, Richards Bay Port, logistics and freight companies. Importantly, Durban Port is one of the major delivery terminals used by Zimbabwean importers and exporters as an international gateway.
An analysis of available data shows that local primary producers, as well as food and beverages manufacturers will perhaps be hit hardest by ongoing developments in the South Africa. According to a CZI report titled ‘Raw Material Import Exposure for Zimbabwean Industries’, 80 percent of Zimbabwean companies in the agriculture and horticulture sectors source their raw materials from or through South Africa. “In the case of trade, the current disruptions weigh even more heavily on businesses in the agriculture sector and farmers. On average, 75 percent of the country’s grains are transported by road annually,” wrote Wandile Sihlobo from the University of Witwatersrand.
Ugandan economy suffers as second lockdown bites (The East African)
Last January, 28-year-old Andrew Lutaaya, after a few years of unsuccessful job searching ventured into small business, selling second-hand jeans in downtown Kampala, in a shop he co-rented with a friend.
By the time the restrictions were relaxed to allow Lutaaya and other non-essential workers resume work, he was choking under four months’ rent arrears and the landlord threatened to confiscate his wares. He resorted to taking a loan from his community Sacco to save his business. But before his business took off a few months later, the country was hit by a second wave and a lockdown ensued. He now has a loan, rent to pay but no longer trades. Even getting food, he said, is a struggle. “The government announced that it will be giving us a relief package but we haven’t received it. It went to a few big businesses and with the new lockdown, I am sure many of us will be forced to close shop,” Lutaaya said.
Tanzania gets 13bn/- for design of southern corridor railway (IPPMedia)
Speaking during the opening of the SADC virtual meeting of the committee of ministers of finance and investment and peer review panel, held in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Minister of State in the Zanzibar President’s Office (Finance and Planning) Jamal Kassim Ali said the plan was part of a strategy meant to boost trade within the regional economic bloc. Key issues to be discussed at the meeting include the establishment of the SADC member states’ development fund which will be spent on financing projects within the bloc and a debt service suspension programme on countries affected by Covid-19. “We want to use one of our member states, South Africa, which is a member of the BRICS, to deliver our concern on the debt service programme – which is beset with some challenges,” he said.
Nigeria needs $100bn annually for 30yrs to close infrastructure deficit ― AfDB (Nigerian Tribune)
The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina has disclosed that Nigeria is in need of over $100 billion annually for the next 30 years to close the infrastructure deficit in the country. Speaking as a panellist at a one day investors webinar to showcase the investment opportunities from Federal government reform and privatization, Dr Akinwumi Adesina stated that the Nigerian infrastructure deficit gap was wide. Given the huge amounts needed which is about $100bn annually for the next 30 years, he said the time has come to create an enabling environment for Public-Private Partnerships to close Nigeria’s infrastructure gap.
Senate approves Buhari’s $8.3 billion, €490 million external loan request (Premium Times Nigeria)
The Senate has approved the $8.3 billion (N8,325,536,537) loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari. They lawmakers also approved a separate €490 million loan request by the president. The total amount is part of the 2018 – 2020 external borrowing (rolling) plan of the federal government. The fund was approved on Thursday after the Senate considered the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.
VP Bawumia Unveils One-stop Portal Ghana.gov (The Presidency, Republic of Ghana)
A one-stop platform to enable citizens easily access government services, simplify payments for public services, ensure prompt payments for the services and promote transparency and visibility of internally generated funds has been launched in Accra by the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia. Known as Ghana.gov, and accessible via the website www.ghana.gov.gh or shortcode *222# on any mobile phone whether smart or ‘yam’, Ghana.GOV is a payments and revenue collection platform that provides a single point of access to all services of ministries, departments and agencies of government. Built from scratch, and two years in the making, the platform consists of 4 main components: a web portal, mobile app and USSD interface; a payment processing component; a notification component; and a complaint submission medium.
Chief of Staff, Ministers in charge of Finance, Digitalization and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Vice President Bawumia expressed delight that once again, Ghanaian expertise had been utilized to solve a Ghanaian problem. “The Ghana Card, the Digital Address System, the Mobile Money Interoperability, Ghana.Gov and the Universal Q Code are the foundational enablers in our effort to maximize the potential of digital technologies in Ghana’s transformation.
Formal trade lines will improve French-speaking in Ghana – Akufo-Addo (BusinessGhana)
President Nana Akufo-Addo expects more Ghanaians to pick up the French language as trade between African countries deepens. Speaking on Touch of France, a show about French culture, President Akufo-Addo said the trade factor in encouraging French-speaking in Ghana is especially relevant amid the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. “As a necessary consequence, the language will have to be a determinant of that [trade] and it will be a very important incident of our capacity to trade effectively,” President Akufo-Addo said on the show.
“As the trade becomes more and more formalised, I think the necessity for both sides; both the French people and the English-speaking people to be able to exchange information in the languages that they speak is going to be almost irresistible.”
Businesses in informal sector ignore fight against COVID-19 (The Business & Financial Times)
Despite government’s directives for businesses of all sizes to observe outlined COVID-19 protocols – such as wearing face masks, washing hands, the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, among others – some workers in the informal sector have disregarded such measures, as they think the disease is no longer spreading as fast as before.
Observations made by the B&FT have revealed that compared to most businesses in the formal sector that are complying with the safety protocols by displaying ‘no mask no entry’ posts on their walls – providing water-filled Veronica-buckets and soap at their entrances for hand washing, or making available hand sanitisers – those in the informal sector such as provision shops, fruit-stalls, food vendors, used-clothes sellers and other petty-trading shops do not have such facilities at their places of operation any more.
Second edition of Mozambique SADC Success Stories publication launched
The second edition of the publication, Mozambique SADC Success Stories, was launched by His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, the President of the Republic of Mozambique and Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), at the SADC Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government on 23rd June 2021 in Maputo, Mozambique.
Mozambique continues to play a significant role and has been recognised for the importance of its transport corridors which radiate out from the main ports of Maputo, Beira and Nacala, providing access to international markets for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced its support for the first ever memorandum of understanding (MoU) on trade collaboration between the Governments of Malawi and South Sudan. The Bank will provide financial backing and payment instruments to facilitate trade of agricultural commodities and essential consumer goods between the two nations. The MoU was signed on 10 June 2021 in Juba by the Minister of Trade of Malawi, the Honourable Sosten Gwengwe, and the Minister of Trade and Industry of South Sudan, the Honourable Kuol Athian Mawien, as part of the programme of activities that marked the state visit of the President of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, to Juba. The five-year agreement will allow Malawi to export grain and other agricultural products to South Sudan. The country currently has a surplus of grain totalling 1.2 million metric tonnes, which if exported will generate additional jobs for Malawian workers and benefit consumers in South Sudan. South Sudan will, meanwhile, be able to supply commodities such as petroleum products and bitumen to Malawi, supporting development and wealth creation in the South Sudanese economy.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said: “This is a historic moment for Malawi and South Sudan that showcases the promise of the AfCFTA in action. By taking their first ever steps into trade collaboration, both countries will unlock new channels for inclusive wealth creation and secure high-quality jobs for their people.
Africa
Piecing the puzzle of African integration: the successes and exponential potential. | African Union
Achieving African integration is not an end in itself. The purpose must be to offer the African citizenry prosperity and security. The objective of both regional and continental integration must enable African countries benefit from economies of scale, trade amongst themselves, move freely across the continent and most importantly, benefit from the common goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063, aimed at shared prosperity, unity and integration. The commemorative activities of the African Integration Day that kicked off on the 7th of July, will examine into details, the status of the continental integration and with particular focus on the role of continental integration in accelerating African economic recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
For the continent to advance positively on the post recovery efforts to build back better, stronger and reinforce Africa’s resilience in this and future pandemics, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda and Champion of Regional Integration in Africa, notes that Africa can only be prosperous through production of goods and services and most importantly, by ensuring its continental market is integrated from the 55 micro markets to trade under the common market of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA). “How will the 1.4 billion Africans be prosperous? You can only be prosperous through production of goods of services but this prosperity can only be guaranteed by integrating the market. Integration should not only be a slogan but should be able to enable us overcome poverty and underdevelopment through production where people are assured of markets for their goods and services. Strategic security is also another key factor.”
In commemoration of African Integration Day, the African Union (AU), the European Union, and the International Trade Centre engaged in a series of sessions between 7 and 8 July that highlighted how the African Trade Observatory Dashboard can support the effective implementation of the AfCFTA and strengthen continental integration. The sessions brought together an audience from across AU members, including policymakers and entrepreneurs, to shed light on how the digital dashboard can empower firms to take advantage of the continent’s emerging opportunities. As AfCFTA implementation moves forward, companies will be better equipped to take data-driven business decisions, while policymakers keep abreast of trade impacts on their economies. The new online version (https://ato.africa/en) offers updated statistics, is available in Arabic and Portuguese in addition to English and French, and unveils a new analytical module to meet the needs of policymakers. The newly released Monitor module grants authorised policymakers access to detailed and timely information on trade performance, trade opportunities, level of processing of traded products and the utilization of trade agreements.
AU urges push on continental integration to drive Africa’s economic recovery (The East African)
As Covid-19 has plunged Africa into its first recession in 25 years, the African Union (AU) Thursday underlined the need to address challenges of African integration to accelerate the economic recovery of the continent. The 55-member pan-African bloc, since July 7, has been commemorating Africa Integration Day under the theme, “The Role of Continental Integration in Accelerating African Economic Recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic”, according to an AU statement on Thursday.
According to the statement, the cumulative loss of Africa’s GDP is estimated at between 145 and 190 billion U.S. dollars with worrying projections that 39 million more people could be pushed into extreme poverty if urgent and purposed measures are not taken to address the socio-economic difficulties caused by the pandemic. “Making AfCFTA a Production Community will ultimately enable us to accelerate economic growth and ensure our food, industrial and medical sovereignty to meet the emerging challenges on the horizon,” he said. “With economic integration, we (Africa) will be better placed to overcome the negative effects of the pandemic,” said Albert Muchanga, AU Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining.
Pan African SMEs Network conducts survey on readiness of businesses for AfCFTA (The Business & Financial Times)
The Pan African SMEs Network is conducting a survey on the readiness of Small and Medium Enterprises to benefit from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). According to the Network, its preliminary checks revealed that despite the commencement of trading activities since January 2021 many SMEs are oblivious of the existence of the AfCFTA. Speaking to the B&FT at the African SMEs Dialogue to commemorate African Integration Day 2021, the Executive Director of Pan African SMEs Network said: “Many SMEs on the continent do not know about AfCFTA; how will they prepare for it. It tells that there is a huge task for sensitisation”.
ECA’s sensitization workshop on opportunities in AfCFTA for women in business ends in Abuja (UNECA)
A two-day sensitization workshop for women in business in West Africa on the opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has ended in Abuja with more than 100 women’s groups and businesswomen from across the country and neighbouring countries in attendance.
Speaking at the opening, ECA’s Senior Adviser Adeyinka Adeyemi, urged participants to take advantage of the huge integrated market of over 1.2 billion people to grow their businesses, expand their export potentials, create jobs and increase their profit. To take advantage of the opportunities, he said Nigerian women should access funding through schemes promoted by the Central Bank of Nigeria such as the Anchor Borrowers Programme, Real Sector support Facility, Export Stimulation Scheme, and Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme.
Energy will play a critical role in the success of Africa’s free trade area (Africa Renewal)
One of the first important things, which countries have started doing, is identifying where the people who need electrification and clean cooking are. This will enable countries to identify the best way to provide these using a range of energy mixes, knowing that cleaner is better. The second thing is for countries to make sure they have solid policies and laws to help attract investment and to help their own renewable, clean energy market. And then finally— and this is more of a global issue as well as an African countries’ issue—the financing must be there. So, public financing, private financing, commercial financing, non-commercial concession financing, philanthropy money-- all need to come together for us to end energy poverty.
The Peer Review Panel (The Panel) comprising the SADC Ministers responsible for Finance and Investment and the SADC Central Bank Governors, met via Virtual Conferencing on 15 July 2021. The purpose of the Panel’s Virtual Meeting was to review progress made by individual Member States towards the achievement of agreed SADC Macroeconomic Convergence (MEC) targets as well as to identify risks to the Region’s economic outlook and devise policy measures to mitigate the risks. The Panel also considered a report on the outcomes of policy measures implemented in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Member States’ economic performance and against MEC targets. The Panel also considered reports of the peer reviews of the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Zimbabwe which were undertaken virtually. This is the second time that the three Member States have been peer reviewed since the SADC Macroeconomic Peer Review Mechanism was launched in May 2013 in Maputo, Mozambique.
ECOWAS TPO to deepen intra-Africa exports beyond 16 per cent (Guardian)
The Economic and Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trade Promotion (TPO) Network, has said it would work towards facilitating the ease of business by increasing the volume of trade within the region, adding that it will build an army of exporters that will boost intra-Africa trade. The Network, while noting that intra-Africa exports only account for about 16 per cent of Africa’s global export, said the region’s trade only accounts for a 10th of member-states global trade. President of ECOWAS TPO Network, Olusegun Awolowo, made this known yesterday, at the launch and first yearly general meeting of the Network in Abuja. Awolowo reiterated the need to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), adding that the establishment of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) was a step in the right direction to increase trade in the region.
He added that the low utilisation of the scheme, especially among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which account for a large proportion of economic activities within the region, highlights the need for more efforts.
ECOWAS Administrators Seek to Curb Tax Evasion, Illicit Financial Flows (THISDAY Newspapers)
Tax administrators of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states yesterday intensified efforts to make it difficult for individuals and business entities, especially multinational institutions, to evade tax compliance as well as limit illicit financial flows and corruption at regional level. At the first major stakeholders’ meeting of the Support Programme for Tax Transition in West Africa (PATF), the regional heads of public tax institutions agreed to fast track the formulation and adoption of policy and framework to strengthen the fight against tax fraud as well as improve domestic tax management and ensure better coordination of taxation in the programme’s coverage area. The Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nami, while declaring open the regional seminar on the problems of tax transition in West Africa, in Abuja, said at a time when the various governments were facing health and security difficulties, results were of great essence to boost revenue mobilisation and improve fiscal positions.
New EABC boss outlines top 12 priorities (The New Times)
Rwandan economist John Bosco Kalisa, who was last month appointed as CEO of the East African Business Council (EABC), has hit the ground running; traversing the region and meeting stakeholders as he is determined to enhance the business environment in the region. Kalisa recently stressed that the private sector is a key player in job creation and development and should therefore take centre stage in the regional integration agenda. Speaking to The New Times from Kampala, Uganda, on Thursday, July 15, Kalisa listed the top 12 priority areas he is working on to improve business in the region.
CEMAC seeks to add value to wood exports [Business Africa] | Africanews
The wood industry in Central Africa lacks dynamism. As a result, countries do not benefit enough from its resources. To change this situation, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community is focusing on the local processing of wood. Hence the ban on the export of logs. The measure is due to come into force in January 2022.
Digital tools can transform Africa, tackle food insecurity (Africa Renewal)
Mr. Laku’s sunny optimism derives from the fact that digital tools are currently accessible to Africans in a way that technologies weren’t in the previous industrial revolutions. “The first industrial revolution was about steam engines being used for transportation—ships. The second industrial revolution was when electricity was discovered. The third revolution was the invention of the computer,” he says, in an interview with Africa Renewal. “It took about 50 years for Africa to adopt the technologies in the first and second industrial revolutions, and it took 10 years for computers to gain ground on the continent.”
But now, maintains the half-Ugandan and half-Kenyan digital expert, “It’s the first time in history that Africa is on par with the rest of the world. “If it's the internet, Africa also has internet; If it’s technology that’s being piloted in Japan, countries in Africa are also piloting it. For example, about six or seven countries are already testing the 5G in Africa,” he says.
Is B2B is the key to unlocking Africa’s e-commerce potential (Quartz Africa)
While Africa has a vast e-commerce potential, experts consider this opportunity largely untapped. A report released last year by the International Trade Centre (ITC), a development agency that supports small- and medium-sized enterprises, found that 10 countries were responsible for 94% of all online business in Africa in 2019. E-commerce businesses in the continent mainly engage in the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) models. B2B involves transactions between businesses, for example between a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer. In B2C, on the other hand, a business sells a service or product directly to a consumer. If you actually look at what it takes to operate a B2C model effectively, the infrastructure and actually the consumer spending power is not there.
Globally, B2B e-commerce is up to five times the size of B2C e-commerce, according to the ITC. In African e-commerce, recent developments have been making the case for B2B being the key to unlocking Africa’s e-commerce potential. Businesses using this model are increasingly emerging and thriving, and some B2C businesses are changing their approach to B2B.
ECA and GSMA call on central Africa to leverage mobile connectivity for e-commerce (UNECA)
The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the GSMA today called on Central Africa’s 11 governments to adopt policies to accelerate e-commerce, including better access to digital services and public-private collaboration. Mobile internet use in Central Africa more than doubled in the past decade to 42% at the end of 2019. Women and entrepreneurs increasingly use e-commerce platforms to grow their businesses, according to the joint GSMA-ECA report titled “Enabling e-commerce in Central Africa: the role of mobile services and policy implications”. The report makes the potential for economic development and social inclusion clear. E-commerce is growing quickly in Central Africa and mobile connectivity and payments are key to gaining momentum. By the end of 2020, there were 16 live mobile money services in ECCAS[1], serving nearly 50 million registered accounts. The report shows that while the retail e-commerce landscape is dominated by global players, such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba, domestic and regional players are leveraging local knowledge to compete. Jumia, is an example of this and is Africa’s largest e-commerce company with operations in 11 countries across the continent.
Trade ties between India, Nigeria, others below potential, says Adebayo (Guardian)
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, yesterday, lamented that African countries have not realised their true potential in bilateral trade with India. In his address at the 16th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India and Africa Project Partnership with the theme: “Harnessing the Africa-India Opportunity: Connect, Create, Collaborate”, the Minister said despite the fact that India is Africa’s third-largest trading partner, African countries predominantly export raw crude oil and other extractive resources to the Asian country. He said: “As you may be aware, India is now Africa’s third-largest trading partner. Yet the bilateral trade data and patterns suggest the true potentials have not yet been realised as African countries predominantly export raw crude oil and other extractive resources to India. “In the light of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, and as African countries aim to reduce their economic dependence on resource trade, India could play a catalytic role in Africa’s collective efforts to boost the region’s manufacturing and service exports.” He listed the main export destinations for India in Africa to include South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Algeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia.
Sub-Saharan African countries not yet coming to grips with pandemic (Engineering News)
Fitch Solutions Country Risks & Industry Research maintains that the vaccination rollout is still of huge concern in sub-Saharan Africa, considering that few vaccines get administered owing to lack of infrastructure for distribution, particularly into rural regions. Sub-Saharan Africa remains lagging behind on vaccination rates, compared with the rest of the world, it said on July 15.
African Heads of State Call for an Ambitious Replenishment of the IDA20 to Support Their Recovery Agenda (World Bank)
Thirteen African Heads of State and governments concluded their one-day meeting in Abidjan today with a strong resolution to accelerate economic recovery from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, scale-up investments in human capital, and increase their job creation efforts. They called for a robust twentieth replenishment of the World Bank Group’s International Development Association (IDA20) to support these efforts.
In a joint declaration endorsed at the meeting, the Heads of State emphasized that economic recovery, job creation, and investments in human capital – including expanding access to vaccines – are critical to help people recover from the shocks of the pandemic, get out of extreme poverty, and build a more resilient and inclusive future. “The funding process that begins in Abidjan this week, will conclude at the end of this year with a policy and financial package to support specific projects in the 74 IDA countries over the next three years. The objective of an IDA20 replenishment envelope of at least $100 billion, for three years, would be the largest in IDA’s history. This is a good opportunity to demonstrate that solidarity is effectively essential for the good of all and that we can act together to return to the path of income convergence that we were on prior to the pandemic and build a safer and prosperous world,” said President Alassane Ouattara of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. ”We know that when the World Bank has the backing of all its stakeholders, it has the capacity and oversight to make a difference.”
Global
UN hints at progress in streamlining trade procedures despite Covid crisis (Dhaka Tribune)
Countries across the globe are continuing to move towards a seamless and efficient trading environment, within and beyond national borders. By simplifying and digitizing formalities in international trading, the countries are helping to sustain international trade despite the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey released by the UN regional commissions on Wednesday. The United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation covers not only the trade facilitation measures in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, but digital trade facilitation measures associated with the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, a UN treaty which entered into force earlier this year. The survey also pays closer attention to sectors and groups with special needs, such as the agricultural sector, small and medium enterprises and women traders.
The Important Role Air Cargo Plays in the Global Supply Chain (Global Trade Magazine)
The world’s first cargo flight was in 1910. Since then, air cargo and private cargo shipping have played a crucial role in transporting time-sensitive and high-value goods internationally and domestically. Over the years, air transport has also proven to be a key “connector” between the manufacturers and the consumers. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, shipments that took too long to get from one point to another were quickly transported via air. Air cargo has also kept the global supply chains functioning for time-sensitive materials. This was carried out by utilizing cargo capacity in passenger aircraft, dedicated cargo freighter operations, and relief flights to affected areas.
Global trade and shipping chaos faces a new problem. Slow vaccines for seafarers (The Economic Times)
Global vaccinations of seafarers are going too slowly to prevent outbreaks on ships from causing more trade disruptions, endangering maritime workers and potentially slowing economies trying to pull out of pandemic slowdowns.
Infections on vessels could further harm already strained global supply chains, just as the U.S. and Europe recover and companies start stocking up for Christmas. The shipping industry is sounding the alarm as infections increase and some ports continue to restrict access to seafarers from developing countries that supply the majority of maritime workers but can’t vaccinate them.
“It’s a perfect storm,” says Esben Poulsson, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping that represents ship owners. “With this new delta strain, there’s no doubt it’s setting us back and the situation is getting worse. Demand for products isn’t letting up, crew changes aren’t happening fast enough and governments continue to stick their heads in the sand.”
Technology holds the key to driving greater sustainability in global trade (Finextra)
Whether environmental, social or economic, the sustainability challenges at the heart of trade often seem insurmountable in this global, sprawling industry. Recent research suggests 92% of CEOs believe the integration of sustainability will be important to the future success of businesses – but only 48% say they are actually implementing sustainability into operations. Against this backdrop, what role can technology play in bridging the gap between belief and action when it comes to making trade more sustainable?
WTO members edge closer to fisheries subsidies agreement (WTO)
During an all-day meeting with 104 ministers and heads of delegation, WTO members pledged to conclude the negotiations soon and certainly before the WTO’s Ministerial Conference in early December, and to empower their Geneva-based delegations to do so. Members also confirmed that the negotiating text currently before them can be used as the basis for the talks to strike the final deal.
Nigeria wants small scale fishers out of WTO subsidies discipline (Daily Trust)
The Federal Government has called for the exemption of small-scale and artisanal fishers from the scope of fisheries subsidies discipline under negotiation at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by member nations. Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, made the call in his submission at a virtual meeting of WTO Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) at the ministerial level on fisheries subsidies on Thursday. Adebayo affirmed Nigeria’s commitment and support to the agreement to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that had resulted in rapid depletion of global marine fish stocks.
He said it would ensure recognition “that appropriate treatment for developing countries and least developed countries should be an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation”.
ICC calls on trade ministers to reach fisheries deal at WTO (ICC)
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Updates on looting and protests in South Africa
Supply China Latest: Mass Looting Blocks a Key African Trade Gateway (Bloomberg)
Widespread social unrest gripping South Africa following the arrest of a former president saw key logistics arteries for the continent shuttered as rioters torched trucks and caused millions of dollars in damage to stores and warehouses, spurring concerns about looming shortages. The Road Freight Association says more than 35 trucks have been either wholly burnt out or very badly damaged since July 10 on key routes in KwaZulu-Natal province, home to sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest port of Durban, as well as in the coal-rich Mpumalanga region and the economic hub of Gauteng, where Johannesburg is located. The arson led to the closure of the N3 highway that links Durban to Johannesburg and is also the start of trucking routes used to transport goods and commodities to and from nations as far north as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The cost to the South African economy will run into billions of rand lost as business confidence from foreign investors, and those who use South Africa as a transit hub, turn away from us,” Kelly said. “The ‘Gateway to Africa’ has been lost and these attacks will further cement the move of transit freight from South Africa to neighboring countries.”
Ports, key rail line disrupted by violence – Transnet (Engineering News)
Economic impact of riots and looting in South Africa and wider emerging problems (BusinessTech)
Investors not giving up on South Africa (IOL)
“South Africa correctly prides itself as a country with an excellent constitution in which the rule of law and property rights are enshrined,” Vuslat Bayoglu, the managing director of the mining investment company Menar, told Independent Media on Wednesday. While some foreign investors in South Africa were concerned about the potential long-term impact on investor sentiment, there still remained a strong commitment to invest in the country in the hope that the state was able to contain the current situation and restore order.
South African protests disrupt citrus exports (FreshFruitPortal.com)
South African farmers have been hit by days of unrest and looting as trucks carrying produce are prevented from delivering to markets. The country’s citrus exports through the port of Durban have been halted after violence erupted in the KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng regions.
Citrus Growers Association Chief Executive Justin Chadwick said trucks carrying citrus have been unable to use the main arterial roads to the Durban port, where more than half of the citrus is exported. He also said that harvesting and packing could not be stopped since producers would then face losing their crops, Farmers Weekly reported. Instead, fruit was being palletised and kept in cold storage on farms until the roads were safe again. “Most cold storage facilities in the [Port of Durban] have closed down, as have the fresh produce facilities. People can’t get to work so there is no one there to operate the ports,” he was quoted as saying.
South Africa after COVID-19 – light at the end of a very long tunnel (Brookings)
Like most other countries, South Africa could not escape the pandemic. It suffered the loss of lives and livelihoods. But there is also light at the end of a very long tunnel. The government responded swiftly and strongly to the crisis while also spearheading an international alliance for the distribution of vaccines in Africa. If the South African government would carry out with the same determination long-standing economic reform as it was fighting the pandemic, COVID-19 could serve as a turning point in reenergizing South Africa’s economy and labor market.
Addressing structural constraints to growth behind and at the border could support exports and higher growth, and so preserve the sustainability of public finances. The experience of major emerging economies shows that the two most potent factors for reducing public debt-to-GDP ratios are economic growth and primary surpluses. The implied priorities are self-evident: a better climate for investment and trade, and prudent fiscal policy.
South Africa Invests in Biodiversity to Promote Rural Development and Conservation (World Bank)
South Africa is stepping up investment for its wildlife and biodiversity sectors thanks to a grant of $8.9 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Catalyzing Financing and Capacity for the Biodiversity Economy Around Protected Areas Project aims to enhance South Africa’s stewardship of its rich biodiversity and expand the benefits of protected areas for local communities. It will also help address high unemployment and limited livelihoods options in and around protected areas as well as inequality in rural economies. The project supports South Africa’s efforts to foster the unrealized potential of its wildlife and biodiversity sectors as drivers for economic growth, including through expanding conservation areas and mitigating threats to protected areas and conservation objectives.
The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ms Nomalungelo Gina says South Africa and Kenya are working on several economic protocols, to promote and grow their economies. She said that the countries were actively collaborating in the sectors of tourism, fisheries, energy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and agriculture to carve a mutually beneficial path and to promote and grow business opportunities in the two respective economies. Gina said this during South Africa-Kenya webinar to explore business opportunities between the two countries. Gina said that while both countries were pioneers in ICT, which is becoming the mainstay of the modern economy, South African and Kenyan entrepreneurs should be encouraged to collaborate in developing business solutions and new enterprises that will enhance trade between the two.
Kenya counts on Dar mission to unlock trade barriers (The Star, Kenya)
Kenyan manufacturers are hopeful the just concluded trade mission to Tanzania will help open up trade between the two countries. The visit comes amid renewed political ties between the two countries. Last week, local manufacturers led by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) were on a trade a trade mission to Tanzania, organised in partnership with the Confederation of Tanzania Industries. “One thing stood out; trade relations between the two countries can flourish given sustained political goodwill and mutual understanding between businesses,” she added. While Kenya and Tanzania have for years shared strong trade relations, non-tariff barriers, high cost of production and cheap imports from outside the East Africa Community (EAC) have impacted trade between the two countries.
New Lamu port set to host first transshipment cargo (Business Daily)
The Lamu port will handle its first transshipment cargo today as a ship from Zanzibar will be calling at the facility to deliver freight meant for the Far East. The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) says the AMU 1, a Kenyan owned ship from Tanzania carrying 63 containers of goods is expected to dock at the facility. Transshipment is where cargo or container get moved from one vessel to another while in transit to its final destination. It mainly happens when there are no direct connection between two ports. On Wednesday next week, a CMA CGM ship will pick the consignment from the Lamu facility and ferry it to Dubai and the Far East country.
Factbox: Nigeria’s oil overhaul faces last battles over fuel, northern drilling (Reuters)
Nigeria’s lawmakers are on the cusp of clearing an oil industry overhaul that has eluded the nation for two decades. Final passage of a package of measures is expected as early as Wednesday due to alignment between the National Assembly and President Muhammadu Buhari. But added provisions, including one that could give the Dangote Group an effective monopoly on fuel, launched last-minute battles in Africa’s largest oil exporter. Currently 23 companies have refining licences, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources. Most process less than 12,000 barrels per day (bpd). The Dangote refinery, under construction in Lagos by billionaire Aliko Dangote, has a nameplate capacity of 650,000 bpd.
Poor infrastructure costing Nigeria $17.1b yearly, says AfDB (The Nation Newspaper)
The African Development Bank (AfDB) says Nigeria loses about four percent of her Gross Domestic Product growth annually because of poor infrastructure. This amounts to $17.1 billion yearly using the 2020 GDP figures. Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit he lamented “is one of the main constraints to industrial development and national competitiveness. Estimates indicate that Nigeria’s infrastructure constraints cost the country around four percent of its yearly Gross Domestic Product growth”. Given the huge amounts needed to bridge the country’s infrastructure gap, which is about $100 billion annually for the next 30 years, he said time has come to create an enabling environment for Public-Private Partnerships to close Nigeria’s infrastructure gap.
Adding value to exports can overturn negative trade balance with UK – report (The Business & Financial Times)
The Business Climate Report has urged the country to change its old practice of exporting primary products to the United Kingdom (UK), which has persistently resulted in a negative trade balance at the country’s expense. The 2020 report indicated that the UK imported US$242 million worth of goods, while Ghana on the other hand imported US$473 million worth of goods from the UK – presenting a negative trade balance of about US$231 million. This, the report said, is attributed to factors such as the country’s continuous export of raw materials and import of manufactured goods, coupled with a drop in the level of exports against imports in trade with the UK – a trend that may continue for a long time if nothing concrete is done to change the narrative.
Is sustainability the key to unlocking Togo’s textile industry potential? (Oxford Business Group)
With Togo moving to position itself as a regional leader in terms of textile production, the country is increasing its focus on sustainability and digitalisation as it seeks to maximise value across the supply chain. As OBG has recently explored, the global textiles industry is one of the major contributors to climate change: with pre-pandemic annual emissions of 1.2bn tonnes, it is the second-largest industrial polluter, second only to the oil and gas industry. This situation has led many textile industry players to increase their focus on sustainability and other environmental, social and governance principles. “If Togo is to compete on a global stage, it must be prudent with the usage of its resources, and ensure that energy sources are reliable and have a good mix of renewables.”
Egypt: Overcoming the COVID Shock and Maintaining Growth (IMF)
Like most emerging markets, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an enormous shock for the Egyptian economy. Precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus, including partial lockdowns and restrictions on capacity in public spaces, resulted in a temporary decline in domestic activity, while the government’s budget was stretched as the economic slowdown reduced tax revenues. Egypt also experienced significant capital outflows of more than $15 billion during March-April 2020 as investors pulled out of emerging markets in a flight to safety. Nonetheless, Egypt was one of the few emerging market countries that experienced a positive growth rate in 2020, thanks to the government’s timely response, the short period of lockdown and Egypt’s relatively diversified economy.
Morocco-France trade balance posts surplus in favor of kingdom thanks to automobile industry – French ambassador (The North Africa Post)
Morocco has turned the tide in the trade balance with France over the past decade with a booming automobile industry, French ambassador Hélène Le Gal has told online media le360.ma. “We have gone from a French trade surplus to a Moroccan trade surplus, because Morocco exports much more to France than it imports. Morocco exports automobiles in particular, and that is the big difference,” Le Gal said in an interview. The surplus according to the French diplomat is led by vehicle exports from the kingdom to Europe and France in particular.
Africa
Africa: Regional cooperation is crucial for the continent’s growth (The Africa Report)
To accelerate transformation, African countries must collaborate beyond trade to tackle shared challenges, harness regional opportunities, and enable economies to innovate and grow together by removing barriers to progress. The damaging economic legacy of the Covid-19 crisis is likely to be prolonged across parts of Africa, with per capita incomes in many countries not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels before 2025. However, the pandemic’s impact would be far more devastating – and deadly – without highly successful collaboration and coordination among countries.
To add to the challenges, while there is variation across countries, public debt in sub-Saharan Africa is again becoming a concern to policymakers because of the steadily increasing interest burden. Under the backdrop of these immediate issues, it is important to keep the eye on longer-term goals that will provide real solutions to Africa’s problems. The third African Transformation Report published by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) explores the critical need to give new impetus to Africa’s transformation.
AfCFTA’s success relies heavily on Africa’s fintech startups (Quartz)
Fintech companies in Africa are flourishing by producing digital systems and infrastructure to make financial services more efficient. And with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at the start of this year, the fintech companies are well positioned to replicate this success by providing solutions for what is the largest free trade area globally by the number of countries taking part in it. AfCFTA presents opportunities for fintech companies in areas including payment facilitation, settlement, and reconciliation, says Niyi Kolade, founder and CEO of Seerbit, a Lagos-based pan-African enterprise payment platform.
Innovative financing structures needed to fund Africa growth (The Business & Financial Times)
Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) indicates that by 2050, Africa’s cities will be home to almost a billion additional people. As these cities grow, it’s important that the appropriate urban infrastructure – from roads and transport systems to water and waste management systems – is in place to enhance wellbeing and productivity for people living in these areas. Africa’s urban transition also offers opportunities to proactively address critical challenges such as digital transformation and climate change, to ensure cities become centres of sustainable, climate-resilient and inclusive growth. The pandemic has caused a major blow to some of the world’s poorest countries, causing a recession that could push more than estimated 100 million people into extreme poverty. That is why the World Bank and the IMF urged G20 countries to establish the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).
Africa’s Agricultural Sector Needs to Be More Appealing for the Youth (BORGEN)
The employment agriculture offers to the continent’s working population is approximately two-thirds. Approximately 11 million young Africans enter the labor force of Africa’s agricultural sector every year. At best, only a quarter of these new workers will find paying jobs over the next decade. On average, each country contributes 30-60% of gross domestic product and about 30% of the value of exports. Overall, agriculture in Africa contributes to major continental priorities such as eradicating poverty and hunger, boosting intra-Africa trade and investments and rapid industrialization and economic diversification. However, the youth in Africa from the latest generation isn’t seeing the crucial importance of having a career in agriculture. Rather, many discard it as a viable career path and take a very negative stance against farming.
Innovation has Maintained COMESA’s Performance Trajectory (COMESA)
Amidst the prevailing Covid-19 situation, the implementation of the COMESA regional integration programmes has picked pace, with a notable consistent budget absorption under Member States funding on operational expenditures. According to a recent performance update by the COMESA Secretariat, there has been an upward trajectory in programme activities in the second quarter of the year as restrictions on movement of people in the region eases. These have been made possible through the adoption and application of information, communication technologies, which have built the organization’s resilience to implement its programmes.
Global
Progress in streamlining trade procedures continues despite COVID-19 crisis, UN survey shows (UNECA)
Countries across the globe are continuing to move towards a seamless and efficient trading environment, within and beyond national borders, by simplifying and digitalizing formalities in international trading, helping to sustain international trade despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey released today by the United Nations regional commissions. The Survey covers not only the trade facilitation measures in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, but also digital trade facilitation measures associated with the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, a UN treaty which entered into force earlier this year. The Survey also pays special attention to sectors and groups with special needs, such as the agricultural sector, small and medium enterprises and women traders. A new module on trade facilitation during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic was integrated this year.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on how the WTO can tackle vaccine scarcity and global recovery (Atlantic Council)
The unequal global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is fragile, warned World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and “there’s one thing behind that all: The issue of vaccine equity.” “We’re not really going to have what is [a] sustainable recovery” as long as vaccine scarcity continues, Okonjo-Iweala said at an Atlantic Council Front Page event hosted by the Council’s GeoEconomics Center. “The supply scarcity is driving behavior,” she said, not only fueling countries to competitively bid on vaccines, but also to “bid away vaccines from COVAX,” the global coalition tasked with improving COVID-19 vaccine access. “That’s why COVAX has been struggling to deliver what it should.” Okonjo-Iweala outlined ways the WTO can alleviate the scarcity problem across the supply chain for COVID-19 vaccines: by encouraging the removal of trade restrictions while working with manufacturers to unlock bottlenecks and spread their production expertise. “Without the transfer of technology and know-how, you also cannot manufacture or increase output,” she said. Members of the WTO are negotiating a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, and Okonjo-Iweala hopes “they will come to a conclusion that is pragmatic, allowing developing countries to have access but also [protecting] research, development, and innovation.”
WTO members consider revised proposal for transparency reforms at Goods Council meeting (WTO)
The WTO Goods Council discussed at its meeting on 8-9 July a revised proposal to enhance members’ compliance with transparency obligations, one of the main pillars of the WTO system. The proponents presented the changes to their proposal and sought support as members prepare for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in late November. Some of the key changes include reordering and simplifying the technical assistance and capacity building provisions, which would be broadened to include all members, and the expansion of the role of the Working Group on Notification Obligations and Procedures to facilitate improvements in notification processes.
WTO issues new edition of World Tariff Profiles (WTO)
The special topic for this issue is the use of non-tariff measures (NTMs). Using data in UNCTAD’s Trade Analysis Information System (TRAINS), this chapter looks at three indicators of the use of NTMs: the frequency index, the coverage ratio and the prevalence score. These indicators reveal the percentage of products affected by NTMs, the share of trade subject to NTMs, and how many measures apply to a particular product group. The chapter reveals that almost 60 per cent of imported products need to comply with at least one NTM. In terms of trade value, almost 80 per cent of imported goods are subject to NTMs.
UN chief says race to reach SDGs ‘can and must’ be turned around (United Nations)
The COVID pandemic has taken four million lives, devastated the global economy, pushed a further 124 million people into extreme poverty and continues to inflict profound suffering – dramatically impacting progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN chief said on Tuesday at a key international forum. “Nearly one person in three around the world could not access adequate food in 2020 – an increase of nearly 320 million people in one year”, Secretary-General António Guterres told the Opening of the Ministerial Segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN’s core review platform of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs.
World Bank Budget Support in the Time of COVID: Crisis Finance… with Strings Attached (Center for Global Development)
World Bank budget support projects throughout the COVID-19 global health emergency contain significant policy conditionality. On average, each budget support program required the recipient government to implement 8 policy reforms to secure funding – a reasonable constraint in “normal” times but at odds with the twin imperatives of speed and flexibility in crisis times. In addition, over two-thirds of the World Bank budget support reform conditions were not directly relevant to the COVID-19 crisis. Instead, they focused on a longer-term reform agenda. This puts the World Bank out of step with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has routed a significant portion of its COVID-19 financing through programs with little to no conditionality.
UN report: Pandemic year marked by spike in world hunger (FAO)
There was a dramatic worsening of world hunger in 2020, the United Nations said today – much of it likely related to the fallout of COVID-19. While the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped, a multi-agency report estimates that around a tenth of the global population – up to 811 million people – were undernourished last year. The number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honour its pledge to end hunger by 2030. This year’s edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is the first global assessment of its kind in the pandemic era. “Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in our food systems, which threaten the lives and livelihoods of people around the world,” the heads of the five UN agencies write in this year’s Foreword. They go on to warn of a “critical juncture,” even as they pin fresh hopes on increased diplomatic momentum.
Increasing legality and transparency in the timber trade (FAO)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today launched a new online portal providing information on forest-related laws around the world in order to help promote legal forest management, timber production and trade, and contribute to efforts to make forest resource use sustainable. The first such portal of its kind, developed with support from the Japanese Government, TimberLex provides information on legislation relating to forest management, timber production and trade from 46 timber consumer, processing and producer countries. Illegal logging and related trade are estimated to account for 10-30 percent of the global timber trade – or $ 30-100 billion annually – and impairs poverty alleviation, food security and climate change mitigation while undermining efforts to manage forests sustainably. In an effort to address this issue, major wood-consuming countries are increasingly imposing requirements for timber imports to document their legal status.
IFAD’s new investment programme to boost private funding of rural businesses and small-scale farmers (IFAD)
Rural businesses, which are so vital for transforming our food systems, will get a much needed boost from an ambitious new financing programme launched today by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as part of its broader efforts to address rising hunger and poverty levels in the world’s poorest countries. The Private Sector Financing Programme (PSFP) aims to spearhead an increase in much-needed private investment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), farmers’ organizations and financial intermediaries servicing small-scale farmers, which are too often neglected by investors. It will provide loans, risk management instruments (such as guarantees), and equity investments.
United Nations’ agri fund zooms in on private sector SMEs in Africa (Engineering News)
The United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) has launched a new financing programme that will help aid rural businesses in the food systems of the world’s poorest countries. The Private Sector Financing Programme aims to spearhead an increase in much-needed private investment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), farmers’ organisations and financial intermediaries servicing small-scale farmers, which are often neglected by investors.
The $22B Spent On Overfishing Subsidies Is ‘Madness’: UN Special Envoy (Green Queen)
The United Nations secretary-general’s special envoy for the oceans, Peter Thomson, has urged states to put an end to fisheries subsidies. Describing the $22 billion in funding to overfishing operations as “madness”, Thomson said it is now time for countries to “do the right thing by the ocean”. At a recent virtual webinar hosted by Friends of Ocean Action (FOA), Thomson said countries must end the “environmental and economic madness” of funding fishing operations. Every year, countries funnel $22 billion to fisheries that are driving the unsustainable depletion of ocean fish stocks. Right now, we are stripping the ocean at a dizzying rate. One-third of the world’s fish stocks are overfished, according to U.N. estimates. 90% of fish are already fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted.
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South Africa is set to emerge from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis weaker than when it entered it despite its solid response to the pandemic, says a World Bank report released today. The report suggests simultaneously implementing policies that preserve macroeconomic stability, revitalize the jobs market, and improve the investment climate to build a more inclusive economy after the pandemic. The World Bank projects the gross domestic product (GDP) for South Africa to rebound to 4 percent in 2021, propelled by the strong global recovery and favorable commodity prices. However, the country’s growth outlook is uncertain with major risks around the path of the pandemic. For 2022, GDP growth is projected to slow to 2.1 percent and 1.5 percent in 2023, suggesting that the average South African will be worse off in 2023 compared to 2019. However, the global recovery presents an opportunity for the Government to address the well-known structural constraints to its growth prospects and to lift the country onto a higher and dynamic growth path.
Toyota suspends production at Durban plant, exports also halted (Engineering News)
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has suspended production at its Prospecton plant, in Durban, as well as business operations at some of its dealerships in KwaZulu-Natal, as widespread looting and rioting continue in KwaZulu-Natal. Exports from the plant have also been halted. ”The ongoing situation has also impacted the delivery of new vehicles, as well as parts supply in the affected areas,” a TSAM spokesperson tells Engineering News Online.
Import bill tops US$2,77bn (The Herald)
Zimbabwe imported goods worth US$2,77 billion in the six months to June 2021, which reflects a 17,6 percent increase on the external sector payments conducted by the country over the same period last year. The bulk of the imports during the half year period to June 2021 entailed the procurement of critical raw materials, machinery and equipment as well as consumables required by the country’s industrial sector. While figures on Zimbabwe’s exports during the same period were not immediately available, figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) show that exports totalled US$1,53 billion in the four months to April 2021.
Zim, Malawi revise bilateral trade agreement (The Herald)
Zimbabwe and Malawi are engaged in talks to revise their Bilateral Trade Agreement to ensure its provisions speak to a modern-day investor and assist in addressing pressing development needs of the two countries. Malawi and Zimbabwe signed a Bilateral Trade Agreement in 1995, which allows duty-free imports on reciprocal basis, provided the goods meet 25 percent minimum domestic content provisions and conform to each other’s standards. The two countries are both members of COMESA and SADC, which means that traders from both states can export or import goods duty-free and quota-free from each other. However, trade volumes between Malawi and Zimbabwe remain concerningly low amid calls for the private sector and cross border traders to seize trade opportunities by leveraging on the available preferential bilateral and multilateral trade arrangements.
Gov’t poised to waive all import duties, domestic taxes on livestock ahead of ‘Tabaski’ (The Point)
This happened following a consultative meeting with all relevant stakeholders in the livestock sector on July 6, 2021; which aims at facilitating the importation and sales of livestock in preparation for the Tobaski feast. “The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) will waive all import duties and domestic taxes on livestock during the period,” the ministry states. The statement added that The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) Ferry Services will reduce the fees for ferry crossing by fifty percent (50%). However, it added that all livestock dealers with more than five (5) animals are required to transport their animals in a vehicle when crossing using the ferry.
Ghana-Nigeria trade impasse: Speaker Alban Bagbin announces review of GIPC Act (GhanaWeb)
Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has announced a review of the GIPC Act 2013, Act 865 that will exempt the capital requirement for Nigerian retailers to trade in Ghana. According to a joint communique issued between Ghana and Nigeria, following the Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit, Nigerian retailers will now be exempted from paying a US$1 million capital requirement under the Act to facilitate trade. Making the disclosure before Nigeria’s House of Representatives last week, Speaker Alban Bagbin said the development will end long standing retail impasse between Ghana and Nigeria. “… of particular mention is the reconsideration of the US$1 million minimum requirement for trading enterprises under section 28(2) of the Act. This is to facilitate regularization of the businesses of affected Nigerian retail traders in the trade impasse.”
Govt wants more Malawians to venture into cross-border trade (Malawi24)
Minister of Trade Sosten Gwengwe says Malawi Government wants more Malawians, particularly women and youths, to venture into cross-border trade and is also looking to increase the volume of processed products which Malawi exports to countries such as Zimbabwe. Speaking with reporters, Gwengwe said Malawi wants to encourage citizens, majority of whom are women and youths, to venture into cross-border trade and that is why the current budget increased an arrangement called simplified trading regime under Common Marketing for Southern Africa (COMESA) from US$D2000 to US$D3000.
“This trade regime is between three countries Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We would want our women and youths to trade more by increasing our volume but beyond that we would also want to export a lot more of our processed and semi-processed products especially the agriculture products to Zimbabwe. All we need is to have takers to Zimbabwe that’s is why we have this kind of exhibition but it will also benefit Zimbabweans and we are hopeful for strong trading ties,” he explained.
Supporting Uganda’s Recovery from the Crisis (IMF)
Before the pandemic, Uganda’s economy grew, on average, by about 6 percent. However, even then, per capita income growth had started to slow because of high population growth. The global and domestic shocks hit Uganda hard, halving its real GDP growth to only 3 percent in fiscal year 2019/20, and opening sizeable fiscal and external financing gaps. An earlier disbursement in May 2020, alongside other donor funds, helped support the government’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. But they were not sufficient to prevent an increase in poverty, in particular in urban areas.
Businesses Urged to Invest in Cybersecurity (East African Business Week)
“It is key to note that, regardless of the exciting opportunities technology has to offer during this period, customers are likely to have some reservation, one of them the security of digital platforms,” Mr. Budhabhatti said during a recent discussion hosted by Centenary Bank in Kampala, under the theme: How Technology Can Improve Business performance. “The growth of digital banking avenues calls for businesses to invest more in promoting cybersecurity as a way of further protecting their customers’ funds, as they conveniently access financial services at the different touchpoints,” he explained. The shift from traditional to digital banking is a journey, he added, and therefore, a lot of sensitization is required to settle such fears while creating more awareness about the benefits of using digital platforms.
Africa
Covid-19 Pandemic has Aggravated Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade (COMESA)
COVID-19 has exacerbated the non-tariff barrier restrictions on free movement of persons, according to the Chairperson of the COMESA Business Council, Mr. Marday Venkatasamy. He said this was due to the emerging discriminatory practice of certain approved World Health Organization (WHO) vaccines being a prerequisite for international travel. “The business community requests an appeal by the African Union against this inequitable practice,” he added pointing out that the practice was coming at the time when Africa is exploring ways of developing its own vaccines.
South Sudan struggles to meet the EAC integration rules (The East African)
South Sudan is yet to harmonise its internal laws to conform to the East African Community integration. It is also yet to repeal internal laws that impede free movement of people under the Common Market’s six freedoms. This is because the country lacks both human capital and technical capacity, a move that has seen the president appeal to his neighbours for help. “It is in our best interest to ease the movement of people and goods within the region in order to facilitate trade and investment as well as contribute to our end goal of East African regional integration,” said President Salva Kiir. “Please put in place mechanisms to increase South Sudan’s level of participation in intra-regional trade in addition to initiatives that will enable the people of South Sudan to fully capitalise on the benefits of the Community,” said President Kiir.
West Africa: Factoring Offers an Alternative to Financing for SMEs – Central Bank of West African States (allAfrica.com)
Factoring, which is a financial management technique allowing a company to liquidate its receivables and recover cash, can be an alternative and complementary solution to financing, in particular for SMEs and SMIs the Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao), Tiémoko Meyliet Koné said at the official opening, on Tuesday, July 13, of the series of joint BCEAO-Afreximbank-FCI webinars on the theme “Factoring and financing of receivables in Africa”.
Corruption threatens Africa’s 2063 growth plan – EFCC Chair (Vanguard)
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said that the African 2063 development vision (Agenda 2063) will be a mirage if corruption is not decisively dealt with. According to him, corruption presents a major threat militating against the actualization of the “Africa of good governance, democracy, and respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law… which is the vision of African Agenda 2063”.
Internet Restrictions Hold Back Africa’s Economic Growth, Study Finds (Voice of America)
A report by a non-profit group says Africa needs to increase internet access to boost its economies, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Africa’s locally routed online traffic has increased, only one in five Africans has internet access. High taxes and frequent internet shutdowns by some African governments have also discouraged online trade. “By developing internet exchange points within Africa, we have limited this kind of unnecessary travels of internet traffic outside of Africa to come back to Africa, which has a considerable advantage to improving the user experience, be it the speed, connectivity or even the cost of connectivity,” he said.
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) approved seven high-impact projects worth $54 million in 2020, its best year in spite of challenging Covid-19 conditions, according to its recently released 2020 Annual Report. The report, titled Building Foundations for Success, also details the Fund’s success in attracting increased donor funding. SEFA secured commitments worth $90 million from existing and new donors in the year, including from the German Ministry for Development Cooperation and the Nordic Development Fund, both of which joined SEFA in 2020.
Case studies underline importance of regional integration to intra-Africa trade in wood products (AfDB)
Regional economic integration can boost trade in wood products among African countries, according to the findings of a new report produced by the African Natural Resources Centre. The report, Intra-African Trade in Wood Products – Case studies from Benin, Cameroon, Ghana and the Republic of Congo, published on 19 May, explores the role that forest value chains can play in advancing Africa’s development objectives. The continent’s significant forest resources are under-utilized, the report notes. Also, despite the high number of timber-exporting countries in Africa, over 90% of exports are primary products with little value addition. There are plenty of reasons to promote wider intra-African trade of wood products. For developing countries, import substitution is important to advance industrial development but also to eliminate balance-of-payments challenges.
Africa’s potential in the blue economy highlighted in the World Water Congress (AfDB)
Thirty-eight countries in the African continent are bordered by the ocean or the sea, but for 70% of them, their maritime exclusive economic zones are largely under-exploited. In a video broadcast during the Digital World Water Congress organized by the International Water Association (IWA), the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, extolled the continent’s potential in the matter of the blue economy.
The blue economy is faced with challenges linked to the weakness of the political and regulatory frameworks, non-sustainable human activities such as over-fishing, pollution and coastal erosion, warns President Adesina. The African continent can easily be a dynamic blue economy. The fishing sector alone employes twelve million people, the largest sector in the African blue economy, providing food and nutritional security to over 200 million Africans and generating added value estimated at 24 billion US dollars, which represents almost 1.26% of Africa gross domestic product.
STEM skills important for Africa to realise growth opportunities (Engineering News)
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills and education are a key lever for economic transformation and will form the foundation of the future workforce to support sustainable growth and development on a continent targeted for its investment potential, says engineering services firm WSP in Africa MD Mathieu du Plooy. With an estimated 20-million young people a year expected to join the African workforce over the next two decades, it is something that must be addressed if the continent is not to miss out on the opportunities for growth and employment provided by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Decentralised finance may be the panacea for filling Africa’s investment gap (Namibia Economist)
African countries continue to face substantial financing gaps as they take on projects of all sizes in pursuit of development. To tackle the slowdown in foreign direct investment since the onset of the pandemic, some African countries are actively courting their diaspora and looking for pockets of cash-rich businesses around the continent. Each country is on its own development trajectory. However, continental and regional initiatives, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), are being harnessed as broad-based wealth-creation vehicles. The AfCFTA Investment Protocol, one of the many legal instruments that make up the agreement, is still under negotiation.
Even at this stage, the benefits of the agreement are undeniable as institutional capabilities designed to alleviate hurdles to economic development are being deployed at record pace. It will take some time to work through all of the practical and regulatory issues that arise in cross-border trade and investments. Fortunately, the challenges of implementation have not dampened the appetite of Africa-based businesses to expand into other African markets. This trend can be seen in recent large investments going into refineries and pipelines, manufacturing facilities, logistics, telecommunications and technology.
Deepening the EU-African Partnership by Werner Hoyer (Project Syndicate)
Although Africa still suffers some of the highest poverty rates in the world, the continent overall has massive potential to achieve broad-based, sustainable growth this century. International financial institutions must listen to forward-looking African leaders and adapt their investment strategies accordingly. That means both promoting the private sector – the engine of job creation – and changing how we ourselves operate. Across all areas of economic development, investing in Africa’s future represents a win-win, because many of the continent’s biggest challenges are in fact global problems that will affect us all. COVID-19 has made this abundantly clear, offering a warning of what awaits us in an age of climate change. Though Africa is blessed with great natural wealth, political and historical factors have left it afflicted with high poverty rates. Nine of the ten countries with the highest poverty rates are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the economic fallout from the pandemic is estimated to have added another 32 million to the total.
Post-Covid India and Africa should collaborate in public health, digital delivery and skilling, says Jaishankar (BusinessLine)
In the post-Covid period, India and African nations need to collaborate in the four focus areas of public health, digital delivery, skilling and capacity building, and green economy, Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar has said. “There is no doubt that in Africa, as in other parts of the world, the Covid pandemic has created a new awareness and demand on the public health side. Inequity in access to medicines and vaccines has further highlighted problems. On its part, India envisages health cooperation as reflecting our Global South solidarity,” the Minister said at the ‘CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India and Africa Project Partnership’ on Tuesday. Highlighting that Covid-19 had led to greater digital dependence, Jaishankar said that the goal must be to use new tools and practices for better delivery on the ground.
Global
Why lack of containers will hurt global trade for a while (Business Daily)
A global shortage of containers continues to hurt global trade with the local freighters feeling the impact as they grapple with delays in deliveries. The situation is even set to get worse as stakeholders in the marine sector project that the shortage, which began last year and attributed to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, will persist until 2022. This implies that consumers will have to wait longer for their deliveries and cope with high cost of goods which is in line with an increase in price of containers. “We are now witnessing delays in our deliveries and high freight costs, for instance a cargo that we were to deliver say in July ends up being delivered in August,” said Meshack Kipturgo, managing director Siginon Group.
A global surge in demand for certain goods during the pandemic has upended normal trade flows, stranding empty cargo containers and leading to bottlenecks. The cost of shipping goods to Kenya has been on a steady rise since December last in April with a knock-on effect being the rise in cost of goods locally. ”Importers have had to wait longer or pay a premium to get the containers, a cost that has to be passed over to consumers,” said James Kariuki, chairperson of the Kenya-China Trade Association.
WTO issues joint indicative list of critical inputs for COVID-19 vaccines (WTO)
The WTO Secretariat has published an indicative list compiling information on the critical inputs for the manufacturing, distributing and administering of COVID-19 vaccines. The list was jointly produced with the Asian Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Customs Organization, some COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, researchers Chad Bown and Chris Rogers, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and DHL. The document was first compiled by the WTO Secretariat as a working document to facilitate discussions at the WTO COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Regulatory Transparency Symposium that took place on 29 June 2021 and may serve as a useful starting point for other purposes.
WTO DG and chair brief NGOs ahead of turning point in fishing subsidies negotiations (WTO)
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, on 12 July briefed key civil society leaders ahead of the 15 July ministerial meeting aimed at moving WTO members closer to forging an agreement. They also thanked the advocacy groups for the vital outreach needed to keep up the momentum in the negotiations.
Covid-19: Tourism not out of the woods yet (The East African)
There is no light at the end of the tunnel for tourism globally. The latest United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) report shows that the losses occasioned by the Covid-induced crash in the sector are expected to be worse than previously projected. In fact, the slump in tourism will contribute to a real gross domestic product (GDP) loss of about 9.3 percent of the East African economy this year, with the region ranked second among mostly affected regions by the pandemic globally, after Central America.
According to a study by UNWTO on the effects of Covid-19 on tourism released this month, North Africa is expected to record a 7.6 percent GDP loss with West Africa being the least affected, reporting only a 4.6 per cent decline. The study says the crash in international tourism could cause a loss of more than $4 trillion to the global GDP for the years 2020 and 2021 and that a four-to 12-month standstill in international tourism would cost the global economy between $1.2 trillion and $3.3 trillion, including indirect costs.
Life in mining dependent countries significantly improved – ICMM (Mining Weekly)
Life in mining-dependent countries has improved significantly in the 23 years leading up to 2018, with strong governance the key to improving socio-economic well-being, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) said on Wednesday. A report that analysed 41 social metrics grouped under 12 relevant United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) showed that there had been significant progress made on socio-economic development across three-quarters of the metrics. “This report builds on the extensive research we conducted in 2018, challenging the notion that an abundance of natural resources in host countries damages economic and social progress,” ICMM CEO Rohitesh Dhawan stated in a release to Mining Weekly.
America And The TRIPS Waiver: You Can Talk The Talk, But Will You Walk The Walk? (Health Affairs)
As nations grapple with the issues surrounding global COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has found itself in mainstream conversation in the US more than ever before. In October 2020, the governments of India and South Africa, with the support of 62 WTO member states, proposed a TRIPS Agreement waiver proposal that would temporarily waive intellectual property rights protections for technologies needed to prevent, contain, or treat COVID-19, including vaccines and vaccine-related technologies. More than 100 low-income countries support this proposal, but it is receiving much opposition from many high-income countries, including some European Union (EU) member states, the UK, Japan, Canada, and Australia. On May 5, 2021, the Biden administration announced support for negotiating this waiver, intensifying debate in the US and the EU – but so far the US has not gone further than its announcement of support.
The TRIPS waiver is critical to ensuring an equitable distribution of vaccines around the globe. High-income countries already have widespread vaccination campaigns well underway, while many low-income countries have yet to administer a single dose. Without a TRIPS waiver, the gap between vaccination rates in high-income and low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) will only widen.
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National
Manufacturing output up 35% y/y in May (Engineering News)
Manufacturing output increased by 35.3% year-on-year in May, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports. The largest contributors to the increase in output were motor vehicles, parts and accessories, growing by 215% and contributing 8.9 percentage points; and basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery, growing by 42% year-on-year and contributing eight percentage points. The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) chief economist Chfipa Mhango says that while the improvement in manufacturing production was encouraging, the recent move to tighter lockdown regulations threaten to undo some of that improvement. Stats SA reports that seasonally adjusted manufacturing production decreased by 2.6% in May, compared with April, which followed month-on-month changes of -1.2% in April and 3.7% in March. Nedbank says manufacturing production remains well below its pre-pandemic levels, with output 7.5% weaker than its 2019 levels and 8.4% lower than the 2017 to 2019 average.
Report on Inequality Trends and Diagnostics in Kenya 2020 released (University of Nairobi)
A report that presents a comprehensive analysis of multidimensional inequality in Kenya has been released. The report dubbed ‘Inequality Trends and Diagnostics in Kenya 2020,’ presents and interprets results from inequality analyses and measurements based on per capita household expenditure, assets, labour market earnings and access to labour market, to education and health and other basic services. “The multidimensional approach to profiling inequality adopted in the report can facilitate the design of policy levers for addressing horizontal & vertical inequities that have been entrenched in Kenya for a long time,” said the Director General, KNBS, Mr. Macdonald Obudho.
Kenya mulls promotion of horticultural produce in non-traditional markets (News Ghana)
Kenya has embarked on the promotion of its horticultural products in non-traditional markets to boost foreign exchange earnings and cushion the sector from pandemic shocks, an official said on Monday. Kello Harsama, acting director-general of the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) said that diversifying to new markets for horticultural produce will help boost the sector’s performance. “We are now exploring Russia, Asia, Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA),” Harsama told journalists in Nairobi.
Horticulture earnings drop Sh6bn on quality concerns (Business Daily)
Horticulture earnings dropped by Sh6.3 billion in the first half of the year, attributed to lower quality produce that attracted reduced prices in the international market. The Directorate of Horticulture data shows Kenya earned Sh77 billion between January and June, down from Sh83.3 billion last year. This is the steepest decline in earnings for the horticulture industry in the last five years, raising concerns over quality standards, especially in the avocado sector where some farmers have been harvesting immature fruit.” Value dropped by Sh6.3 billion attributed to low prices offered in the international market for low quality produce. Interceptions also contributed to low value traded over the half-year period,” said Benjamin Tito, head of the directorate.
Current account deficit widens as tourism slump hits inflows (Business Daily)
Kenya’s current account position weakened in May due to a drop in inflows from travel and tourism amid a rise in import expenditure. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said the current account deficit – which measures inflows and outflows of hard currency – widened to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the 12 months to May compared to 5.2 percent of GDP in the corresponding period last year. The CBK said international travel and tourism inflows remained subdued since last year as arrivals are lower by more than 70 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period. On the other hand, import expenditure, especially on capital goods has continued to rebound after the reopening of firms and industries, but exports recorded a slower recovery.
Used vehicle importers sue to stop number plates rule (Business Daily)
Importers of used cars have gone to court seeking to stop a requirement that their vehicles be assigned registration number plates at the point of clearance and not when selling them. They say this has put them at a disadvantage if they take months or years to sell their vehicles in a market where buyers prefer the latest number plates. This, they say, force them to offer discounts – which can amount to losing their entire margins of Sh50,000 to Sh200,000 per unit – on vehicles that may not be older but were imported earlier and do not bear the latest number plates. The Car Importers Association of Kenya (CIAK) says used vehicle importers are being discriminated against since formal dealers and other importers of new cars are allowed to register their vehicles at the point-of-sale. Their rivals, who are allowed to keep their imports at the bonded warehouses, are also not required to pay customs and excise duty before the vehicles are sold.
Covid measures push businesses to the edge (The East African)
Small and medium enterprises and the stock market in Uganda are facing another round of stress following the July 18 announcement of more coronavirus containment measures. Although financial analysts are betting on business resilience in the second half of this year despite the poorer economic indicators, the reality is that there is a slump again in general economic activity with the suspension of mass public and private transport, suspension of weekly food and non-food markets and a longer curfew. These measures mean fewer buyers for retail businesses since last month and increased signs of financial distress by small and medium enterprises.
Malawi, Zimbabwe sign bilateral trade agreement (Malawi Nyasa Times)
Malawi and Zimbabwe on Monday signed bilateral trade agreement in order boost trade between the two countries. Speaking during the event held at Umodzi Park in the Capital City Lilongwe, Minister of Trade Sosten Gwengwe said the agreement follows up to another agreement which the two countries signed in 1995. She said with the agreements in place, Zimbabwean companies can export directly to Malawian companies using distributorship and agents. She encouraged companies to partner with local distributors in Zimbabwe for the benefit of market information trends and consumer buying patterns. The main trade between Zimbabwe and Malawi as of 2019 include corrugated paperboard; cement; iron and steel structures; packing containers of paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding or webs of cellulose fibres; rough wood; agrochemicals, seeds, maize and fish.
Nigeria’s lack of logistics capacity threat to AfCFTA, PIB gains – Expert (Tribune Online)
Nigeria’s lack of logistics capacity may prevent the country from reaping the full benefits of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) and the newly passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). This is the view of a logistics expert, Mubarak Mahmoud, who observed that there is a massive human capacity gap in the logistics administration sector in the country. Mahmoud, a marine officer/Offshore oil and gas expert, told newsmen in Abuja Monday that Nigeria does not have skilled persons in logistics field to fill strategic logistics positions offered by AfCFTA and PIB.
Manufactured imports rise to N40.94tn, Nigeria exports N4tn goods (Punch Newspapers)
Between January 2017 and March 2021, Nigeria spent N40.94tn on the importation of manufactured goods. It earned only N4.22tn on the export of manufactured goods within the same period. These are according to data obtained from the Foreign Trade report of the National Bureau of Statistics. In the review period, total value of imports was N66.43tn and total value of exports was N67.30tn. Manufactured goods dominated the import bill but contributed little to the export bill of the nation. Nigeria’s exports were dominated by crude oil according to statistics obtained from the NBS. In the review period, the nation exported N49.31tn worth of crude oil compared to manufactured goods that only earned the nation N4.22tn.
Customs Facilitates N52.6bn Hibiscus, Cocoa, Others (LEADERSHIP)
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Area ll Command, Onne Port, Rivers State, said that goods worth N52.6 billion were exported through the command in the first half of the year. These exports, according to a statement by the command’s public relations officer, Ifeoma Onuigbo Ojekwu, include; sesame seeds, ginger, cocoa beans, hibiscus, fluorite ore, lead ore, palm kernel shell, cotton, float glass, among others. The total tonnage of the said export stood at 331.356.39 tonnes with FOB value of $138 million. The statement reads: “The revenue generation, strict enforcement of fiscal policies, uncompromising implementation of government directives and diligent trade facilitation are among strategies put in place by Comptroller Auwal Mohammed, Customs Area Controller of the command.”
AfDB-financed road interchange opens in Ghana to help ease mobility (Devdiscourse)
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned the Pokuase Interchange – an array of swirling highways – at a ceremony held Friday 9 July, attended by government ministers, diplomats, transport operators, members of parliament and traditional chiefs draped in colourful regalia. The four-tier interchange – the first of its type in West Africa – and a 10-km road network linking it to adjoining arterial roads, form part of the Accra Urban Transport Project. The Bank Group provided $83.9 million for the project from the African Development Fund, its concessional financing window, and the Ghanaian government contributed $11 million.
Trapped Trucks At Benin Border, Threat To AfCFTA – Ex-LCCI DG (LEADERSHIP)
The former director-general of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Dr Muda Yusuf, has berated the action of officials of government of Benin Republic, who stopped 3,700Nigeria-bound trucks from passing through their border. Yusuf described the action as a threat to economic integration in Africa. LEADERSHIP reported on Monday that the government of Republic of Benin stopped Nigeria-bound trucks laden with transit goods from Cote d’ivoire, Ghana and Togo from passing through its border to Nigeria. This development has left over 3,700 Nigeria-bound trucks laden with transit goods worth several billions of naira trapped between Ilakoji, a border between Ghana, Togo and Benin.
Egypt today launched a Product Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) which aims to help position the country to fully benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). With the theme: “Embracing Change, Achieving Prosperity,” the PTPR is to understand how to capture the benefits of the AfCFTA for transforming the economy of the country, the Director of the Regional Integration and Trade Division in the ECA Stephen Karingi, said at the launch, the first for an African country. “The real test will be securing these gains through quick and effective implementation of the Agreement, along with supporting policies needed to address other barriers to trade, investment and product transformation,” he said.
Africa
AfCFTA Secretariat signs MoU with African Shippers Council (GhanaWeb)
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Shippers Council to facilitate trading process in Ghana. According to AfCFTA Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene this agreement will solve the problems associated with the transportation and clearing of goods at the ports. These challenges, he said slow down inter African trade. “Transportation of goods, clearance of goods through customs and customs procedures are very important factors in the implementation of this agreement. As a secretariat, we are not in the position to address these challenges alone, we would have to work with the private sector and that is why the engagement and the collaboration with the Union of African Shippers Council is so very important.” Wamkele Mene said the new agreement between the Shipping Council will help the secretariat to achieve its objectives.
ITFC launches report on potential impacts of AfCFTA on OIC countries (Devdiscourse)
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and its partner the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), today launched a technical report on the potential impacts of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on selected OIC countries, namely Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea, Mozambique, Tunisia and Uganda. The launching event unveiled the key findings of the report, covering important topics including the facilitation of investments in productive capacities to differentiate products and strengthen the competitiveness of domestic enterprises
Continental payment system piloted (Namibian)
The Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is piloting a pan-African payments and settlements system to enhance continental economic integration. The system is currently tested in Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, as well as Sierra Leone. This is a good move, according to Namibia Trade Forum (NTF) trade policy analyst Claudia Capelao, who says successful continental economic integration hinges, to a large extent, on payment system integration. The roll-out of payment systems is expected to commence by the end of 2021, however, digital preparedness among African countries could be a limiting factor. Capelao recently said liberalising trade does not involve the elimination of tariffs only, and there are other potential obstacles, such as how goods would be paid for.
AFRAA releases African airlines’ performance updates for June 2021 (AFRAA)
The month of June saw African airlines’ traffic decreasing by 59% compared to same month in 2019. Similarly, capacity declined by 49.6% as of June 2021. Domestic markets continue to record better performance with demand for passenger travel outperforming intra-Africa and intercontinental at 63.2% as opposed to 22.2% for intra-Africa and 13.9% for intercontinental. African airlines restart of operations on international routes continued the positive trend observed in the last couple of months. From a May 2021, recovery of some 62.5% of international routes compared to the pre-Covid period, June 2021 saw an additional 10.2% increase to 72.7%. Regarding intra-African connectivity, Mauritius continues to be the most impacted hub, with a reduction of 98% of possible connections to/from African airports compared to February 2020. Connectivity at Nairobi JKIA in June declined mainly due to schedule adjustments and frequency reduction by national carrier, KQ. Up North, intra-African connectivity for Algiers and Cairo decreased by 75% and 64% respectively.
Africa’s rail sector poised for growth (International Railway Journal)
AS the world’s second largest continent, the list of transport challenges facing Africa is long. Often it is easier to fly via a European capital than flying direct between African capitals. Transport costs are also among the highest in the world, which increases the cost of trade and makes products uncompetitive on international markets; transporting a car from Japan to Abidjan costs $US 1500, inclusive of insurance costs, while the same operation across Africa from Addis Ababa to Abidjan costs $US 5000. According to the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), connecting Africa through infrastructure is integral to improving economies across the continent. Only 16.6% of total exports from Africa are with neighbouring countries, with intra-African commerce beset by many challenges including logistical and trade barriers.
DRC’s admission to EAC sees regional bloc brace for potential problems (The Africa Report)
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is applying to join the East African Community (EAC) and could become the regional economic community’s seventh member. It would bring a huge market for the region’s exporters and also provide a venue for the DRC’s disputes with Rwanda and Uganda that go back decades. After a preliminary discussion about the DRC’s application at a summit on 27 February, the EAC is now assessing if the country could be a suitable candidate. A team from the EAC secretariat completed its verification mission to the eastern DRC city of Goma on 3 July. The report will be presented to presidents of the EAC member states in November or December, to help them make their decision.
Africa’s 4 $1b fintech unicorns could pave the way for startups (Quartz Africa)
There is a wave of optimism around the first four African start-ups to hit a $1 billion valuation. These $1 billion+ companies – typically referred to as unicorns – are Flutterwave, Interswitch, and Fawry in fintech, and Jumia in e-commerce. Emerging markets investment analysts are betting on these two sectors, staked on the continent’s tech-savvy population, to provide even more unicorn status companies for the region. Three of these unicorns are from Africa’s most populous country and also its largest economy – Nigeria – while the other one, Fawry, is from Egypt, where tech start-ups are attracting massive funding from venture capitalists in the recent past. The continent’s large unbanked population, most of whom are informally employed but increasingly mobile and tech savvy provides immense potential for tech start-ups to tap into the payments and e-commerce sectors, according to Rahul Shah, an analyst at emerging markets investment insights company, Tellimer.
COVID-19 and poverty’s impact on electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa (Brookings Institution)
On June 14, the United Nations released its 2021 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report, which examines the world’s progress toward accomplishing the SDGs. The most recent edition placed special emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic given its role in reversing many SDG gains. More specifically, the authors note that years or even decades of progress have been halted or reversed due to the pandemic. While the electricity sector has increased and renewable energy has improved, millions of people still find themselves without power and many major improvements are under threat. While 46 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population now has access to electricity – up from 33 percent in 2010 – the region is far behind the global average of 90 percent. Indeed, 97 million people in urban areas and 471 million in rural areas are still without access to electricity.
Global
Ensuring open, competitive and fair digital markets (UNCTAD)
Authorities in developing countries face several challenges in enforcing competition law against digital platforms, participants heard during an UNCTAD experts meeting on competition law and policy held from 7 to 9 July. An UNCTAD survey found that the major challenges include definition of the relevant market and determination of dominance in digital markets. The survey report maps several areas of challenge. It says the dynamic structure of digital markets, zero-price services, network effects, market tipping, lock-in effects and multihoming are among the factors that require careful consideration when defining markets and determining market power.
Sustainable Economic Recovery & Resilience Building Post-COVID 19 (IPPMedia)
“We must prepare ourselves to create long-term resilience through investment in Africa’s infrastructure considering the new realities posed by the pandemic. Investments in infrastructure will enhance the continent’s resilience, sustainability, and preparedness to future crises while stimulating recovery. Exploring diverse mechanisms is vital to secure financing for infrastructure projects, cognizant of the fact that the pandemic has already strained national budgets to a great extent,” said H.E. Dr. AmaniAbou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy at the African Union Commission, at the STC-TTIIE.
US$345 billion loss in trade for Commonwealth countries due to pandemic (The Commonwealth)
Commonwealth countries are estimated to have lost up to US$345 billion worth of trade in 2020, including $60 billion in intra-Commonwealth trade, according to 2021 Commonwealth Trade Review on “Energising Commonwealth Trade in a Digital World: Paths to Recovery Post-COVID”. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll globally, substantially impacting all Commonwealth members economies and leading to US$1.15 trillion in foregone gross domestic product (GDP) in just one year. Compared to pre-pandemic growth trends in 2020, Commonwealth economies contracted by approximately 10%.
The policy briefing, “How Trade Can Support Climate Action: A 2021 Agenda for the UK”, co-authored by experts from Queen Mary and the Trade Justice Movement launched at an online event on 13 July sets out how the UK is in a unique position to influence the international trade regime to support climate action. The Trade Justice Movement (TJM) is a UK coalition of nearly sixty civil society organisations, with millions of individual members, calling for trade rules that work for people and planet. How Trade Can Support Climate Action: A 2021 Agenda for the UK, outlines how three important pillars of the UK’s approach to tackling climate change – decarbonising the economy, creating green jobs and industries and delivering more sustainable food and farming systems – could either be helped or hindered by trade rules. It also makes practical recommendations for the UK government.
Dancing in the dark: What Brexit means for UK-EU trade and UK industry (EUROPP)
Five years ago, the UK voted to leave the EU. After four years of complicated negotiations, and three Prime Ministers later, the UK and the EU concluded the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (or TCA, also known as the post-Brexit Treaty) in December 2020. The TCA was heralded as a free trade agreement with the best possible positive effects for British industry in general and exporting companies in particular. While economies everywhere face adjustment problems, Brexit has made life for UK businesses structurally harder and disproportionately more so than for companies in the EU.
Rich Country Hypocrisy Exposed by Vaccine Inequities (Inter Press Service)
‘No one is protected from the global pandemic until everyone is’ has become a popular mantra. But vaccine apartheid worldwide, due to rich countries’ policies, has made COVID-19 a developing country pandemic, delaying its end and global economic recovery. Most rich countries have been blocking the developing country proposal to temporarily suspend relevant provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the duration of the pandemic to more affordably and effectively contain it. Needed to quickly scale up production and affordable access to relevant diagnostic tests, medical treatments, personal protective equipment and prophylactic vaccines, the proposal – by South Africa and India in late 2020 – is now supported by more than two-thirds of WTO members.
Fair trade steps for small-scale growers in climate journey (Business Daily)
Ensuring a “fair and just” value chain is about ensuring consumers are willing to pay fair prices to ensure producers earn decent livelihoods. It is also about ensuring a fair and sustainable supply chain that protects nature and the environment. Sadly, addressing climate change isn’t fair. Often, it’s those with the lowest carbon footprint who are hit hardest. Small-holder farmers are grappling with the loss of arable land, yields, and livelihoods, due to extreme weather and rising temperatures. Droughts, floods, crop diseases, pests, and soil erosion threaten the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. There are low-cost, everyday “fair trade” practices which small producers can embrace to grow resilience to climate change, and reduce emission of greenhouse gases.
Narrowing the trade finance gap for LDCs (Trade for Development News)
LDCs have long been disproportionately impacted by a global trade finance gap that the Asian Development Bank estimated in 2019 exceeded $1.5 trillion. A recent report by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) confirmed that in the first four months of 2020 around 38% of local banks in Africa reported rising rejection rates for trade finance instruments like letters of credit while more correspondent banking relationships were cancelled. LDCs are particularly vulnerable to global shocks, such as financial crises or the current pandemic, which either weaken international banks’ risk appetite or trigger a surge in competing financing demand from other countries. This is in part because LDCs must effectively “import” such finance from foreign banks. LDCs also need support from organizations like the WTO to develop trade finance products that incentivize companies to finance trade through formal banking channels, Ahmady adds.
The World Investment Report 2021 And The Problem With FDI (The Organisation for World Peace)
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently published its annual World Investment Report 2021. True to its title, Investing in Sustainable Recovery, the report highlights the effects that the pandemic has had on foreign direct investment (FDI). The pandemic shrunk FDI flows to Africa by a further 16%, due to the commodity-dependence of its economies. Africa faces an FDI paradox: investments should theoretically flow to the countries with the highest returns. Even though African nations had the highest rate of return on FDI from 2006 to 2011, the inflow hasn’t followed. There are several reasons for this given by academics. These include weak infrastructure development, low human capital, weak judicial systems, weak property rights, fragmented investment policies, and limited access to investment opportunities.
High global food prices remain cause for concern (Global Times)
While global food prices finally fell after experiencing 12 consecutive months of increases, vigilance is still needed to stave off uncertainties facing the international food supply. According to the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), its latest monthly food price index, which tracks the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, averaged 124.6 points in June, down from 127.8 in May but still up 33.9 percent year-on-year. The June figure also marked the first month-on-month decline after advancing for 12 straight months. Despite the minor correction, it is worth noting that the global food inflation is currently at a level unseen in almost a decade, which is why countries around the world still need to be cautious toward the potential adverse impacts brought by the high food prices and increased volatility in the future.
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South Africa has lost its status as gateway to Africa as trucks burn – RFA (Engineering News)
President Cyril Ramaphosa must ensure that the violent scenes currently playing out on South African highways end, says Road Freight Association (RFA) CEO Gavin Kelly. He urges Ramaphosa to see to it “that those that are responsible are held accountable, that the rule of law is shown to be firmly in place and that the safety and security of South Africa and its people is ensured”. Civil unrest broke out in parts of South Africa last week following the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma after he was found guilty of contempt of court.
“There are cargo owners – people who pay transporters to move their goods – who are now looking at alternative routes through Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and even further north,” he adds. “We have lost the Gateway to Africa status we once held. We are losing more and more transit freight through the country… and this affects many small economies along the route – from fuel to refreshments, support and security.”
US retains spot as top global buyer of Kenyan coffee (Business Daily)
The US has extended its hold as the top buyer of Kenya’s coffee, beating Belgium and Germany for the second year in a row with purchases worth Sh4.4 billion in the 2019/20 period. Statistics from the Coffee Directorate put America at the top having bought 9.1 million kilogrammes in the crop year which ended in October 2020, up from 6.6 million kilogrammes previously. Until 2017, Germany was the largest buyer of Kenyan coffee, a position that it had held for nearly a decade. However, the US took the top spot in 2018 after Kenya aggressively marketed its specialty coffee during the 2018 Specialty Coffee Association of America symposium in Seattle, US.
Manufacturers’ uproar over new taxes and rising cost of power (The East African)
Kenyan manufacturers facing liquidity challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic are up in arms against the government over new tax increments and the high cost of power. They argue that new taxes, high cost of electricity, high import declaration fees among other levies only add to their woes by reducing profitability and slowing down recovery of business hit hard by Covid-19 measures. The measures plus an influx of new taxes has led to the collapse of a number of industries including slowing down the value chain in hotel and hospitality industry among others.
“The pandemic has had adverse effects on manufacturers on business operations with many manufacturers experiencing: reduced demand, depressed production capacity, cash flow constraints, logistics challenges and in some cases, downsized workforce.” The survey titled, Impact of Covid-19 on the manufacturing sector in Kenya: One year on, reveals that on liquidity, company responses to relieve cash flow challenges has been lesser compared to 2020. This follows a report on the impact Covid-19 on the manufacturing sector conducted by Kenya Association of Manufacturers and KPMG between May 2020 and June 2021.
Kenya passport holders banned in 54 countries (The East African)
Holders of Kenya’s passport cannot access 54 countries in the wake of Covid-19 ban in the global race to protect nations against new variants of coronavirus. The Henley Passport Index, which has been regularly monitoring the world’s most travel-friendly passports since 2006, made the revelations that show how the pandemic has affected travel. The government imposed restrictions on movement in the region to try and stem it from spreading nationwide. “Borders remain firmly closed in several countries, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, while many others continue to ban travelers from high-risk regions,” says the Henley & Partners report.
TRA set to implement compliance tax management to improving operations (IPPMedia)
“For our country to attain several development goals including the industrialization drive as envisaged, having a robust and sustainable tax system is inevitable. A sustainable system that we need in our country is the one that reflects predictability and inspires confidence for the future by allowing growth of businesses as opposed to strangling them taking into account that businesses are sources of taxes,” TRA commissioner general Alphayo Kidata said.
Nigeria must tap diversity as pathway to greatness, economic prosperity – AfDB President (International Centre for Investigative Research)
President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina said there was a need for Nigeria to tap its diversity to achieve greatness and economic development. Adesina said that positive exploits into the nation’s diversity would impact the human capital development of the country while expanding opportunities for everyone, irrespective of whom they were or part of the country they came from. Delivering a keynote address at the convocation ceremony of the American University of Nigeria in Yola on Saturday, Adesina said Nigeria’s diversity was not its problem, but the main issue was how the diversity was managed for economic growth and development.
Border closure retaliation: Over 3,700 Nigeria-bound trucks trapped at (Daily Sun)
In what appears like a payback time over Nigeria’s closure of its borders in 2019, the government of the Republic of Benin has stopped Nigeria-bound trucks laden with transit goods from Cote d’ivoire, Ghana and Togo from passing through its border to Nigeria. This development has left over 3,700 Nigeria-bound trucks laden with transit goods worth several billions of naira trapped between Ilakoji, a border between Ghana, Togo and Benin. However, stakeholders were worried that some of the goods, which have been under both rain and sun, might have gone bad, particularly the perishable ones, which will bring huge financial losses to the affected companies.
NACCIMA: AfCFTA Provides Opportunity for Nigeria to Dominate Africa (THISDAY Newspapers)
The leadership of the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has challenged Nigerian businesses to shed the toga of fear of Nigerian becoming a dumping ground and step out boldly to compete and dominate African economy with the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. President of the NACCIMA, Mr. John C, Udeagbala, stated that competition under the AfCFTA would strengthen Nigerian businesses rather than and drowning them. Udeagbala also said NACCIMA under his leadership would focus on strengthening the collaboration between the private sector and the National Assembly, federal and state governments and pursue the effective implementation of the AfCFTA agreement.
New taxes/levies coming to tackle plastic waste – MESTI (The Business & Financial Times)
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, (MESTI), Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, has hinted government is considering a plastic waste management policy that will impose certain levies on consumers who use plastic products. The policy, which is at a consideration stage, according to him will capture the inputs of all stakeholders involved in the manufacturing, management and recycling of plastic products.
Nigeria, Russia Trade Collaboration To Increase Economic Growth (LEADERSHIP)
Nigerian Ambassador to Russia, Prof. Abdullahi Yibaikwal, has said enhanced trade and economic cooperation between Nigeria and Russia holds tremendous opportunity for international market penetration and economic growth. According to him, Nigeria was an emerging economy and the prospects for trade and economic cooperation between both countries through inflow and outflow of trade and investment were very bright. The ambassador who noted that Nigeria had the largest market in Africa, with a population of over 200 million, projected to grow to over 400 million by 2050, said president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration intends to establish strong economic ties with all countries to harness Nigeria’s human and natural resources. Yibaikwal listed the priority areas of investment in Nigeria as agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, services, construction, real estate, oil and gas.
Africa
AfCFTA chief: Free trade can help Africa beat recession (Africanews)
Trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally kicked off on January 1, 2021. Countries now have to harmonize customs and tariff regimes. But Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA secretariat admits that restrictions prompted by Covid-19 have slowed down progress.
“The protocol on the movement of persons is a separate instrument, it is not part of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it is an instrument that was negotiated separately, it has not yet entered into force, so it is not moving as quickly as we would like to see, that is because countries have to make their own considerations about ratifying it. The single currency is something that is a long-term objective, I am not in a position to say when it will happen, what I can say is that, in the interim, along with Afreximbank, we are taking the step of establishing a pan-African payments and settlements platform, which will be a digital platform for facilitating trade, and we believe that it is a step in the direction of eventually Africa having a single currency.”
Africa-wide adoption of digitisation crucial to AfCFTA’s success – Expert (The Business & Financial Times)
For the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to achieve its main objectives of creating a single market for goods and services, promote industrial development and sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth, African governments have been advised to embrace digitisation heavily. “Digital breaks barriers, digital solves corruption, digital creates enablement, and digital creates effectiveness and efficiency. So, there are so many benefits that if governments put their heads to – and begin to drive their economies toward – digitisation, it is going to create a strong, enabling environment that drives a lot of the entrepreneurship needed; which will create a lot of incentives entrepreneurs need to lead the solutions that will push the economies forward,” Eric Osiakwan, the Managing Partner of Chanzo Capital, stated.
A better normal for Africa (Jordan Times)
Despite incurring high costs in terms of lost and foregone social and economic progress during the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa has so far avoided the kind of health and economic calamity that some anticipated when the crisis began. Like any crisis, the pandemic could represent an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a better future. But it won’t be easy. First and foremost, the continent must get COVID-19 under control, which requires ensuring equitable access to vaccines. As it stands, some advanced economies are on track to achieve widespread vaccination within months. Yet Africa is struggling to secure the 90 million doses it needs to inoculate the highest-priority 3% of its population, including health-care workers and the most vulnerable groups.
SADC Ministers of Transport, ICT, Information and Meteorology meet to discuss sectoral issues (SADC)
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministers of responsible for Transport, Information Communication Technologies (ICT), Information and Meteorology met on 9th July 2021 to discuss various sectoral issues of infrastructure development in support of SADC regional integration and development.
Hon. Abdulai noted that this year 2021 has witnessed the completion of regional projects such as construction of the Kazungula Bridge linking Botswana and Zambia; the launch, by His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of Mozambique and Chairperson of SADC, of the SADC Centre for Humanitarian and Emergency Operations, in Nacala; and the installation of meteorological equipment in SADC Member States to improve the early warning system and the field of information and communication technologies in meteorology.
A SADC Corridor Management Strategy was approved in 2008, and has served as the basic framework for cooperation and coordination in transport integration. The corridors strategy focuses on developing legal instruments for joint governance of corridors; institutional frameworks for joint and coordinated management of transport corridors; and prioritisation and implementation of critical corridor transport and logistics infrastructure.
Nigeria accounts for over 20% of funds laundered from Africa – FG (Punch Newspapers)
The Federal Government says over 20 per cent of funds illegally taken from Africa come from Nigeria. Spokesperson for the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Azuka Ogugua, stated this on Monday in Abuja while speaking on the occasion of the 2021 African Union Anti-Corruption Day marked every July 11. “In In 2017, 2018 and 2019, there was a call to have a common African position on asset recovery. African countries were serious undergoing stress, a lot of funds have been moved out of the countries illegally and we were all struggling to find ways of recovering the funds. So, a lot of discussions were around how African countries can go about these.”
West Africa positioned as major cashew nut exporter through U.S. government investments (BusinessGhana)
West Africa is poised to be the next largest exporter of cashew kernels to the U.S. market through a $3 million co-investment partnership between the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) and Red River Foods (RRF), a leading global supplier of plant-based food. This partnership builds on the U.S. Government’s Prosper Africa initiative to increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa, as nearly $32 million in exports are anticipated from activities to boost the production and processing of this valuable commodity.
Access to modern fuel to cost Africa $7.5bn, say refiners (THISDAY)
The African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) has said it will cost the continent about $7.5 billion to exit the use of outdated fuel sources like firewood and charcoal and embrace modern, cleaner energy. Between now and 2030, the group noted that the $7.5 billion investment, inclusive of debt, equity and grants, would be required to build clean cooking stoves and downstream infrastructure that would support the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Executive Secretary of ARDA, Anibor Kragha, who spoke during the event, noted that with the growing pressure against fossil fuels, African countries must deploy measures to secure the needed financing to develop and add value to its hydrocarbon resources.
African Farmers Need to be at the Forefront of Climate Change Initiatives (International Policy Digest)
There is another gap in climate change intervention that is separate from the government and certainly worth considering. Individual farmer-led climate change actions can play a huge part in addressing climate change and other environmental issues, more so in Africa, but it has to be done right with firm regard to the climate change context of individual African countries. Scott Fields observes: “Africa can easily be said to contribute the least of any continent to global warming. Each year Africa produces an average of just over 1 metric ton of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide per person, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s International Energy Annual 2002. The most industrialized African countries, such as South Africa, generate 8.44 metric tons per person, and the least developed countries, such as Mali, generate less than a tenth of a metric ton per person. By comparison, each American generates almost 16 metric tons per year.”
Tapping smart tech to raise smallholder farmers’ yields (Business Daily)
Earth Observing System Data Analytics (EOSDA) – a global provider of AI-powered satellite imagery – is using technology to help farmers monitor their crop throughout the farming season by offering services such as detecting water stress on plantation, diseases and other emerging issues within the field to enhance yields. Low levels of technology uptake for monitoring by smallholder farmers, little capacity to interpret data, cost of technology and integration of technology with extension services are some of the challenges facing producers in the continent. Africa has 65 percent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land and presence of sunshine nearly the whole year.
Global
Trade can help put UN Sustainable Development Goals back on track: DG Okonjo-Iweala (WTO)
“Trade played an important role in the historic development achievements and poverty reduction we saw during the thirty years before COVID-19. And trade will be at the centre of our efforts to end the pandemic,” DG Okonjo-Iweala said. “Trade is a necessary ingredient in building back a stronger and more inclusive global economy, and reviving progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.” She noted that the pandemic had dealt a severe blow to the pursuit of the SDGs, citing projections from international institutions for increased poverty, hunger and joblessness.
UNCTAD Examines Effects of IMO Decarbonization Plan on Small Economies (The Maritime Executive)
The maritime industry is at the forefront of cutting its carbon footprint and building resilience to climate change impacts. It is in this regard that IMO has set guidelines for shipping industry to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This contains short-term mandatory provisions on the technical energy efficiency of ships’ propulsion systems and their operational carbon intensity. To achieve this feat will require new investments in fleet renewal, innovative ship design and clean fuel technology. Although the resulting costs of the shipping’s decarbonization will be borne by all stakeholders, from carriers to consumers, a recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) sought to assess the impact of IMO’s short-term GHG reduction measures on states.
“On average, developing coastal countries will be affected more by the proposed IMO short-term measures, compared to coastal countries in developed regions. Results show an average small increase in maritime logistics costs which translates into a slight decline in global trade flows and GDP. These changes will lead to potential shift in logistics and trade patterns, including potentially trading more with less-distant markets and some regionalization,” the report noted.
To keep global warming between 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius, we must cut global emissions by one quarter to one half over the next decade. Based on our historic experience, this may seem an impossible target – but it is one we ought to and can achieve, with public support, technological breakthroughs, and the right policies. But our miserable performance so far has given ground to an interesting a joke: how can we achieve sustainability and protect our climate? It is in this context that staff from several international organizations (AFD, IEA, IMF, OECD, UNDP, WTO) worked to set out key global policy priorities to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, to be published in a report after the Conference. Applying them at a country level would require specificity of making climate mitigation compatible with continued social development and national preferences toward policy approaches.
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Sars, Busa form economic operator stakeholder group to improve border management (Engineering News)
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) and business advocacy organisation Business Unity South Africa (Busa) on July 9 announced the formation of the Sars Private Sector Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Stakeholder Group to improve border management. Over the next four years, the programme will expand to include all supply chain actors, a simplified programme for small, medium-sized and microenterprises, a single government AEO programme and a single Southern African Customs Union AEO programme with augmented benefits.
Free trade agreement between Kenya and the U.S faces new challenges in Congress (ECOFIN Agency)
The trade agreement that could be the most significant development in U.S-Africa trade relations, since the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) passed in Congress in 2000, faces another hurdle. This is attributable to the expiration of the key legislative tool (TPA) needed to accelerate Congress’s approval of the agreement. Consequently, the prospects for the deal to conclude becomes gloomy. The TPA (trade promotion authority), which allows the head of state to fast-track trade negotiations with congress expired on July 1 and without it, the eventual implementation of the bill would be subjected to amendments by U.S legislators. This would make ratification difficult. This turn of events will see trade deals already in the pipeline, among which are negotiations with Kenya, and the United Kingdom, affected.
Kenya tops growth in new connections of electricity (Business Daily)
Kenya has been ranked as the top country in the world in reducing the population with no access to electricity, pointing to the impact of the State’s focus on rural areas for nearly a decade. The Energy Progress Report for 2021, a product of a partnership between the World Bank and bodies such as the International Energy Agency, says Kenya’s electrification pace is now ahead of population growth. Kenya’s annualised increase in electricity access between 2010 and 2019 was at 5.6 percent – the largest among the top 20 countries in the world with the biggest electricity access gap.
Manufacturers call for expedited resolution of Non-tariff barriers (Capital Business)
Manufacturers from Kenya and Tanzania have called for the expedited resolution of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and the review of the East African Community Common External Tariff (EAC CET). Kenya’s exports to Tanzania declined from USD 342.9 million in 2016 to USD 294.9 million in 2020 while its exports to the rest of the world grew from USD 5.7 billion in 2016 to 6.02 billion in 2020. On the other hand, Tanzania’s exports to Kenya grew from USD 126.2 million in 2016 to USD 258.2 million in 2020, while her exports to the world grew from USD 4.4 billion in 2016 to USD 5.2 billion in 2020.
New milestone as Mwanza-Port Bell route returns (Dailynews)
The government’s efforts to turn Mwanza into a transport and business hub has begun to pay off, with the shipping of petroleum products from the rock city to Port Bell, in Kampala resuming after almost 17 years of lull. Recently, when laying the foundation stone for construction of the Mwanza-Isaka section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), President Samia Suluhu Hassan affirmed Tanzania’s intent to implement all flagship projects, including transport infrastructures to ease transportation of goods and services within and to neighbouring countries. She stressed that her government’s will is to make Mwanza city as hub of trade and transport, thus relieving traders from neighbouring countries from travelling as far as to Dar es Salaam to get goods. Traders could take goods from Mwanza, the city has close links with neighbouring countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo, to their countries instead of travelling to Dar es Salaam.
TanTrade throws weight on spices industry (Dailynews)
Spice producers have all reasons to smile following the launch of Tanzania spices label, a significant step forward for marketability, quality assurance and sustainability. The purpose of the label is to improve the reputation, quality and output of the spices industry across Tanzania. All farmers who take on the label are supposed to adhere to set standards, namely the standards specifications of the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), registration with ISO as well as production standards such as the use of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). The spices label is created by Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) and the private sector represented by Tanzania Spices Association (TASPA) with the support of the International Trade Centre (ITC) within the framework of the European Union-funded East African Community (EAC) Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP). TanTrade Executive Director, Edwin Rutageruka, said Tanzanian spices have never been trademarked. As such, exported products are often repackaged and sold under another country’s label.
FG, stakeholders partner to curb fish importation (The Guardian Nigeria)
The Federal Government and other stakeholders have expressed concern over 2.5 million metric tonnes of fish imported into the country yearly. They said despite abundant aquatic resources in the country, Nigeria produces less than one million metric tonnes of fish from both aquatic and artisanal sources as against the 3.6 million tonnes yearly demand. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, while speaking during the National Dialogue on Transformation and Future of Aquatic Food Systems in Nigeria, said there was a renewed drive by the Federal Government to increase domestic fish production to reduce importation of frozen fish.
Nigeria Customs Generates N1trn In 6 Months (Leadership)
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that it generated N1,003,752,951,735 in the first six months of 2021. The N1,003,752,951,735 is higher than the N713,548,395,834 generated within the same period of 2020 by N290,204,555,900. “By the end of this extended period, the Service will not hesitate to invoke appropriate sanctions as contained in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C45 LFN 2004 as amended, against any private aircraft owner that fails to take advantage of this period to verify his or her aircraft. “This feat is as a result of the resolute pursuit of what is right and willingness to adapt to changes brought about by global health challenges occasioned by COVID-19,” Mr Attah stated.
CBN facilitation for Nigerians participation in AfCFTA (Vanguard)
The Federal Government approved the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement in November 2020 and deposited the instrument of ratification on Dec/ 15, 2020, thus becoming the 34th State Party to ratify the treaty. The AfCFTA agreement is expected to, among others; motivate Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to expand their businesses to other African countries, foster business growth and increase profit. It will also contribute substantially to the development of the manufacturing sector, and increase job opportunities and the demand for labour that will ultimately lead to a reduction in unemployment and create opportunity for Nigerian professionals to seek employment in other African countries.
BoG to pilot digital currency from September – First Deputy Governor (Modern Ghana)
The First Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), Maxwell Opoku-Afari has said the central bank is in the advanced stages of piloting a digital currency to move the economy towards a cash-lite environment. Barring any unforeseen circumstance, he noted that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be piloted from September this year. “The piloting phase is expected to start by September and the success rate will determine the step.” Without giving the timelines for the launch of the digital currency, Mr Opoku-Afari indicated that the central bank’s digital currency is fiat money. “It is cash on its own.” He continued, “Digital Currency is part of the central bank acknowledging the need for digital payment and digital delivery of financial services, this is formally to get into that space and be able to provide a platform on which we can add more value to digital transactions.
Striking iEPA deal amid young AfCFTA premature – trade expert (The Business & Financial Times)
Even though the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA) is not necessarily a bad move, striking such a deal at a time when the African continent is in the midst of creating its own market and local industries are still struggling is premature, international trade law expert Maame Awinador-Kanyirige has said. Her comments come after news broke last week that the iEPA, which will see Ghana progressively reduce its tariffs to zero for 78 percent of its imports from the EU by 2029, has finally become operational after years of back and forth which halted the deal. “The idea of going into the AfCFTA was to strengthen the capacity of our local industries so that we can compete effectively within Africa, and also on the continental scale. And before the EU interim agreement came into force, we had also signed this UK trade partnership which also opens our market to the UK. Trade partnerships of this nature are called reciprocal trade agreements. What it means is that you are saying you and the developed economy are at par, forgetting we are the weaker economy because those economies have already strengthened themselves through trade with the EU.
Ghana, EU to collaborate for sustainable cocoa production (Business24 Ghana)
Ghana is committed to collaborating with the European Union (EU) and other stakeholders to attain a sustainable cocoa production that promotes good forest cover, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has said. Currently, Ghana exports 80 percent of its cocoa to the EU, and early this year, the union said it will contribute £25m pounds to improve the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon – who are the first-, second-, and fifth-biggest cocoa producers in the world, respectively. Diana Acconcia, the EU Ambassador to Ghana applauded the launch of the Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Sustainable Cocoa by the European Commission, which seeks to deliver concrete recommendations to promote sustainability across the cocoa supply chain through collective actions and partnerships.
Mid-year budget must be conservative to avoid fiscal slippages– economist cautions gov’t (The Business and Financial Times)
Government must be conservative in its expenditure approach for the next six months as the finance minister prepares to present a mid-year budget to parliament to avert Ghana’s debt stock from reaching unsustainable levels, that is an advice from economist Dr. Lord Mensah. According to him, borrowing from the international market may attract high interest rates due to the ravaging effects of COVID-19 on global economies. This, he warned could push the economy into a highly debt distress position if government does not manage its appetite for borrowing but go ahead to accept loans with high interest rates. Already, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Ghana’s debt stock may reach 81.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Data released by the Bank of Ghana shows that Ghana’s total public debt stock reached an all-time high of GH¢304.59 billion in May 2021, representing 70.2% of GDP.
Uganda revitalizes water transport to boost regional trade (China.org.cn)
Uganda has reopened the Central Corridor to transport cargoes across Lake Victoria from the Tanzanian town of Mwanza to the Ugandan capital Kampala, its transport authorities said Wednesday. “The revitalization of the Central Corridor after many years of inactivity is a clear testimony of Uganda’s commitment to strengthen our economy,” Fred Byamukama, Uganda’s state minister for transport, said while receiving the first consignment of bulky goods from Mwanza on Wednesday. The minister said the rehabilitation of the Meter Gauge Railway from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza has increased efficiency and reduced transit time. Dar es Salaam is the Tanzanian seaport linked to Mwanza by railway and to Kampala by water. The route used to transport up to 95 percent of Uganda’s inbound cargoes.
Egypt’s Trade Minister leads largest trade mission to West, Central Africa (Daily News Egypt)
Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea has arrived in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, at the helm of the largest Egyptian trade mission to Central and West Africa. Gamea was received at the Presidential Palace in Dakar by Senegal’s President Macky Sall. During her trip to Senegal, the minister will deliver a message from Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to Sall, affirming Egypt’s keenness to develop joint cooperation with Senegal. This comes with the aim of achieving the well-being and prosperity of peoples of two countries. The message also confirmed the depth of the historical and strategic relations between the two countries, and Egypt’s keenness to develop various frameworks of joint cooperation, especially in the economic, commercial, and industrial aspects.
Tunisia: Foreign trade at constant prices: Trade still down (INS) (TAP)
Foreign trade continued its fall for the second consecutive month in May 2021, with exports and imports dropping in volume by 10.4% and 2%, respectively, according to the latest statistics on “foreign trade at constant prices (CVS-CEC), May 2021,” released by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). This drop, which was sharper for export than for import, entailed a considerable drop in the coverage rate by 6.8 points to 72.5% in May. After falling by 4.2% in April, the volume of exports dropped further in May by 10.4%.
Africa
AfCFTA Holds 2nd Quarterly Press Briefing 2021 (Proshare Nigeria)
The AfCFTA Secretariat on Friday, July 9, held its 2nd quarterly press briefing. At the event, the Secretary-General of AfCFTA who doubled as the host, Mr. Wamkele Mene, addressed journalists across Africa highlighting the major strides recorded by the body since the first press briefing. The Secretary-General disclosed that the secretariat has in the intervening period worked towards the operationalization of the dispute settlement mechanism covering all major trade areas such as trade in goods, investment, and intellectual property.
Speaking further, the Secretary-General mentioned that as of today, 40 nations had ratified the agreement while expressing optimism that Seychelles, DRC, and Burundi would submit their ratification by September. Meanwhile, efforts are being made also to enlist Tanzania which is regarded as a strategic nation, given that it is a large east African country. Concerning the need for sensitization, the Secretary mentioned that the body has been engaging with the private sector in different parts of the continent to encourage them to spare head the sensitization program since they stand to benefit the most from the agreement.
Burundi has officially ratified the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (RegionWeek)
In a document that was made public this Tuesday, July 6, 2021, it was confirmed that Burundi officially ratified the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area on June 17, 2021. The document signed by President Evariste Ndayishimiye states that after analyzing the agreements signed by the African Union head of states signed in 2018 in Nouakchott, the government of Burundi accepts all dispositions of the agreement and therefore the agreements are accepted, ratified, and confirmed by Burundi.
Afreximbank hosts Strategic Coordination Meeting with Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat (Afreximbank)
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) hosted a productive strategic coordination meeting on 14 June 2021 between the Bank’s President Prof Benedict Oramah and the Secretary General of the AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene. During this forum, collaboration and co-operation between the institutions were deliberated upon, to support and advance the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The two parties discussed a range of joint activities to support the implementation of the AfCFTA and boost intra-African trade, notably the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System, the Intra-African Trade Fair, and ongoing technical cooperation and assistance. Furthermore, the meeting discussed the AfCFTA Adjustment Facility where Afreximbank will work with the Secretariat and other partners to advance the establishment of the AfCFTA Adjustment Facility. This follows the recommendations of the African Union Summit to support countries adjust in an orderly manner to the liberalised trade regime created by the AfCFTA.
Boost for intra-EAC trade as Tanzania launches her Trade Information Portal (EAC)
The United Republic of Tanzania has launched its Trade information Portal which is expected to boost intra-regional trade in East Africa as well as the region’s share of international trade. The Trade Information Portals (TIPS) map out all Imports, Exports and Transit Procedures, fees and time. The next step after mapping is to simply remove unnecessary and redundant bottlenecks. Trade Information Portals are now operational in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The Burundi TIP is still under development and is expected to be launched on 23rd July, 2021. The South Sudan Trade Information portal will be developed later.
Major milestones achieved in SADC regional integration, economic, social and political developments (SADC)
The historic launch of the SADC Free Trade Area in 2008 brought a phased programme of tariff reductions and resulted in more than 85 percent of intra-regional trade among Member States attaining zero duty status. This has been complemented by efforts to open borders to citizens of fellow Member States in the spirit of promoting the free movement of goods and services, and facilitation of movement of persons within the region. In 2019, the Region adopted the Simplified Trade Regime Framework which has contributed to trade facilitation.
The approval of the Implementation Plan for the SADC Financial Inclusion Strategy and Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SME) Access to Finance in 2018 has expanded financial inclusion in the Region. Ten Member States have developed strategies or a national roadmap on financial inclusion aimed at empowering SMEs, youth and women to participate in economic activity, and there has been an improvement in financial inclusion among adults in the region, to 68 percent.
The SADC Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) multi-currency platform went live in October 2018 to facilitate faster and more efficient payment transactions in the Region. All Member States, except Comoros, are participating in the SADC-RTGS and a total of 85 banks (central banks and commercial banks) are also participating in the system. The SADC-RTGS has enabled Member States to settle payments among themselves in real-time, when previously it took several days to process cross-border transactions.
SADC has created vibrant institutions to facilitate deeper regional integration (SADC)
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has, since its establishment in 1980, created vibrant institutions which have strengthened regional mechanisms to facilitate deeper regional integration. These institutions include the River Basin Organisations (RBOs), Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs), Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), SADC Climate Services Centre, SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), Centres of Excellence, Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis Programme (RVAA), SADC Accreditation Services (SADCAS), Southern African Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF).
Private sector must take centre stage in integration agenda, new EABC boss (The New Times)
The private sector is a key player in job creation and development of the region and should therefore take centre stage in the regional integration agenda, John Bosco Kalisa, the new CEO of the East African Business Council (EABC), has said. Kalisa who recently took over at the regional private sector body noted this Wednesday, July 7, after paying a courtesy call on his predecessor, the current East African Community (EAC) Secretary-General, Peter Mathuki, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The two officials agree on private sector development and resolution of trade barriers being top priorities for the EAC, so as to increase Intra-EAC trade and promote the region as an investment destination. Among others, Kalisa seeks to re-energize the EAC-EABC Private Sector Technical Working Groups so as to create a platform to deliberate on sustainable solutions to issues hampering regional trade.
A recently published African Development Bank scoping study on implementing NDCs in Africa recommends that development financial institutions and other investors focus on high-impact, high-growth potential start-ups that can drive climate-related innovation. The study, NDC implementation in Africa through green investments by private sector - A Scoping Study, was produced in partnership with the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance and launched during a virtual African Development Bank webinar held on 1 July 2021.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) team up to empower African small businesses, women and young entrepreneurs to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and expand cross-continental business opportunities. This joint UN initiative comes as the continent contends with the economic strain of the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to drive recovery as well as build resilience for African businesses across the continent. By signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today in a joint online ceremony, both organizations commit to boosting the economic empowerment of women, increasing economic and employment opportunities for youth, broadening access to trade and market intelligence for small businesses and promoting e-commerce to enhance intra-African trade. Small businesses, women and young entrepreneurs will be equipped to take advantage of the AfCFTA and more effectively cater to the African market, which is expected to total 1.3 billion consumers by 2050.
India is now Africa’s third largest trading partner (RTV)
While currently, China is Ghana’s biggest trading partner and source of foreign investment, the African countries are keen on deepening economic ties with India due to the cultural commonalities. The African nation also features among the first 10 countries with high Chinese debt “India must try and work out a mechanism with the AfCFTA to ensure it has access to the continent. This makes more sense rather than going individually country by country,” Mehta added. “We will work with you to realize your vision of a prosperous Africa, based on inclusive growth, empowered citizens and sustainable development; an integrated and culturally vibrant Africa; and, a peaceful and secure Africa, which has its rightful global place and is a strong partner for the world,” he said in his address. Touted as the biggest trade deals in the world since the World Trade Organisation, the AfCFTA signed between 55 countries, of which 54 are members of the African Union, aims to create a single market comprising 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of about $3.4 trillion. India is now Africa’s third largest trading partner. The Observer Research Foundation said that it is critical for India to view Africa not just as a destination for short-term returns but as a partner for medium and long-term economic growth.
Global
DG Okonjo-Iweala highlights vital role of trade for global food security (WTO)
International trade is vital to ensure global food security, DG Okonjo-Iweala told participants at the meeting, explaining that trade is necessary to move food from the parts of our planet that have a food surplus to the parts that have a food deficit. DG Okonjo-Iweala pointed to the wider links between trade and food security. Trade has helped create jobs and raise incomes, enhancing people’s ability to purchase food, she noted. The Director-General pointed to governments’ general restraint in the use of trade restrictions during acute phases of the COVID-19 crisis last year. Maintaining the free flow of essential food products meant that WTO members prevented the health crisis from becoming a food crisis. Trade has been one of the solutions, and not one of the obstacles, to global food security in the midst of the pandemic, she argued.
G-20 Warns of Risk to Global Recovery From Virus Variants (Voice of America)
The global economic recovery is at risk from the rise of new coronavirus variants and poor access to vaccines in developing countries, finance ministers of the world’s 20 largest economies warned on Saturday. The G-20 gathering in the Italian city of Venice also endorsed a move to stop multinational firms from shifting profits to low-tax havens. A final communique said the global economic outlook had improved since G-20 talks in April thanks to the rollout of vaccines and economic support packages, but acknowledged its fragility in the face of variants like the fast-spreading delta. “The recovery is characterized by great divergences across and within countries and remains exposed to downside risks, in particular the spread of new variants of the COVID-19 virus and different paces of vaccination,” it read.
The communique, while stressing support for “equitable global sharing” of vaccines, did not propose concrete measures, merely acknowledging a recommendation for $50 billion in new vaccine financing by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization. Brandon Locke, of the public health non-profit group The ONE Campaign, decried what he described as the G20’s inaction, calling it “a lose-lose situation for everyone.”
“We welcome the G20 themes of People, Planet Prosperity – and looking ahead to the G20 summit, we call on PM Mario Draghi, Finance Minister Daniele Franco and the other G20 leaders and finance ministers to: firstly, make the IMF’s promised new issue of Special Drawing Rights available as soon as possible and define a clear path forward for their maximal re-allocation and on-lending. Secondly develop a wider green clean recoveries investment partnership package which is properly financed, co-developing with emerging and developing countries innovative, fair and equitable financial solutions that can ensure their integration into the global financial infrastructure, address debt vulnerabilities and unlock far more financing for green investments. Lastly, we urgently need to address the rising global vaccine inequity and support efforts to establish regional vaccine manufacturing hubs. As the developed world is steadily reaching its vaccination goals, Africa braces for a third COVID-19 wave, as short-term vaccine supplies dry up leaving many countries unable to even follow up with second doses for high-risk groups.”
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva Urges Continued Action to Address Two-Track Recovery (IMF)
“I am very encouraged by the substantial progress made by the G20 at this meeting on a number of crucial issues. In particular, I want to recognize the G20’s support for the historic agreement on a minimum corporate tax rate. This will help countries preserve their corporate tax base and mobilize revenue by ensuring that highly profitable companies pay their fair share everywhere. The G20 recognized the urgent need to be better prepared for future health threats and welcomed the Report of the High Level Independent Panel on Financing Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, committing to work with international financial institutions and relevant partners to develop proposals for sustainable financing to strengthen future pandemic preparedness and response.”
Women rights organisations hit harder by funding cuts and left out of COVID-19 response and recovery efforts (Oxfam International)
Grassroots organisations at the forefront of the fight for gender justice have consistently been the most heavily hit by funding cuts during the pandemic, despite increasing donor commitments toward gender equality. This comes at a time when gender rights issues including violence against women and girls, are increasingly being reported as emerging concerns due to the pandemic.
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National
Consumers Urged to Rise Against Anti-Competitive, Unfair Practices by Firms During Covid-19 Pandemic (the dtic)
Consumers have been urged to rise against anti-competitive, unfair, and unreasonable practices by firms during the Covid-19 pandemic. This sentiment was echoed by panellists during an online stakeholders dialogue on the Pricing Regulations and Other Related Matters hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), in conjunction with the Competition Commission, National Consumer Commission, Consumer Goods and Services Ombud and Proudly South African.
“On one hand you are dealing with price gouging and other offences, and on the other, because of the extended period of the disaster, you also need to be very careful to allow demand to push prices slightly high in some areas to make sure that you get increased supply of the goods on the shelf. I think that is going to be a major challenge for most agencies as we go ahead. How you deal with very high prices is going to be complicated,” said Director at the Centre for Competition Law and Economics, Stellenbosch University, Professor Willem Boshoff
The Principal Analyst at the Competition Commission, Mr Sipho Mtombeni said there was an interesting time ahead as we are looking to recover the economy, all efforts need to align with the government’s efforts to recover the economy. “The pandemic has caused us to reprioritise and deal with the influx of complaints that increased because of the pandemic with the intention of protecting the citizens. During the pandemic, the Commission received over 2 000 complaints against retailers, suppliers and pharmacies who supply essential goods and services, and personal protective equipment,” added Mtombeni.
No paltry measures as poultry master plan aims to fix chicken industry challenges (Cape Business News)
The broiler business is beset with commercial challenges, including the rising cost of feed, disease control barriers to exports, as well as the influx of cheap imports from Brazil, the EU and the US, mainly of bone-in chicken portions. SA Poultry Association’s general manager Izaak Breytenbach revealed that the contribution to GDP by the poultry industry over the past year increased from R48bn to over R50bn – and is expected to reach R54bn by the end of 2022. Sapa, however, applied for another anti-dumping application earlier this year, this time on bone-in chicken from Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain. “If the duties are imposed, they will be imposed on top of the duties already in place. In the case of Brazil, this means the anti-dumping duties would be added to the 62% duty already in place,” Donald Mackay, trading specialist at XA International Trade Advisory, said.
The shipping industry is under pressure, which could hurt South Africa’s retail high season (The Mail & Guardian)
Widespread global shipping disruptions may jeopardise South Africa’s retail high season. The sector is recovering on the back of pent-up demand, after a -21.8% decline in imports last year caused by the temporary halt of global trade, Investec anticipates a GDP growth of 2.9% for 2021. There are rising headwinds regarding vessel capacity and container availability, port congestion, increasing freight rates and production delays. Consequently, importers and retailers are facing the risk of receiving stock too late for the sale season. This unusual situation arises from a combination of significant events such as disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal blockage, on-going port congestion and vessel omissions which is having a crippling effect on supply chains. The result is a slew of reliability and capacity problems resulting in some cargo arriving between two to five weeks later than scheduled.
Kenya, Tanzania industrialists kick off meeting on market access (Big New Network)
Kenyan and Tanzanian manufacturers kicked off a three-day meeting on Wednesday to deliberate on trade promotion and market access between the two neighboring countries. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) said the meeting will address the upper band rate of the East African Community (EAC) common external tariff (EAC CET); harmonization of domestic taxes; harmonization of product standards; review of the EAC Rules of Origin; and activation of the dispute settlement mechanism.
KRA links to 23 clearance points at Mombasa port (Business Daily)
Cargo checkpoints at the Port of Mombasa have been linked to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) in a move expected to reduce goods clearance time and enhance transparency. This is after the taxman commissioned a Sh2.6 billion Mombasa port metropolitan fibre optic network on Wednesday that will connect 23 clearing points to a centralised location in KRA’s Nairobi headquarters. The project is part of the Sh50 billion Eastern Africa Regional Transport, Trade and Development Facilitation Programme (EARTTDFP) that connects Kenya and South Sudan through the laying of a fibre-optic cable and construction of a superhighway. The project entails harmonisation of Customs and other border, risk management and control procedures, designing of a one-stop border post (OSBP) at Nadapal/Nakodok, strengthening of the cross-border trade including enhancing KRA coordination with other border agencies and supporting the implementation of an integrated border management system.
Nairobi, US trade deal faces fresh hurdle in Congress (Business Daily)
Negotiations for a free trade deal between Kenya and the United States face fresh hurdles after the expiry of a key legislative tool for getting faster Congress approval, dimming the prospects for its conclusion. President Joe Biden allowed the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which delegates powers to the US head of state to fast track trade negotiations with the Congress, to expire on July 1. In the absence of a TPA, any deals reached would be subject to amendments by US legislators and would face difficulties getting ratified. This will affect trade deals already in the works like the negotiations with the United Kingdom and Kenya, which had hoped for a speedy conclusion of the talks that were official opened in July last year.
Kenya wanted to do a deal with Washington before the expiry of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which allows sub-Saharan African countries to export thousands of products to the United States without tariffs or quotas until 2025. The trade deal is seen as a pointer to how America will engage with Africa, especially in the face of China’s growing influence on the continent.
Kenya tea growers shift to produce pineapple as climate change bites (Africanews)
Some tea growers in Kenya are shifting to produce other crops as climate change threatens tea plantation in the country. Once a hub to perfect tea-growing conditions, the world’s largest black tea exporter is now seeing the effects of climate change. A May 2021 report by Charity Christian Aid says that by 2050 the changing climate will slash Kenya’s optimal tea production conditions by over a quarter. This would hurt farmers and workers alike. The report recommended cutting emissions to prevent climate change accelerating harm caused to tea-growing regions. But as experts mount warnings about the dangers of climate change, Kenya’s tea growers are already witnessing a drop in production. Kenya’s tea industry contributes about 4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Transforming Kenya’s Transport Sector through Digital Integration (World Bank)
Before 2014, Kenya’s aspiring drivers had to visit several government offices to be licensed to drive. Fragmented services and manual procedures created loopholes and opportunities for cartels that processed fake licenses and motor vehicle logbooks, contributing to a thriving underground economy that exposed banks and insurance firms to potential fraud and losses. To combat these issues, the Kenyan government established the semi-autonomous National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to harmonize the operations of key road transport departments and manage road safety. Services that used to take weeks or even months are now instant. These improvements have helped to facilitate regional trade and ease the cost of doing business in East Africa. To manage essential transport services, the NTSA launched the Transport Integrated Management System (TIMS) electronic data platform in 2016. TIMS is a sophisticated, yet easy to access digital platform that incorporates motor vehicle registration and transfers, licensing, and inspection in a secure public access online portal.
Egypt announces continuation of exempting its exports from customs duties for Kenyan market (Egypttoday)
Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea announced that Egyptian exports to the Kenyan market will continue to be exempted from customs duties for a year, starting in early July. The ministry explained in a statement, Tuesday, that the exemption came within the framework of the exception granted by the East African Union to the states of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, which are members of the union, and the COMESA grouping to grant the rest of the COMESA member states a comprehensive customs exemption.
Progress on Africa’s integration boosts prospects for economic transformation in Egypt (Mirage News)
To fully benefit from the AfCFTA, Egypt needs to update its policy approach for economic transformation, says the country’s Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) released today. Egypt is among Africa’s economic heavyweights. Although Africa is a small industrial player, accounting for only 2% of world manufacturing, Egypt is the continent’s top manufacturing hub, accounting for 22% of its value added in this sector. The report says Egypt needs to continue implementing effective reforms for more economic progress. Although the agenda is vast, the report identifies three actions that could be game-changers in the current context: 1) Investing in making AfCFTA a real development driver; 2) Engaging the private sector in innovation; and 3) Getting policymaking ready for the future
Angola works to make continental trade area operational (ANGOP)
Angola is working for the approval, this month, of the operationalisation process of the agreement for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the minister of Industry and Trade said Wednesday in Luanda. Victor Fernandes, who was speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Workshop on “Prospects for regional integration in the AfCFTA,” said that Angola was ready to start trading, and was only waiting for the statutorily required authorisations. “Angola has already ratified entry into the trade zone in 2020. At this moment, we are preparing its tariff offer and it is practically ready (...),” the Angolan minister said.
Ghana Lobbies Nigeria On Import Prohibitions (The Will)
The Ghanaian government has asked Nigeria to consider a review of the prohibition list banning the importation of specific goods and commodities from other countries. Speaker of the Ghanaian Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Suman Kingsford Bagbin, made the request while addressing members of the House of Representatives during Wednesday’s plenary. The Ghanaian Speaker, who decried the low level of trade between African countries, noted that “of about US$460 billion trade volume, only US$69 billion was transacted among African nations.” The Ghanaian Speaker disclosed that the Parliament was making efforts at resolving the concerns of the Nigerian traders in his country through a joint effort between the two nations.
NACCIMA harps on full implementation of free trade agreement (The Guardian Nigeria)
The National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has tasked the Federal Government with the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) so that the country could tap from the huge benefits presented by the trade agreement. “This is a giant leap towards increasing intra-African trade and creating collective wealth. It is also a bold step to take Africans out of poverty.” The senior special assistant to the President on public sector matters and secretary of the National Action Committee on AFCFTA, Francis Anatogu, while presenting the keynote speech, observed that for Nigeria to trade under AfCFTA, it must have a stable environment that would support businesses to flourish. “We must realize that we have to be involved in things that will reduce our import bills. We have to build on other infrastructure and manage our borders properly. We can’t trade under AfCFTA with an unprotected border and circulation of fake products”.
Zim removes Sadc visa requirement (The Herald)
Zimbabwe has become the first country to exempt all SADC Member States from visa requirements, taking the lead in the region as part of accelerated efforts to operationalise the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). African countries are relaxing visa rules for each other to boost trade and tourism facilitated by the historic free trade agreement, AfCFTA, ratified by African Union (AU) member states. In a statement last night, the outgoing chair of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava gave some details of the journey travelled by the organ under Zimbabwe’s chairmanship. “Regarding the implementation of the visa exemption among SADC Member States and the facilitation of free movement of SADC citizens within the region, I wish to highlight that Zimbabwe is the first and only country that has exempted all SADC Member States from visa requirements, other SADC Member States are undertaking internal processes to ensure that SADC citizens can travel freely in the region.”
Africa
African trade area to have payment system adjusted (ANGOP)
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will create a platform for an adjusted Pan-African payment system, via instant transactions, thus reducing the costs of currency conversion. According to the secretary-general of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, who was speaking on Wednesday at the workshop on ‘The prospects of regional integration in the African Continental Free Trade Area’. “Africa has about 42 types of currencies and we know that the cost of currency conversion is quite high. If we want to make a transaction from Angola to Kenya, first we have to convert the kwanza (Angolan currency) to the US dollar and then to Kenyan currency,” he said. He noted that this process contributed to market inefficiency and to the cost of the product.
Rwanda selected to host continental e-trade platform (The New Times)
The African Union, through its department of Economic Development, Trade and Mining, on Wednesday chose Rwanda as the continental headquarters for the African e-trade Group. The development, announced during the annual Africa Integration Day, will, among others, facilitate the group’s ambition of supporting 600,000 SMEs in Africa over the next five years. The African e-Trade Group is a social entrepreneurship initiative with the primary aim of providing a comprehensive e-commerce platform to enhance the role of Africa’s SMEs in inter and intra-African trade. The continental data centre will facilitate Small and Medium Enterprises towards lowering hosting data prices, Ingabire highlighted. “AeTrade Group will also create specific programmes to support Rwandan SMEs that will grow towards the increase of export of Made in Rwanda products to other African countries,” she asserted.
Use AfCFTA to boost agriculture – Dr Yakubu (BusinessGhana)
A former Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Ahmed Alhassan Yakubu, has called on Africans to use the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to boost agriculture. He said the African continent was typically agrarian, with most of its economies driven by agricultural activities. He said AfCFTA, therefore, presented a platform to lift the sector to the next level. “Agriculture, which is where we are more efficient at generating products, will be the best way to capitalise on AfCFTA. That is what we know how to do best and if AfCFTA has come, it is an opportunity for us to take advantage of a bigger market so that our farmers and agribusiness actors can benefit,” he stated.
Women traders and entrepreneurs in Togo receive training on AfCFTA issues (UNECA)
Togo’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Local Consumption, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), is organizing a series of workshops for women traders and entrepreneurs to develop their capacity to participate in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In his message to the opening session, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Local Consumption, Claude Talime said: “The proper application of the provisions of this agreement requires from you a perfect understanding and mastery of the procedures and conditions that goods must meet to benefit from the continental preference.” The ambassador of the European Union (EU) in Togo, Joaquín Tasso Vilallonga, in his own speech, said: “It is essential to ensure now that the AfCFTA is implemented from a gender perspective and that the women involved, those who are in cross-border trade as well as those who produce goods or services to be traded across borders, are well informed of this opportunity.”
African Integration Day 2021 : “The Role of Continental Integration in Accelerating African Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic” (African Union)
The 2021 African Integration Forum will attract participants drawn from African Union Member States, AUC, AU Specialized Institutions, RECs, Institutions from the UN System and other Development Cooperating Partners, African Financial Institutions, the Private Sector, Academics, Professionals, Youth, Women, Civil Society, the Diaspora, Research Institutions and Think Tanks, among others. In order to emphasise and celebrate the importance of all stakeholders’ participation in building regional integration in Africa, the various categories of stakeholders (AU Institutions including the AfCFTA Secretariat; Regional Economic Communities; Private Sector, Civil Society, Research Institutions; the African Diaspora) will be given the opportunity to lead certain activities of the programme, under the coordination of the AU Commission.
A Better Normal for Africa by Vera Songwe (Project Syndicate)
Despite incurring high costs in terms of lost and foregone social and economic progress during the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa has so far avoided the kind of health and economic calamity that some anticipated when the crisis began. Like any crisis, the pandemic could represent an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a better future. But it won’t be easy. First and foremost, the continent must get COVID-19 under control, which requires ensuring equitable access to vaccines. As it stands, some advanced economies are on track to achieve widespread vaccination within months. Yet Africa is struggling to secure the 90 million doses it needs to inoculate the highest-priority 3% of its population, including health-care workers and the most vulnerable groups. This is clearly a humanitarian disaster in the making: every day those most at risk are denied access to COVID-19 vaccines is a day when more people die needlessly. But it is also an economic disaster: according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study, if the advanced economies continue to hoard vaccine doses, the global economy would suffer losses of more than $9 trillion in 2021.
Innovative Infrastructure Financing Approaches Imperative for Sustainable Economic Recovery & Resilience Building in Post-COVID-19 Africa (African Union)
The 3rd ordinary session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Transport, Transcontinental, and Interregional Infrastructures, and Energy (STC-TTIIE) took place online from 28th to 30th June 2021, under the theme ‘The Role of Infrastructure & Energy in the Post COVID-19 AFRICA; Towards Sustainable Economic Recovery, Resilience, Jobs, Industrialization & Trade’.
“The post COVID-19 era requires more agile decision-making and coordination of efforts by all stakeholders. We must be able to make use of the challenges to our own benefit shifting to digitalised and decarbonised pathways with value addition and new business models at the centre for more inclusive, resilient and sustainable societies,” added Commissioner Abou-Zeid. Addressing the ministerial session, African Union’s High Representative on Infrastructure Development in Africa H.E. Raila Odinga said infrastructure is crucial to unlocking socio-economic growth in Africa by boosting industrialization and trade in the continent, adding, “the ambitious continental framework for trade within the continent under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would only be realized through sound infrastructure in transport and energy sectors.”
Jumpstarting Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in West Africa (World Bank)
Access to financial services remains one of the most acute constraints for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa. Due to their smaller size, limited experience, and undocumented performance, SMEs can be very risky to lenders – especially when they operate in fragile markets or more challenging environments. The International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) Small Loan Guarantee Program is an innovative mechanism to boost lending to SMEs. The IDA Private Sector Window provides support to the program, in the form of a pooled first-loss guarantee of up to $120 million, allowing IFC to scale up its support in underserved and fragile markets to unbanked SMEs – especially female-owned SMEs or SMEs working in priority sectors like climate or agriculture.
Trading Energy in West Africa to Benefit the Entire Region (World Bank)
West Africa has significant energy resources. The region accounts for about one-third of African gas and oil reserves and over 23,000 Megawatt (MW) of technically exploitable hydropower capacity. However, a key challenge has been distribution: the major sources of electricity supply are located far away from the main centers of consumption. The West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) program was conceived to help address this problem. Doing so is a critical part of improving access to energy in a region where much of the population has relied on firewood and charcoal to meet their energy needs. The first phase of the IDA-supported International Transmission Hub Project aimed to increase Ghana’s electricity export capacity, on the one hand, and reduce the cost of electricity supply to Burkina Faso, on the other. This was achieved through the development of a transmission line between Bolgatanga in Ghana and Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
Africa may not meet target on energy – study (Africa Renewal)
The report deplores the fact that Africa relies mainly on fossil fuels and biomes instead of diversifying its primary energy supply, given its plethora of resources (renewable and non-renewable). “Households use 86% of biofuel and waste energy for cooking, while the transport sector consumes 78% of oil. Natural gas is mainly used in industrial sector.” In his presentation, Anthony Monganeli Mehlwana, an ECA Economic Affairs Officer, highlighted the “urgent need to invest in electricity infrastructure, diversify electricity supply and embrace modern renewables.”
The African Development Bank and Climate Investment Funds have launched the Gender Technical Assessment of Opportunities to improve Implementation of Plastics and Waste Management in a Ugandan Municipality study, which examines gender challenges in waste management and plastic recycling. In Uganda, plastic waste poses a significant environmental challenge in the form of clogged drains and 80% of the waste pickers are women. The economic model for a waste recycling industry relies on a demand for the recycled material and a market price sufficient to make it attractive to householders to cover the costs of collection, according to the report’s findings.
East Africa urged to boost green development of leather, textile sector (Xinhua)
East African region should green its leather and textile sectors in order to boost exports, says a report released on Wednesday by the International Trade Center (ITC), a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. According to the report, these sectors are among the most polluting and have a negative effect on the local environmental quality, especially water resources. “The international and textile value chains are making concerted efforts towards going green and reducing their ecological footprint,” says the report that was jointly produced by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). “For East African businesses, being unable to comply with these standards creates a risk of being left out of global supply chains and represents a high cost in missed export market opportunities,” the report says.
The pandemic may have a long-lasting impact on CEMAC’s growth potential, which is already curtailed by structural, governance, and transparency issues. The policy response from national and regional authorities in 2020 helped mitigate the economic fallout. CEMAC, however, experienced a severe recession in 2020, fiscal and external deficits increased, and public debt rose with some countries having debt sustainability issues. The region is facing an increasing dilemma between internal and external stability, as external reserves fell sharply between mid-2020 and March 2021. A moderate recovery in economic growth is expected from 2021. This outlook is highly uncertain and contingent on the evolution of the pandemic and the vaccination program. Other significant risks include delayed implementation of the ongoing or possible new Fund-supported programs, uncertainties in filling large external financing needs, oil prices, and a possible deterioration in the security situation.
Connecting The Dots: Policy Innovations for Food Systems Transformation in Africa (Reliefweb)
A new report by the Malabo Montpellier Panel is calling on policymakers to rethink and reorient African food systems. The report argues that the next level of policy-making will require a more holistic and nuanced approach – one that operates within the interlinkages of policy domains that have been historically dealt with separately, such as agriculture, health, education, and the environment. Drawing upon the experience of four countries – Ghana, Malawi, Morocco and Rwanda – the report Connecting the Dots: Policy Innovations for Food Systems Transformation in Africa presents five recommendations to elevate policymaking and institutional change to the next level in order to resume momentum towards reducing hunger and malnutrition.
How Uber-style trucking business is changing long-haul transport in Africa (Africa Renewal)
As the continent logistics and warehousing market is projected to reach US$80 billion in the next two years, such companies are disrupting old trucking business models by basically using digital tools to match needs with availability, and demand with offers in the best possible ways. The businesses are modelled on an Uber-like approach where registered truckers and drivers are permanently connected and matched up with demand. Yet, as disruptive as the model is, innovative logistics companies have only started scratching the surface. They need to grow and stay sustainable in the long run. For this to happen, a massive ingestion of cash is needed. International investors have been showing interest. E-logistics startups are key in growing Africa’s internet economy, which could be worth an additional $180 billion between 2023 and 2025, according to the Google-IFC report. However, the report noted, the infrastructure investment remains short by $67 billion to $107 billion annually.
EU-Africa: No partnership in sight (The Parliament Magazine)
In the spring of 2020, the European Commission published its new EU-Africa Strategy. The document pointed out the necessity of cooperation between the EU and the African Union through five partnership pillars. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the strategy in need of urgent reform. As a result of the pandemic, the African continent is facing a crisis that is barely manageable, making European support in the short-, medium- and long-term indispensable. Against this background, it is difficult to understand why the EU-Africa summit, where the partnerships envisaged with the African Union should be discussed, has been repeatedly postponed. It would have been an important opportunity to discuss the urgent health and trade issues. However, the cooperative tone of the EU-Africa Strategy, which is continued in the COVID-19 recovery plan with regard to global vaccine production opportunities, is not reflected in practice.
How rich countries can help Africa respond to the third wave of COVID-19 (Atlantic Council)
Nearly five hundred days after the first COVID-19 lockdowns, which were quickly followed by rich countries flooding the zone with vast spending programs, Africa still awaits comprehensive support from the international community to help offset the pandemic’s economic blows. When the Group of Twenty (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors meet July 9 and 10 in Venice, Italy, they have an opportunity to respond in a meaningful way. The international community needs to ensure that Africa receives assistance commensurate with the nearly $20 trillion in monetary and fiscal expansion that rich countries had committed, as of November, to their own economies during the pandemic. Without fresh financing, the economic divergence between advanced economies that are experiencing a return to growth and struggling low-income countries will only continue to widen. A fresh start will require a commitment to plug financing gaps across all fronts.
Global
Digital transformation to help grow construction sector’s financial returns, value (Engineering News)
The digital transformation of the construction sector involves the integration of the physical and virtual processes and workflows, and will provide between 12% and 16% cost savings over the lifespan of a project, as well as potentially doubling the margins companies are able to achieve. The construction industry has various technologies and processes, but, while they are digital technologies, they do not represent the digital transformation of the industry, University of the Witwatersrand School of Business chair of digital business Professor Brian Armstrong explained during a July 7 webinar.
Transnational governance of natural resources for the 21st century (Brookings Institution)
Natural resources – whether they are water, land, underground, or in the air – should be seen as common goods, meant to be shared by all. The race for natural resources to power the simultaneous energy and digital transitions the world is experiencing rages among the major powers. But the transitions also mean that historically valuable natural resources and their associated investments – prominently oil and other fossil fuels – will eventually become stranded, with severe consequences for countries almost totally reliant on those assets, especially those with weak state capacity.
Developing countries have had difficulties managing their natural resources – so much so that the term “resource curse” was coined describing the paradox of countries rich in natural resources performing worse than countries that are resource poor. Volatility, loss of competitiveness, excessive indebtedness, and internal and external conflicts are behind the poorer performance of resource-rich countries. Research has shown that good institutions, unsurprisingly, moderate that curse.
Averting the looming debt distress (Daily Sun)
With the national debt put at over N33 trillion and N1.02 trillion spent on debt servicing in the first Quarter of 2021, the Federal Government should heed the advice by experts on how it can avert another debt crisis. Two eminent Nigerians, the Director-General of the WTO, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and former Finance Minister, President of the AfDB, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina and the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Tarek Amer, had expressed concern over the increasing national debts in most African countries, especially in Nigeria, where the experts fear the debt burden could reach an all-time high of N40 trillion by the year end, with a high risk of Nigeria falling into another debt trap. As the World Bank recently said in its report on Nigeria, rising debt and food prices pushed about seven million Nigerians into poverty in 2020. Currently, Nigerian’s debt portfolio, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), has exceeded N33trillion. The debt expenses for the period represent about 30.7 per cent of the total N3.5 trillion budgeted for debt service for the year.
Global air transport body says signs of recovery in sector but warns it is fragile (Engineering News)
The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which is the global representative body of the airline industry, is seeing some encouraging signs of recovery in the industry. “There is some optimism about the airline industry, but [also] reasons to be cautious,” Iata senior economist Ezgi Gulbas told reporters participating in the virtual Iata Global Media Days 2021 on Wednesday afternoon. Growth in the air cargo sector has been strong. Global demand in May this year was 9.4% higher than in May 2019 (the last month of May before the Covid-19 pandemic). “This provides some relief to the industry,” she noted, which was still struggling with a slow recovery in air passenger traffic.
DDG Zhang highlights power of trade in transforming economies and people’s livelihoods (WTO)
Integration into the global economy through WTO membership can provide a pathway to economic development, peace and prosperity, Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang said on 6 July. DDG Zhang spoke at the launch of the Research and Knowledge Hub of the Trade for Peace Programme, a new platform that will act as a central coordinating unit to gather, share and disseminate knowledge, information and research on the trade-peace nexus. “Trade can help to break the vicious cycles of fragility, conflict and poverty. Trade can raise people’s incomes and build interdependence between communities and countries, contributing to shared prosperity and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Chair encourages members to make additional efforts to facilitate LDC exports (WTO)
The chair of the Sub-Committee for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Ambassador Monique T.G. Van Daalen of the Netherlands, urged WTO members at a 2 July meeting to continue efforts aimed at improving the use of trade preferences granted to LDCs. The chair urged all members that grant preferential treatment to LDCs to examine how they can further facilitate market access for LDC exports. She said the aim should be to produce some concrete outcomes on LDC priorities at the WTO’s upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12). The WTO Secretariat reported on the annual review undertaken by the Committee on Rules of Origin on efforts by preference-granting members to ensure that preferential rules of origin for imports from LDCs are transparent and simple, and contribute to facilitating market access. The Secretariat also reported on LDC trade statistics and LDC preference utilization in the first half of 2021, highlighting a webinar on preference utilization and the factors that drive trade preferences that took place on 19 May 2021.
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National
Trade, Industry and Competition hosts pricing regulations dialogue, 7 Jul (South African Government)
The pricing regulations and other related matters on prices will come under the spotlight during the online stakeholders’ dialogue on pricing regulations and other related matters on prices webinar that will be hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) in conjunction with its agencies, the Competition Commission, the National Consumer Commission, Consumer Goods and Services Ombud and Proudly South African. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, 7 July 2021 at 14:00.
“The anti-competitive behavior by businesses might be one of the causes driving price hikes. The Covid-19 pandemic may have also contributed to how businesses are behaving in response to the pandemic, which in turn is affecting consumers in a negative way. It is therefore important for consumers to know their rights and understand steps to take where they suspect unfair practices by businesses,” says Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Ms Nomalungelo Gina.
Government debt-to-GDP ratio rises above ceiling (New Era)
The debt-to-GDP ratio for Namibia continued to rise further above the central government debt ceiling of 35% of gross domestic product as of March 2021. Total debt as a percentage of GDP stood at 62% at the end of March 2021, representing yearly and quarterly increases of 6.3 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points, respectively. ”SACU receipts and company taxes are expected to decline by 36% and 0.6%, respectively, to N$14.7 billion and N$7.6 billion during the FY2021/22. Over the MTEF period, government revenue is expected to remain sluggish in 2022/23 mainly due to anticipated lower SACU receipts and lustreless economic activity, but it is then expected to recover to N$57.1 billion in FY2023/24,” the central bank added.
Zimbabwe’s new biggest banknote is worth just $0.60 (The East African)
Zimbabwe’s central bank on Tuesday announced the introduction of a new 50-dollar note, the country’s highest denomination, worth only around $0.60 in US currency. Insufficient to pay even for a loaf of bread, the bill’s entry into circulation has revived memories of hyperinflation seen more than a decade ago in the southern African nation. As price growth spiralled out of control, denominations at the time mounted as high as a 100-trillion-dollar note. The new note is the latest and most valuable in a series introduced from February 2019 as Zimbabwe moved back to using local currency.
Trade, tech firms account for majority of MSMEs (Business Daily)
A majority of medium, small and micro enterprises in the country are now concentrated in the trade and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors, a new report by the banking industry lobby has shown. The two sectors account for 58.9 percent of the MSME sector, which now leads in job creation, especially for the youth, ahead of agriculture, which was previously the dominant hub for enterprises. The growth of trade and ICT enterprises, however, show the shifting preferences by the youth who have migrated to urban areas seeking white-collar opportunities.
Kenya seeks $31m from Global Fund for Covid war (The East African)
Kenya has returned to the Global Fund for $31.1 million to boost its Covid-19 response amid an ambitious vaccination plan targeting the entire adult population by the end of 2022. The financing will help Kenya buy vaccines through an African Union facility and that of Covax – the global scheme for sharing jabs. The Global Fund has so far approved Ksh7.44 billion ($68.9 million) in grants to support Kenya in mitigating the effects of the pandemic under its Covid-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) programme.
NEPZA Partners Shippers’ Council to Boost Non-oil Revenue (THISDAY Newspapers)
The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, has expressed the organisation’s readiness to open multiple partnerships with the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) to significantly scale-up the federal government’s non-oil sector deliverables to Nigerians. Executive-Secretary of the council, Mr. Emmanuel Jimea dded that, as the head of the council, Jime has returned to manage another critical sub-sector of national economy whose importance is now amplified due to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). He said: “As your agency also regulates dry port operations in Nigeria, we have unique opportunities to collaborate and work together for the development of the various value chains of the economy and bridge economic infrastructural deficit facing the nation”.
Nigeria introduces new ship registration regime (The Guardian Nigeria)
The Federal Government has commenced restructuring of the Nigerian Ship Registration Office in a bid to prevent the entry of unseaworthy and sub-standard ships into the Nigerian flag. Assistant Director, Public Relations, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Edward Osagie, in a statement, said the agency has commenced issuance of new certificates of ship registration while simultaneously phasing out the old permits. He quoted the Director-General, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, as saying: “We are restructuring the Nigerian Ship Registration Office to serve you more efficiently and effectively. We are determined to grow our national fleet and tonnage to an enviable height.”
NACC reaffirms commitment to boost Nigeria, US trade export (The Guardian Nigeria)
The Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) has restated its commitment to leveraging its platform to boost the volume of export between Nigeria and the United States. Earlier, former NACC president, Otunba Oluwatoyin Akomolafe, said the year under review, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the attendant restrictions and limitations placed on physical interactions, the Chamber still managed to initiate and successfully organise a total of 11 programmes, with two physical breakfasts meetings while others were conducted virtually. “These programmes cut across various sectors inclusive of Investment Stimulation, Logistics, Financial Services, Real Estate, Oil & Gas, as well as the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA)/Export. These programmes drew a commendable level of participation with very positive feedback from participants,” he said.
US companies in Ghana to leverage AfCFTA (BusinessGhana)
To commemorate the independence anniversary of the United States of America (USA) on July 4, the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Ghana has organised a special supplement to commemorate the day on the theme: “Shared Prosperity: Progress beyond COVID-19 pandemic.” President of AMCHAM, Ms Ayesha Bedwei, said in an interview:
“U.S companies in Ghana fully support AfCFTA. It is an opportunity for them to expand their operations on a continental level. The elimination of the non-tariff barriers will make the continent more attractive for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
“It is exciting that Twitter has chosen Ghana as the hub of its African operations. This will create employment for many of our tech professionals and will position Ghana as the tech hub of the West African sub-region. The local tech industry also stands to benefit from the numerous collaboration and skills development programmes that Twitter will offer.
“Government, private sector stakeholders and regulatory bodies must invest in capacity building for local companies. The focus should be on producing goods that meet international standards and creating robust corporate governance structures to meet partnership requirements.”
7 Gambian border posts boosted by ECOWAS Commission (The Point)
The computers and the accessories were handed over to the beneficiaries during a high powered delegation nationwide visit to all the 7 border posts headed by the ECOWAS representative to The Gambia Vabah K. Gayflor. The 7 official border posts that benefited from the head of ECOWAS Commission’s goodwill gesture include: Amdalai, Kerr Ali both in the North Bank Region. Sabi Border Post in the Upper River Region. Misira in the Lower River Region and Jiboro, Darsilameh and Kartong in the West Coast Region. The donation came after border visits conducted by the ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia and the ECOWAS Ambassadors Solidarity Forum in the Gambia (EASOFIG) in 2018 and 2019 when border officials lamented their challenges, especially insufficient computers for data collection and management.
Egypt to release megaship impounded over Suez blockage (The East African)
Egypt is set to release the MV Ever Given on Wednesday, over 100 days since the megaship was refloated after blocking the Suez Canal for six days, crippling global supply lines and costing billions. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced Sunday that a final deal had been reached, without disclosing the amount of compensation to be paid. In a statement, it said a ceremony would be held on Wednesday to mark the deal, after which the ship would leave. Cairo had initially demanded $916 million in compensation before slashing that to around $550 million, but the final amount has been the subject of tough negotiations.
Remittance Recipients: Findings on the Greenback Initiative in Morocco (World Bank)
In Morocco, in-bound remittance flows increased strongly during the pandemic, reaching an estimated 6.5% of GDP or US$7.4 billion at the end of 2020. A large share of these remittances stem from France, Spain, and Italy (70% of in-bound remittances). Remittances within Morocco are also frequent, with 1 out of 5 Moroccan adults having received or sent remittances within Morocco in 2017. The Central Bank of Morocco, as part of its efforts to enhance the population’s financial inclusion, recently launched the Greenback Initiative in Morocco. The Greenback Initiative is a World Bank initiative that aims to increase efficiency in remittance markets and through this lower the cost of money transfers. It promotes change by using an innovative, client-centric approach and bringing stakeholders together.
While the non-mining sector was severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, overall growth in Guinea remains strong, reaching 7 percent in 2020, driven by booming mining production. Inflation exceeded 12 percent as a result of COVID-related supply disruptions and the ongoing monetary and fiscal response. The already weak social indicators have deteriorated further.
Africa
Fundamental lessons from regional economic communities for the African Continental Free Trade Area: A Case study of EAC (Institute of Economic Affairs)
Fundamental lessons from regional economic communities for the African Continental Free Trade Area: A Case study of EAC The establishment of AfCFTA and the creation of various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) is part of the wider effort by African governments to pursue integration through free trade, and developing customs union and common market (AU2014). Therefore, understanding how to overcome the various constraints to regional integration at the regional level can help enhance implementation and management of a free trade area at the continental level.
Regional red tape blamed for slow licensing of importers (Business Daily)
Tedious application processes have been cited as the major obstacle in approval of importers in East Africa. A new report reveals that implementation of the Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) programme under the Customs Authorities in East Africa faces a number of obstacles, slowing down approval of importers and other logistics players in the region. According to a report by the Federation of the East African Freight Forwarders Association (FEAFFA), lack of awareness among industry stakeholders and tedious application processes stand in the way of faster implementation of AEO where only 155 importers have been accredited in East Africa since 2006. Small and Medium Micro Enterprises (SMME) are cost-disadvantaged and are not able to keep the high standards and stringent measures used by customs in vetting the AEOs, the study reveals.
EAC region’s growth projected at 3.6 percent this year (The Citizen)
The East African Community (EAC) economic bloc is projected to grow at 3.6 percent this year. The fast growth will likely give the six nation bloc a leeway in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The facility, which became operational in January this year, has a consumer market of 1.3 billion people. This was announced here yesterday by the newly appointed chief executive officer of the East African Business Council (EABC) John Bosco Kalisa. “With the deep political commitment and goodwill from our regional leaders, there is hope and optimism on growth of trade and investments,” he said.
Is Kenya becoming East Africa’s ‘cry baby’? (The Standard)
When it comes to trade relations with its neighbours, Kenya appears like it is always crying foul over unfair trade practices. The country is perennially banning the importation of products from the rest of the East Africa region, which has played a part in slowing down regional integration. It has always had bitter-sweet relations with its East African Community (EAC) neighbours, particularly Uganda and Tanzania, the two countries that have over time emerged as Kenya’s largest trading partners.
The most recent ban was in March when the government prohibited the importation of maize from Tanzania and Uganda on claims that it had aflatoxin. In a statement on Parliament’s website that captures debate in the house following the March last year ban on maize imports from Uganda, Busia Municipality MP Geoffrey Macho said Kenya’s action will not only hurt trade in the region but the spirit of EAC integration “In the recent months, countries in the EAC (notably Kenya) have continued to issue trade restrictions on various food and agricultural commodities from neighbouring countries, for example, the recent import restrictions by Kenya for imports of maize from Uganda and Tanzania,” said TMEA Director for Standards and SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) Measures Dr Andrew Edewa.
SADC ministers in key infrastructure meeting (The Southern Times)
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will on July 9 hold the meeting of the Joint Committee of Ministers of Transport, ICT, Information and Meteorology to discuss sectoral issues of infrastructure development in support of regional integration and development of the region. For the transport sector, ministers will, among other things, consider and discuss the reports of the SADC Civil Aviation Committee, SADC Roads, Road Transport and Traffic Committee and SADC Railways Committee. The discussions are aimed at accelerating development of transport infrastructure in all modes and regional corridors, harmonisation of transport laws, regulations and standards and liberalisation of the sector for better performance. In addition, they will review progress in implementation of regional guidelines and measures to respond to COVID19, which has disrupted integration and economic development programmes, especially trade facilitation.
SADC makes significant progress in integrating its economies and promoting peace and security (SADC)
SADC has made significant progress in strengthening its efforts to integrate its economies and promote peace and security, SADC Chairperson and President of the Republic of Mozambique, His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, has said. The frontloading of industrialisation in the economic integration agenda through the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2063 adopted in 2015 in Harare, Zimbabwe, is yet another example of the Region’s determination to integrate its economies and to claim its rightful place within the global economy. Although endowed with some of the richest reserves of minerals in the world and other natural resources, SADC has until recently, ironically, been a net importer of processed goods because the bulk of its our resources have been exported in raw form. “It was, therefore, a momentous occasion when we took the decision in 2015 to ensure that we extract maximum benefits from our natural resources by making sure that there is value addition and beneficiation that takes place before they are exported. This would ensure that the Region has a greater portion of the socio-economic benefits that accrue from the resources,” said H.E Nyusi.
Bolstering Africa’s Precision Agriculture On Smallholder Farming (AUDA-NEPAD)
Agriculture, more especially smallholder farming, presents a substantial socio-economic contribution towards Africa’s livelihood, as well as jobs and wealth creation. Notably, 60% of Africa’s population directly or indirectly depend on smallholder farming as a means of economic activity. Fundamentally, agriculture contributes approximately 23% of Sub-Sahara’s GDP. Africa has several continental frameworks formulated and established to enable sustainable agriculture and food security across the continent. As such, African countries are encouraged to enhance rural infrastructure through relevant agricultural innovation and technological development that can assist smallholder farmers within Member States. The African Union High Level Panel on Innovation and Emerging Technologies (APET) believes that smallholder farming supported by innovation and emerging technologies can enhance Africa’s job creation and ensure adequate food security. Therefore, APET is encouraging African countries to enable the adoption of innovation and technologies essential for that smallholder farming to increase quality food production and supply and subsequently ensure food security. In this way, African countries can support agriculture-inclined technologies such as artificial intelligence, drone technologies, the internet of things, and blockchain technology to enhance precision agriculture.
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Infrastructure Programme – 2020 Annual Report (AfDB)
Launched in 2001, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is a socioeconomic development flagship programme of the African Union (AU). NEPAD is a vision and framework that facilitates and coordinates the development of continent-wide programmes and projects, mobilising resources and engaging the global community, regional economic communities, and AU Member States. NEPAD’s mission is to address the critical challenges of development and Africa’s international marginalisation by eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable growth and development, fostering Africa’s integration into the global economy, and empowering women.
Backtracking on plastic bans could see African nations become polluted wastelands (Daily Maverick)
The latest scandal involving leaked documents expressing the South African government’s intent to oppose a proposed global treaty of plastic bans is just the most recent example of how the plastic and petrochemical industry is coercing African governments to push their profit-making agenda. Across Africa, plastic pollution remains a serious problem, devastating communities’ health, their environment and the ecosystem that millions depend on for livelihood. Its effects are harmful, blocking riverways and provoking flooding among other huge environmental discomforts. The most vulnerable of societies bear the brunt of plastic pollution issues, according to the United Nations, and recent developments in the news expose who stands to benefit from it.
Renewable Energy in Africa: What’s in it for investors? (Nairametrics)
A new report by Africa Oil Week and Wood Mackenzie has highlighted that the global energy transition will drive divestment of oil and gas assets in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan countries. It went ahead to state, “Carbon emission is increasingly key when screening assets for divestment. Low-value, high-emissions assets will be prioritised for sale.” When reporting on how the market will respond to the increased divestment, the report stated that above-ground risks, oil price risks and access to finance on reasonable terms would continue to shrink the pool of buyers for these oil and gas assets. Energy projects rise and fall on finance. While access to finance for fossil fuel assets will continue to be a challenge, financing for clean energy projects in Africa is on the rise.
New Covid variant dampens efforts to revive global aviation (Business Daily)
Airlines continue to stare at a bleak future with another round of the Covid-19 variant that has seen carriers suspend flights or reduce frequencies to some of their destinations. Just last week, Kenya Airways announced it has cut its frequencies to Uganda because of high cases of Covid-19 reported there, leading to a total lockdown by the authorities. Rwanda Air too suspended flights to and from Entebbe International Airport. Uganda is one of the key routes for Kenya Airways, having the most frequencies in the region. Thus, low demand on the route is set to impact on the carrier’s earnings.
Why Africa’s push to make vaccines should look further than COVID-19 (The Conversation Africa)
It’s unlikely that vaccine manufacturing will offer Africa a quick fix for COVID-19. Countries on the continent are grappling with a diverse array of challenges. These include vaccine hesitancy, supply bottlenecks and a lack of operational funding and human resources to administer jabs. Still, the political will to boost local manufacturing of vaccines is rising across the globe, including in Africa – and has never been this high. It will take several more years before countries are fully prepared to manufacture new vaccines to the scale of contributing significantly to global output. Therefore, governments should adopt a longer-term view that prioritises the most urgent health challenges in the region. This vision must be about manufacturing vaccine generally, rather than COVID-19 vaccines specifically.
China’s vaccine makers expand local production in Africa, in face of inaction by Europe (Global Times)
Africa will continue to benefit from vaccine support by China, which is keeping its promise to aid the continent get through its difficulties, Chinese observers said on Tuesday, after two major Chinese vaccine companies localized production lines in Morocco and Egypt. More Chinese vaccine manufacturing lines are expected to be built in Africa – potentially in South Africa and Zambia – observers said. The move comes at a time when the African continent is in the grip of a third wave of COVID-19 infections and African countries are disappointed at empty promises from European nations. China has signed a deal with Morocco to start using the established facilities of a Moroccan pharmaceutical firm to make 5 million doses a month of Sinopharm vaccines, according to a notice released by Sinopharm on Tuesday. This is China’s second vaccine production line in Africa after one in Egypt.
GCF approves $170.9m for AfDB’s programme to benefit African countries (ESI-Africa.com)
The board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved $170.9 million in financing for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (LEAF) programme. This is part of an overall allocation of $501.1 million in GCF resources for new climate projects. The new climate projects approved will mobilise a total of $2,949 million for climate action in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with three of the four new projects targeting support to the most vulnerable countries including least developed countries, small islands, developing states and African states.
ECA to lay emphasis on joint delivery for greater impact (UNECA)
ECA staff kicked off the second quarter Accountability and Programme Performance Review meeting with a minute of silence, led by Executive Secretary Vera Songwe in honour of the late Sizo Mhlanga who passed away on Saturday, 3rd July 2021. Until his separation in May, Mr Mhlanga served as the acting Director of the ECA Southern Africa Office. Ms. Songwe recognized his commitment and dedication to the ECA and expressed condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. She also paid tribute to other UN staff who have passed on due to the pandemic.
Global
WTO members continue review of LDC services waiver, e-commerce work programme (WTO)
The 1 July meeting of the Council on Trade in Services addressed the WTO work programme on e-commerce and the operationalization of a waiver from WTO rules that allows members to offer more favourable market access for service providers from least developed countries (LDCs). Members also reviewed services-related notifications submitted by a number of WTO members and addressed several services-related trade concerns. They also discussed issues related to services domestic regulation and implementation of services commitments at separate meetings of the Council’s subsidiary bodies.
Building technological capacities can help countries escape commodity dependence, UN says (UNCTAD)
Developing countries whose economies depend on commodities must enhance their technological capacities to escape the trap that leaves most of their populations poor and vulnerable, says UNCTAD’s Commodities and Development Report 2021, published on 7 July. About two thirds of developing countries were commodity dependent in 2019, meaning at least 60% of their merchandise export revenues came from primary goods, such as cacao, coffee, cotton, copper, lithium and oil. The report, “Escaping from the commodity dependence trap through technology and innovation”, highlights the correlation between low technology capacities and high commodity dependence. It warns that most of the 85 commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs) will remain trapped for the foreseeable future unless they go through “a process of technology-enabled structural transformation”.
Sustainable development report shows devastating impact of COVID, ahead of ‘critical’ new phase (UN News)
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021, launched on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York, shows the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on the 2030 Agenda, as the landmark annual High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) officially got underway. “The pandemic has halted, or reversed, years, or even decades of development progress. Global extreme poverty rose for the first time since 1998”, said UN Under-Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin, during the launch. “This report paints a worrying picture regarding the state of the SDGs. Yet, it also highlights stories of resilience, adaptability and innovation during the crisis, which indicate a brighter future is possible”, underscored Mr. Liu.
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Iconic South African Mines Are Ravaged Economy’s Unlikely Savior (Bloomberg)
The world’s deepest precious-metals mines, together with giant iron-ore and coal pits are providing an unexpected boon to a South African economy slowly recovering from its biggest contraction in a century. Surging demand and prices for commodities including platinum-group metals, iron ore, manganese and coal are generating record mining-company profits and bolstering government revenue. That’s even as decades of dwindling output and investor reluctance to build new mines blights prospects for the industry. “The recovery in commodities demand and their prices is providing very strong support to the economy.” President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday flagged the “significant role” the sector will play in accelerating South Africa’s recovery from last year’s coronavirus-induced slump.
South Africa’s terms of trade increased 12% over the past year and more than 20% since the end of 2018, as the global economic recovery from the pandemic pushed up demand for commodities, according to HSBC Bank Plc economist David Faulkner. The trade windfall is “one of the strongest gains on record, with past experience highlighting how South Africa’s macro fortunes can tilt on favorable commodity prices and a benign external backdrop,” Faulkner said in a note. “The result has been a period of respite, relief and rally.”
Indian exporters to explore opportunities for increased trade with South Africa (BusinessLine)
Opportunities to increase and diversify Indian exports to South Africa, an export market which has grown four times in the last one and a half decades, will be discussed in detail by senior officials from the Indian Consulate in Johannesburg this week in an online interaction with Indian businesses wanting to explore fresh possibilities in the post-Covid scenario. “Exports from India to South Africa, especially automobiles and pharmaceuticals, got a big push during the Pandemic. Similar opportunities exist for other items too. The Consul General of India to Johannesburg will interact with Indian companies this week on such opportunities at a virtual meet organised by exporters’ body FIEO,” a source told BusinessLine. This is part of the Ministry of External Affairs’ initiative started last year to facilitate and promote Indian exports through its Missions and Posts in various countries.
Indian exports to South Africa, which was at $984 million in 2004-05, touched $4 billion in 2019-20, although it dipped marginally to $3.93 billion in 2020-21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of the fiscal. Imports, on the other hand, increased 8.6 per cent to $7.5 billion during the fiscal. Despite the slight decline in Indian exports to South Africa in 2020-21, items such as motor vehicles posted a sharp 10.97 per cent growth to $557 million. Pharmaceuticals is another area where there are opportunities for accelerated growth in the post-Covid period. India’s exports of pharmaceutical products to South Africa grew 33 per cent to $745 million in 2020-21 and with a focus on demand is likely to rise further, the official added. Apart from pharmaceuticals and vehicles & components, exports from India to South Africa include transport equipment, engineering goods, footwear, dyes and intermediates, chemicals, textiles, rice and gems and jewellery.
IFC, Proparco, DEG and DFC Support South African COVID-19 Vaccine Maker, Aspen (IFC)
To support the development of vaccines for African countries, IFC, the French Development institution Proparco, DEG – the German development finance institution, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced a joint financing package for Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited, a leading pharmaceutical company in South Africa that is playing a major role producing COVID-19 treatment therapies and vaccines on the African continent. The €600 million long-term financing package will include €200 million from IFC’s own account, €156 million from Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD Group), €144 million to be arranged by DEG, and €100 million from DFC. It’s the largest healthcare investment and mobilization IFC has led globally to date. The announcement about the financing package for Aspen also comes as governments across Africa have called on the international community to bolster the continent’s vaccine supply chain to respond to COVID-19 and promote longer-term health sector resilience.
“COVID-19 has again highlighted Africa’s reliance on global vaccine supply chains, leaving the continent vulnerable to disruptions and delays,” said Makhtar Diop, IFC’s Managing Director. “By partnering with Aspen, a leading vaccine manufacturer in Africa, and collaborating with partners in the development finance community, the World Bank Group can contribute to the continent’s continued vaccine manufacturing development and support knowledge sharing and technology exchanges. Together, we hope this will save lives now and help ensure that Africa is prepared ahead of any future health crises.”
Current account records widest deficit since 2016 (Namibia Economist)
The current account deteriorated to a deficit of N$268 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared with a surplus of N$10.6 million during the same period last year, according the Bank of Namibia’s latest Quarterly Bulletin. This is the widest current account deficit since the fourth quarter of 2016, mainly due to a larger goods trade deficit as well as increased net outflows of non goods transactions. The good trade deficit widened to N$553 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared with a deficit of N$357 million during the same period last year. Export earnings were knocked by lower manufacturing (-17%), diamond (-34%) and ‘other commodity’ (-34%) export receipts. On the other side of the goods trade ledger, the import bill increased mainly due to higher imports of consumer goods (+7%), chemical products (+21) and ‘other imports’ (+20).
Power imports increase as Ruacana production plummets (New Era)
Namibia recorded an annual decline in May 2021 in the Electricity Sources Composite Index (ESCI), attributed to a reduction in own generation of electricity, resulting in electricity imports recording a massive increase. According to Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) electricity sectoral report for May 2021 the ESCI, composed of domestic generation (production) and imported electricity recorded a yearly reduction of 15.8%. The ESCI did, however, recorded a marginal increase of 0.2% in May 2021 on a monthly basis, whereas in April 2021, it registered an increase of 8.5%. Meanwhile, own generation of electricity fell by 0.3% monthly and 59.5% yearly. The reduction over the year is due to the reduced generation from the Ruacana Power Station plummeted by 68.9%. The report added that annually, electricity imports grew by 42.3%. The annual increase in imports came from Eskom and Zambia that increased Namibia’s electricity imports.
First mine joins Walvis Bay Corridor Group (The Namibian)
Tsodilo Resources Limited, which has diamond and iron mining projects in north-western Botswana, this week became the first mine from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to join Namibia’s corridor manager, the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG). WBCG is a public-private partnership established in 2000 to promote the utilisation of the Walvis Bay corridors to the port of Walvis Bay and Lüderitz in Namibia. “Facilitating trade and business connections is a crucial activity to ensure we see the growth of cargo volumes on our corridors,” WBCG chief executive officer (CEO) Mbahupu Tjivikua says. The WBCG is making sure these new prospective members know about its corridor systems and cutting-edge port and container-handling facilities. “This corridor is perfectly positioned to service the two-way trade between the SADC region and Europe, North and South America, and emerging markets in the East,” Tsodilo Resources CEO James Bruchs says.
VP promises new revenue mode to push more exports (IPPMedia)
VICE President Dr Phillip Mpango said yesterday that the government plans to review its income and expenditure systems to come up with a new one which will stimulate exports of locally manufactured products. “The new revenue system should stimulate trade and business as well as boosting sales in the international market. The respective agencies should work collaboratively to ensure that traders benefit from fair market opportunities,” he stated. “If we want to access and grab national and international opportunities, we should first adhere to standards and certification, apply discipline and make sure that we invest in quality packaging and branding of our products,” he pointed out.
Tourism: Light at the end of the tunnel after tough year (The Citizen)
The lifting of travel restrictions across the world is giving a bullish outlook for Tanzania’s tourism industry which has seen its earnings from tourism at an 11-year low, official data shows. Tanzania’s tourism earnings took a hit in the past two years as the world imposed travel restrictions to avoid spread of the viral Covid-19 pandemic. Bank of Tanzania (BoT) reports show that tourism earnings dropped to the 11-year low of $795.8 million in the year to May 31, 2021, down from $2.095 billion in the year to May 31, 2020. The last when tourism earnings registered at below $800 million was in the year to May 31, 2010 when they reached $790 million. This, BoT says, is attributed to a 56 percent year-on-year drop in the number of international tourists who visited the country in the year to May 31, 2021.
Mthuli Says Zim’s Economy Doing ‘Very Well’ As Half The Population Wallow In Poverty (New Zimbabwe)
Zimbabwe’s economy is on a strong rebound and could emerge stronger than other countries in the SADC region and the rest of the African continent, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has claimed. In an interview with the cable news network, CNN, Treasury said: “We have a strong economic recovery where Zimbabwe will grow faster than its peers in the region and its peers in Africa. We have set aside a decent amount of resources to acquire vaccines and in fact in the next three weeks, we are going on a blitz to basically vaccinate to the tune of two and a half million people.” Ncube’s averments are, however, in sharp contrast to a study by Afrobarometer, which found out that most Zimbabweans are unhappy with the direction the country is taking, and they were suffering without cash, water, and other basics.
Kwara begins digital census of farmers, agric value chain (Sundiata Post)
Kwara State Government on Monday identified farmers’ census through digitisation of agricultural value chain as a key parameter to ensure the success of the Kwara State Agricultural Transformation Plan launched earlier in the year for effective planning and support to the sector in the state. “Digitisation of agricultural value chain is the bedrock of the success of the Agricultural Transformation Plan. In that plan, we have six major players in 27 implementable programmes which we believe will transform the face of agriculture in the state if well executed,” Technical Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture AbdulQuawiy Olododo said at the opening of stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on digitisation of agricultural value chain.
Brainstorming session to devise a more effective Africa Strategy (Government of Mauritius)
At the opening of the second brainstorming session on the Africa Strategy of Mauritius this morning in Port Louis, the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo, underlined that the process of devising an effective Africa Strategy is complex and multidimensional, thus the imperative to have as many insights as possible before deciding the way forward as well as to have a coordinated approach to prevent duplication of action and enable the optimal use of resources. The Minister is of the view that the Africa Strategy could capture the opportunities arising from the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Mauritius-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement, and the Mauritius-China Free Trade Agreement. He added that the tasks were to determine and seek the opportunities in trade and investment; make an honest appraisal of the endeavours and established platforms such as the joint commissions and the special economic zones to see if they have yielded the awaited results; and focus on certain priority countries and reinforce bilateral relationships with them.
Egypt accepts an agreement to release the Ever Given (Quartz)
The Ever Given spent six days stuck in the Suez Canal. Then it spent more than three months stuck in the Suez Canal’s bureaucracy. Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) had refused to release the container ship and its cargo and crew without being paid salvage fees and damages worth nearly $1 billion. On July 5, after rounds of legal proceedings and negotiations, the Ever Given’s owners and insurers reached a compensation agreement with the SCA, which will set the 220,000-ton megaship free once more. The SCA claimed to lose up to $15 million for each day of the Ever Given’s obstruction of the Suez. It had initially demanded $272 million in expenses, a bonus of $300 million for helping dislodge the ship, and another $344 million in damages. Subsequently, the SCA reduced its claim to around $550 million.
Ghana’s auto market projected to hit US$11bn in 2026 (Business24 Ghana)
Ghana’s automobile market has been projected to reach a value of US$11bn by 2026, strongly underpinned by the emergence of global vehicle manufacturing giants setting up plants in the country. The projection, by a Stanbic Bank research report, implies a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent over the next six years, after the market was valued at US$4bn in 2020. Following the government’s implementation of an automotive development policy to attract investment into the sector, carmakers such as Volkswagen, Toyota and Suzuki have all set up local assembly plants, with plans to export locally-assembled vehicles to the West Africa market. According to the report, with these major vehicle manufacturers expressing interest and making significant investments in opening and operating vehicle assembly plants in the country, Ghana has the potential to become a regional vehicle supplier.
iEPA: Government rejects suggestions of probable collapse of local industries (MyJoyOnline)
Government has strongly rejected suggestions of probable collapse of local industries as a result of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement. The pact formally kicked off from July 1, 2021 and will now allow EU countries to export to Ghana on duty free and quota free basis. There are however concerns that Ghana may end up being the dumping ground for goods from the EU, a development that will not be good for local industries. But Deputy Minister of Trade Herbet Krapa tell Joy Business Ghana stands to even benefit more from the deal than the EU. “Apart from it being the Economic Partnership Agreement in terms of trade, it offers Ghana the opportunity to take advantage of development assistance which is being provided by the EU. The projection in terms of revenue is being estimated at 1.0% in terms of revenue losses over the period… But if you juxtapose that with the benefit that we are going to acquire from this agreement – in terms of how much we are enjoying exporting into the UK – the statistics show that between 2016 and now, the export into the EU has increased significantly because of the tariff reduction,” he added. The Deputy Trade Minister said the country’s strategy going forward is to attract more foreign direct investments.
Addressing youth unemployment in Ghana by supporting the agro-processing and tourism sectors (Brookings)
As elsewhere in Africa, the issue of jobless growth in Ghana has become a major concern, particularly due to rising unemployment among the youth. Services have emerged as the driver of growth in Ghana, contrary to the experiences in East Asia and other newly industrialized countries where manufacturing exports led growth and added capacity to absorb low- to medium-skilled workers. In fact, in Ghana, manufacturing has performed abysmally, with an average growth rate of 3.2 percent between 2008 to 2017. Despite the generally strong performance of the Ghanaian economy over the last two decades, (albeit with a slowdown in recent times), there is a disconnect between GDP growth and employment – a trend that has persisted for many years, as the country has averaged an employment-to-growth elasticity of 0.5 over the last two decades. However, recent evidence points to the role of emerging high-productivity sectors, such as agro-processing, tourism, and horticulture, among others, that share characteristics with manufacturing (particularly in the employment of low- to medium-skilled workforce), in solving the youth unemployment challenge through the generation of decent jobs in Ghana.
CBN: Our Interventions will Boost Nigeria’s Participation in AfCFTA (THISDAY)
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that its interventions in the real sector of the Nigerian economy were targeted at boosting Nigeria’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area’s (AfCFTA) agreement. Deputy Governor of the CBN for Economic Policy, Dr. Kingsley Obiora said: “The CBN has been implementing various development finance programmes aimed at stimulating the real sector activities and diversifying the economy particularly in the agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and other non-oil sectors… We believe that the financial sector has the potential to accrue substantial benefits from the AfCFTA in view of the intermediary role of finance in facilitating growth and engendering sustainable growth. “The critical advantage of the AfCFTA to the Nigerian financial sector would be the removal of barriers for the expansion of financial institutions and services. This advancement will foster the provision of financial service in the continental market at a reduced cost.”
CBN to increase development finance interventions to support start-ups and SMEs (Nairametrics)
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that it will increase its development finance interventions to further support start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country. This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele. He said that increased access to finance for start-ups and SMEs was highly essential for the nation’s economy to grow. “The potential of SMEs in enhancing economic growth is hampered by limited access to finance, inadequate infrastructure and poor digital penetration. I urge the government and the private sector to provide more support in addressing the challenges of SMEs in the country. Specifically, as users of new technology, I advise that policies that would incentivise the adoption of innovations that will improve SMEs competitiveness and productivity should be made,” the CBN governor said.
State Budget For 2022: Orientation Debate In Parliament Tomorrow (Cameroon Tribune)
The 2022-2024 Medium-Term Economic and Budgetary Programme Paper was tabled during a plenary sitting of the National Assembly on July 4, 2021. The 2022 State budget is being prepared within the international economic context marked by a fragile recovery in the global economy, in conjunction with the optimism over the progress of vaccination campaigns against coronavirus. In the CEMAC zone, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) expects a growth rate of 2.8 per cent in 2021 after -2.1 per cent recorded in 2020 under the effect of a decline in activity in both the oil sector (-4.2 per cent) than non-oil (-1.6 per cent). Concerning Cameroon, government in the paper indicates that in 2021, growth is expected to revive by 3.4 per cent as global demand for exports pick up, due to
Ministry of Trade closely monitoring case of Tunisian salt deemed “non-compliant” by Libya (TAP)
The Ministry of Trade and Export Development said Friday it is closely monitoring in coordination with the Ministry of Health data published on the non-compliance of Tunisian salt with health standards. The Ministry, which was reacting to the call by the Libyan Food and Drug Control Centre to stop all imports of Tunisian salt to Libya, over non-compliance with health standards, said in a statement received by TAP the table salt manufactured in Tunisia for both the local market or export is subject to regulations setting its specificities and quality of its packaging.
Power, politics and inclusion in food systems: The case of Sudan (ECDPM)
Economic recovery, youth employment and climate resilience are high on Sudan’s political agenda. Food systems are central to all these different developmental outcomes, but they are not the first thing on the prime minister’s mind. Political survival, attracting foreign investment, aid and increasing fiscal space claim most of his agenda and attention. The Sudanese government hopes that support by international partners will take off, now that it is implementing major economic reforms and the international community has slowly lifted sanctions. Sudan’s significant debt burden weighs heavily on its economic recovery. There are calls for debt reform to be linked to a green and inclusive recovery. This means that governments that will receive debt relief need to align their policies and budget reforms with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
Africa
Durban Announced as the New Host of Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) – Dates rescheduled to 15-21 November 2021 (Afreximbank)
The second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) has been rescheduled to take place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa from 15 to 21 November 2021. The Trade Fair was previously due to be held in Kigali, Rwanda from 8 to 14 December 2021. The decision to move the Trade Fair to Durban was made by the Advisory Council of IATF2021 at its 10th meeting held virtually on 25 May 2021. This decision was arrived at after formal consultations with the Government of Rwanda, who indicated that logistical constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected the progress of construction of a new facility to host the event.
AfCFTA becomes reality with new trading standard (ANGOP)
The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, said Monday in Luanda that the creation of the organisation he represents is a reality and soon Africa will have a new trade standard. Mene was speaking to the press at the end of an audience with the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, with whom he discussed issues related to the challenges and development of AfCFTA, whose main objective is to achieve continental economic integration. He said that during the meeting, the Angolan Head of State also stressed the importance of reducing trade barriers in Africa, having highlighted the need for increased trade between African countries in the various types of local products that can help strengthen their economies.
Adoption of e-commerce by businesses critical for AfCFTA progress – Ababio Dankwa (GhanaWeb)
Ghanaian businesses have been inspired to go into electronic commerce to take advantage of the numerous opportunities brought by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to be ahead of their competitors. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Seedway Services Limited, Romaric Ababio Dankwa said: “The future of Africa depends on technology supremacy and our ability to understand it, so you cannot ignore technology and do well; so the sooner you evolve, the better it is. Every innovation is a risk and Ghanaian businesses need to take the risk, accept the change; and if they refuse to change, over time they become obsolete. “There are a lot of opportunities hidden within e-commerce, and if we look even further with the AfCFTA, it offers a lot of opportunities for Ghanaian businesses to take advantage of this huge market that is now being created for them.”
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): webinars and documents (European Commission)
DG Trade, with the help of consultants, organised four webinars under an EU project on trade and investment relations with Africa that aims to develop a strategic reflection on EU-Africa trade and investment policy and to strengthen cooperation and dialogue between the European Commission, technical experts and trade practitioners in Africa and in the EU. The webinars addressed the following topics:
Driving Africa’s energy future with the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (Africanews)
One of the industries that can benefit from AfCFTA is the energy sector, both the traditional oil and gas operators as well as the growing number of renewable enterprises. Like the rest of the world Africa is embarking on an energy transition but with oil and gas and mineral resources accounting for more than 75 per cent of the continent’s exports and with the potential for growth in oil and gas high, it will still have a role to play in the short and mid-term. Estimations vary but recent figures put Africa’s proven gas reserves at 487.7 tcf with proven oil reserves in the region of 125 billion bbl. However, trade barriers such as high import tariffs have left many African countries vulnerable to the international market, which resells its resources at higher prices.
For African countries, the green energy transition presents both opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, the huge energy deficits in production and access, combined with abundant renewable energy resources, can underpin a relatively rapid and encompassing shift to green energy. On the other hand, challenges related to access to finance, investment risk and the absence of needed technical and human capacities may impede this transition.
Stakeholders seek options for African oil, gas projects amid energy transition (The Guardian Nigeria)
Finance and energy experts have said there are options that might enable Africa to finance oil and gas projects despite campaign against fossil fuels. The experts also emphasized the need to focus on cleaner, harmonised fuel specifications as well as environment, social and governance (ESG) considerations to reduce the looming public health and environmental impacts on Africa’s citizens while boosting cross-border trade of petroleum products under the implementation of the African Continental Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The African Refiner and Distributor Association (ARDA), which brought the stakeholders together at a virtual sustainable financing workshop, noted that moving Africa away from cooking with firewood and charcoal to modern fuels would cost the continent about $7.5 billion. From now till 2030, the group noted that the $7.5 billion investment, inclusive of debt, equity and grants, would be required to build clean cooking stoves and downstream infrastructure that would support the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has adopted numerous programmes to advance regional integration and generate wealth and prosperity for the people of Southern Africa since its inception in 1992, SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, has said. Industrialisation, Trade and Market Integration, Infrastructure Development, Food Security, Social and Human Development, Peace and Security have driven the SADC Programme of Action. Following the signing of the SADC Declaration and Treaty in 1992, the Region has shown commitment to deeper integration through strategic plans such as the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2010- 2020; Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation 2010-2020; SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2063; SADC Regional Agricultural Policy 2015; and SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan 2012.
“The Treaty establishing SADC, and these Protocols, Policies and Strategies have laid a strong legal and institutional foundation for promoting regional cooperation. SADC’s Common Agenda is driven by well-established institutions that are provided for in the SADC Treaty, comprising of the Summit, the Organ on Politics Defence and Security Cooperation, Council of Ministers, Sectoral and Cluster Ministerial Committees, Standing Committee of Officials, and the SADC Secretariat,” said H.E Dr Tax.
Southern African Leaders Discuss Regional Economic Integration (Big News Network)
Regional integration, security, macroeconomic stability and others formed the major issues discussed when Southern African leaders gathered late June in Maputo, Mozambique. They were in the country for the extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government organized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The first SADC Business Forum featured prominently as part of the comprehensive agenda, and other significant issues discussed included regional integration, cooperation and development. The topic that got special attention was regional security and its possible impact on business and investment climate, with a particular focus on Mozambique and from broader perspectives, as a whole in southern Africa. While multiple barriers including high tariffs, customs rules and pitfalls on border-crossing with stocks still remain and hamper regional economic integration, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, during the Public-Private Dialogue and Business Forum, urged speeding up the ratification of protocols essential to economic integration.
The establishment of a customs union that evolves into a single market and monetary union is still a huge challenge. It delays the process of ratifying protocols on regional trade. The imbalances that characterize each of the states, such as great differences in macroeconomic stability, uneven levels of industrialization, lack of complementarity in the structure and production base and inefficiencies in the value chain. The SADC Business Forum also debated the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and post-pandemic recovery strategies, infrastructure and regional corridor development.
EAC Northern Corridor Cargo Traffic Drops By 4% (Taarifa Rwanda)
The volume of cargo transiting along the Northern Corridor in the East African community bloc has reportedly dropped owing to effects of Covid-19 Pandemic. According to the northern corridor transit and transport coordination authority 16th edition report for June 2021, logistics firms involved in the movement, storage, and flow of goods, have been directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistics companies connect firms to markets by providing various services, including multimodal transportation, freight forwarding, warehousing, and inventory management. This means that supply chain disruptions to the sector caused by the pandemic could impact transport and trade costs.
EAC set to enhance participation of Private Sector as key player in integration agenda (EAC)
EAC Partner States have begun the 2021/2022 Financial year with a focus on economic recovery through industrialization and inclusive growth, taking into account the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region. Kenya’s Principal Secretary for EAC, Dr. Kevit Desai, said that the region was putting in place strategies to ensure economic recovery in all Partner States from the destructive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “As a region, we have witnessed the devastation created within the economies of the Partner States, including the fall in intra-regional trade, job losses, limited mobility within the region and loss of lives,” said the PS. On the priorities set forth to spur the region’s economic recovery from COVID-19, the PS disclosed that efforts will be put in place to increase the region’s manufacturing capacity from an average of 6%, as well as promotion of greater intra-regional trade. “The private sector can be involved in co-creation of wealth and in the achieving the goals set in the 6th EAC Development Strategy. We are therefore looking into ways and means in which the private sector is able to play its profound role as far as the development of the economy is concerned,” said Dr. Desai.
Inside EAC’s US$91.7milion budget (Independent)
The East African Community has tabled before the East African Legislative Assembly a US$91.7 milion proposed budget for the Financial Year 2021/22 compared with US$97.6 million in the Financial Year 2020/21, with a huge chunk planned to be spent at the secretariat, legislative assembly and courts. Themed ‘Economic Recovery through Industrialization and Inclusive Growth,’ the budget will focus on 10 priority areas, namely; Private Sector Development; Peace and Security; Health/COVID-19 Response; Trade Development; and Infrastructure Development. Others are; EAC Digitalization Agenda; Agriculture, Nutrition, Biodiversity, Environment and Circular Economy; Expansion of membership to EAC and strengthening relationships with the African Union and other regional organisations (RECS); Institutional transformation including Skills Development, and; Promotion of awareness creation and dissemination of information on the Community. The EAC secretariat is expected to take the lion’s share of the budget with US$43.8 million; East African Legislative Assembly – US$15.4 million; East African Court of Justice – US$3.7 million and Lake Victoria Basin Commission – US$8.1 million.
African women propose 10-year gender plan (The Southern Times)
The proposed Kinshasa Declaration, launched July 2 at the Generation Equality Forum, outlines concrete actions for African Union member countries to advance gender equality in Africa by 2030. The Kinshasa Declaration calls for doubling the number of women’s organizations that can access funds from national economic stimulus programs and external funding. A delegation of African women led by Ms Gisèle Ndaya – Minister of Gender, Family and Children of the DRC – and Ms Julienne Lusenge, gender expert on the Panel of Experts in charge of accompanying President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo during his presidency of the African Union for 2021/2022, shared the proposed Kinshasa Declaration on the side lines of the Generation Equality Forum held in Paris from June 30 to July 2. Ms Lusenge added: “This proposed declaration makes a crucial contribution to the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment by proposing concrete actions and tools for measuring success towards gender equality in Africa by 2030.
UNDP Gives Women In Trade Voice (Mmegi Online)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Botswana has engaged with female entrepreneurs, intending to provide a platform to voice their needs and interests with regards to trade in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The national consultations play a critical role in making the development of the Women in Trade Protocol participatory, inclusive and responsive to the needs and priorities of women. Through dialogue with women and key stakeholders, consultations aim to identify existing and potential challenges and opportunities that women face as they engage in intra trade. The ideas and challenges raised will then be compiled into a report, which will be presented at the validation workshop that will follow in the coming weeks and finally be sent to the secretariat in Accra, Ghana. The secretariat will then compile all these ideas across the continent, which will then go towards developing the Women in Trade African Protocol.
Maximizing Tourism’s Contribution to Africa’s COVID-19 Recovery (UNDP)
Turning the disruption in tourism into new opportunities for improved competitiveness is essential for Africa’s recovery from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the key overarching message conveyed by Japan, the United Nations, the African Union and representatives of African states at today’s “Boosting Africa’s Transformative Power of Tourism” United Nations online high-level meeting. “Tourism is a pillar of prosperity, poverty reduction, sustainable development and stability in Africa,” explained H.E. Tarek Ladeb, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations and host of TICAD 8. “It contributes to Africa’s recovery and economic integration, boosts its transformative and inclusive growth… As the world reopens, now is the time to deploy innovation and green-led tourism models and policies that unlock competitiveness, identify niche sectors and maximize potential, including for the “One Africa market” in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” emphasized Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa.
Global
What new strategic imperatives in the oil and gas sector mean for the energy transition (WEF)
Businesses, industries and countries increasingly find themselves in recovery mode after the multifaceted disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the health crisis is not over, and uncertainty looms large over the recovery prospects. Against this backdrop, various forces are reshaping the future of many industries – and the oil and gas sector is no exception. There are growing demands to increase productivity, to build a more resilient industry ecosystem, and to continue contributing to socioeconomic development and wellbeing, while at the same time there is increasing pressure to deliver on long-term commitments to fulfil stakeholder expectations through low-carbon economy transition pathways. Some of these trends gained significant momentum in the past year, particularly in relation to the energy transition.
Turning crisis into opportunity: World leaders meet at UN to help drive pandemic recovery (UN News)
The hybrid (online and in-person) conference, which takes place between 6 and 15 July, will focus on the lessons, successes, shortcomings and plans to emerge from the unprecedented health crisis, and advocate for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the best way to build more inclusive, resilient and healthier societies. “Countries will share and reflect the actions they have been taking to overcome the pandemic, to address its impacts and to build back better”, said Munir Akram, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which convenes the Forum. “A core issue would be whether and how they are using the SDGs as the blueprint for their response to COVID-19.”
The future of investment treaties – possible directions (OECD)
As our societies face new challenges and make new demands from policies addressing international investment, there is a new urgency to profoundly reconsider treaties addressing investment. This paper was prepared originally as background for initial inter-governmental and public discussions at the OECD about future investment treaties as well as possible alternatives. The paper surveys potential roles for treaties addressing investment in (i) contributing to sustainable development and responsible business conduct; (ii) preserving and improving investment market access and liberalisation of investment, and facilitating FDI; (iii) regulating subsidised state-owned enterprises, competition in subsidies for investment, and digitalisation; and (iv) addressing the interests of treaty-covered and other investors in reasonable legal predictability and a level playing field, together with the need for policy space and public support for treaty policy. It considers potential use of more flexible and varied remedies and implementation mechanisms.
Multilateral Development Bank Climate Finance for Developing Countries Rose to US$ 38 Billion, Joint Report Shows (World Bank)
The 2020 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance, published on June 30, showed that climate finance to low- and middle-income economies committed by major multilateral development banks (MDBs) rose to US$ 38 billion. In addition to this, $28 billion was committed to high income countries by MDBs focused on developed countries. The total climate co-finance committed during 2020 alongside MDB resources was US$ 85 billion. Together, MDB climate finance and climate co-finance totalled more than US$ 151 billion. The amount of private direct mobilization stood at US$ 5.9 billion. “The MDBs will continue to improve their tracking and reporting of climate finance in the context of their commitments to ensure consistent financial flows to the countries’ long-term, low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways, as established in … the Paris Agreement,” says the 2020 report, which is the 10th in the series.
Vulnerable consumers of public utilities need more protection (UNCTAD)
Vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers are struggling to pay for basic utilities in the wake of job losses and reduced incomes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Such consumers include poorer people, the sick, the elderly, people with disabilities, rural dwellers, and those with limited access to essential services such as energy and the internet. UNCTAD’s intergovernmental meeting on consumer protection held on 5 and 6 July brought together experts and governments to examine how to better protect these consumers, who are in a more precarious situation due to the economic and health crisis triggered by COVID-19. “The dire economic consequences of the pandemic compel us to address consumer protection needs, especially where people are more exposed and more at risk,” said UNCTAD Acting Secretary General Isabelle Durant during the meeting. “Governments have a major responsibility to help vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers,” said Helena Leurent, director general of Consumers International. “But civil society and business must also do their share in building an inclusive and coherent environment that integrates support for these consumers across multiple sectors.”
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National
Rebuilding The South African Industrial Base – Progress with Sugar and Poultry Masterplans (the dtic)
Solid progress is being made with implementation of partnership agreements in the poultry and sugar industries. This was noted by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel and Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza during the Executive Oversight Committee (EOC) meetings held with industry captains, union leaders and government officials on Thursday. The poultry industry reported an increase in production of chickens locally with about 290 000 additional chickens produced every week compared to a year ago. The sugar industry reported a largely flat local demand market in the first two months of the 2021/22 growing season, with a notable increase in soft-drink manufacturer uptake of local sugar and a decrease in demand for local sugar by wholesalers and retailers. A small recovery in export sales is expected.
Mining returns must promote more employment-friendly activities (SAnews)
President Cyril Ramaphosa says there is a need to ensure that the returns from mining are used to promote more employment-friendly activities and that they empower mineworkers and mining communities. “We have to direct investments in infrastructure and a more efficient regulatory framework to both take advantage of new opportunities in mining and to support overall growth once the upward cycle in commodity prices ends,” President Ramaphosa said on Monday. In his weekly newsletter, President Ramaphosa said mining is vital to the country’s economy and has always had a dual role both in the economy and society. “On the one hand, mining contributes over half of our goods exports, around 10% of GDP and 5% of employment. It is a pillar of our capital goods industry. It is not a coincidence that when global metals prices peak, our economy and job creation also surge. “On the other hand, mining has historically been central to South Africa’s deep inequalities. Ownership is concentrated in a few huge companies, while workplaces, pay-scales and communities around the mines are still largely shaped by discriminatory relationships established under apartheid,” President Ramaphosa said.
Govt still poorly consulting with private sector on impacts of Covid-19 lockdowns, says BLSA (Engineering News)
Despite the improvements in government’s approach to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockd own regulations, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso says government has still not embraced consultation with the private sector. She points out this has been a case in point with government’s decision to ban alcohol sales and sit-down dining, yet again, without talking to the alcohol or restaurant industries beforehand.
ZimTrade heads to SA after Rwanda move (The Standard)
Zimbabwe’s export trade promotion body ZimTrade says it will next month explore opportunities for Zimbabwean products in South Africa. The excursion into Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner will be key in helping the country rebuild its export base after suffering a US$300 million trade deficit during the first quarter of 2021, as imports continued to dominate the value of goods exported by the country. In its first quarter economic bulletin released recently, the Finance ministry said Zimbabwe imported goods worth US$1,4 billion during the period, and exported goods worth US$1,1 billion. Trade deficit has haunted Zimbabwe for many years as its industries struggle to produce and export higher volumes compared to an avalanche of goods flowing in from other countries.
The South African mission is the second to be announced by ZimTrade within a month, after the agency earlier said it would be leading another delegation to Rwanda to explore export opportunities. Official data indicates that Zimbabwe gets about 40% of its import requirements from South Africa, while about 75% of its total exports are absorbed by that country. The trade between the two is, however, heavily skewed in favour of South Africa.
Feature: Zambian traders benefiting from medicinal spices during COVID-19 pandemic (China.org)
Reports suggest that the use of medicinal plants has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Interactions with Lusaka-based traders revealed that spices with medicinal elements sales have more than doubled during the COVID-19 period and sellers are continuously running out of stock. Traders dealing in herbs and spices are realizing substantial returns from their merchandise in general and from ginger and cinnamon in particular, which are common ingredients for homemade remedies in urban communities of Zambia.
Boost for Digital Transformation in Africa as Huawei Pens Deal with African Telecommunications Union (The Citizen)
The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with tech giant Huawei that will see African countries and organizations build capacity for ICT transformation. Under the agreement, Huawei will provide training on skills development, including reskilling and upskilling for ATU members. The MoU will also see the two organizations collaborate to support local innovation, share information on latest trends, challenges and solutions in Africa and globally, and expand the digital economy as well as rural connectivity, in the continent, through furthering research.
Tanzania to manufacture Covid-19 vaccine (The Citizen)
Tanzania is pondering local manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines in an attempt to reduce importation costs. Health Permanent Secretary Prof Abel Makubi said in Dodoma on Sunday that the factory would manufacture vaccines for Covid-19 and other diseases. “We have a lot of experts. We will make it. We will not only produce Covid-19 vaccines but also those [vaccines] for other diseases so that even when the pandemic ends, Tanzania will still have the capacity of producing such medicines locally,” said Prof Makubi.
AfCFTA: FG assures on elimination of 90 percent Tariffs on tradable goods (Vanguard)
The Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Niyi Adebayo, has said the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA would eliminate tariffs on 90 percent of tradable goods over five years for developing countries and 10 years for least developed countries. Presenting a progress report of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Secretary of the Committee and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Sector Matters, Mr Francis Anatogu, said the Committee had developed a National Implementation Plan for inputs from government and private sector stakeholders. He explained that domestication of the AfCFTA, border regulations enforcement and rules of origin enforcement, trade facilitation and ease-of-doing-business as well as quality infrastructure improvement were some of the progresses made so far.
AfCFTA: How weak manufacturing sector reduces Nigeria’s strength (New Telegraph)
From available figures, Nigeria remains Africa’s largest economy by GDP but her manufacturing sector remains weak despite the six years of the economic diversification programme of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The 2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the real GDP of the manufacturing sector contracted by -2.75 per cent in 2020.
Nigeria recorded total export revenue of $10.4 billion in 2019, the highest since 2008 which is farthest we can trace the country’s export data. According to the data from the CBN, total exports (Free on Board “FOB”) in 2019 were $64.9 billion. Thus, for the first time ever, oil revenue as a percentage of total exports fell to 83.9 per cent as against over 90 per cent in previous years. Non-oil exports jumped over 100 per cent from $4.6 billion to $10.4 billion. Non-oil exports typically averaged $4.7 billion in the last 11 years and hit its highest in 2013 when it stood at $7.2 billion. But as they say, you need to dig deeper to see the facts behind the figures. A deep dive into the data revealed that a huge component of Nigeria’s non-oil export figures were “re-exports”.
Report: Tax Obligations, COVID-19 Impact, Forex Worry CFOs (THISDAY Newspapers)
Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of top Nigerian corporate organisations have stated that foreign exchange (forex) availability, taxation and the impact of COVID-19 are their three major sources of concern in managing the finances of their respective organisations. They expressed these views in the KPMG Nigeria 2021 CFO Outlook Survey (Half Year Review, June 2021), which also identified security, infrastructure and power as top three matters government should address to enhance ease of doing business, stimulate economic growth and improve public trust in the country’s economy. “These are the same issues identified year after year and it draws attention to the need for new thinking and a consistent, coordinated approach to addressing them,” the report stated.
Implementation of iEPA between EU and Ghana begins today (Myjoyonline.com)
The implementation of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA) between the European Union and Ghana takes off from today. This means the EU market will accepts goods from Ghana on the duty-free quota-free access policy , whilst the country also liberalise access to its market for 80% of the total volume of EU exports, a statement from Trade and Industry Ministry indicated. The statement said “this is crucial for developing and diversification of our bilateral trade. It also creates better opportunities for EU companies to trade and invest in Ghana and produce goods for export to the wider African market under the preferences available under the African Continental Free Trade Area.” Furthermore, “the removal of tariffs on intermediary goods and machinery from the EU under the iEPA will mean cheaper inputs for Ghanaian production. This will also make locally produced goods more competitive and support industrial development in Ghana and the country’s integration into global value chains.”
Cocoa constitutes half of Ghana’s EU exports (Business24 Ghana)
The Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Ghana, Diana Acconcia, has said cocoa represents about 50 percent of the country’s total exports to the union, with almost half of the cocoa products processed. Speaking to manufacturers at a forum in Accra, Ms. Acconcia said the EU was Ghana’s second-largest trading partner last year, adding that the trade relation Ghana has with the EU is quite different from others. She explained that Ghana is able to export most of its cocoa products into the EU processed as a result of the investment the union has made in the country’s manufacturing sector, which has also created jobs for the youth. She said although most of Ghana’s trade is currently outside the African market, with the start of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, the country is now rightly focused on the African market. However, she pointed out that the EU market remains important for Ghana’s quest to boost exports.
AGI Prez calls for incentives to boost manufacturing (Business24 Ghana)
Ghana’s industrial sector needs sound fiscal policies that motivate and improve the competitiveness of local manufacturers to ensure their sustainability and survival, says Dr. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). Speaking at the inauguration of Wilmar Africa’s US$30m detergents plant in Tema, he noted that the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG’s) sector is under pressure and stiff competition from imported products that have flooded the domestic market, forcing some investors to move their operations to neighbouring countries.
“Competitiveness is critical to the survival of every business in Ghana today, and if we’re able to reduce the cost of doing business and get Ghanaians to patronise locally-made goods, that’s the only way we can become competitive,” he said. “We will need to further improve our business climate in order not to be displaced by competitors in the single continental market and the global economy,” he added.
Govt must domesticate AfCFTA to boost OPS, says NACCIMA boss (The Nation Newspaper)
The new National President of the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Ide John Udeagbala has impressed on the federal government the need to domesticate the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) in order to promote the nation’s private sector. “This is a giant leap towards increasing intra-African trade and creating collective wealth. It is also a bold step to take Africans out of poverty. “This is why we have focused on it at this conference. We are delighted at the work of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA since its establishment and have been part of its sensitisation activities, through the NACCIMA committee on AfCFTA.”
Ethiopian retains top rank in Africa for passenger, cargo (Trade Arabia)
Ethiopian Airlines, the largest Pan-African airline, has been ranked first for passenger and cargo traffic in 2020 retaining its leadership position in the continent, according to the African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA) report. The airline carried 500,000 tons of freight and 5.5 million passengers through its main hub, Addis Ababa Bole International Airport during the year. Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde Gebre Mariam said: “We are honoured to continue our leadership even during the Global Pandemic Crisis which has devastated the aviation industry. This is a manifestation of our resilience and agility. We are excited about the role we played in the fight against the pandemic by continuing our much-needed air connectivity within Africa and with the rest of the world without any flight suspension. We are saving lives through air transport of medical supplies and vaccines.” The cargo terminal has handled more than 500 thousand tons of freight during the year 2020.
COVID-19: What should govt do to resuscitate dampened economy? (New Vision)
President Yoweri Museveni announced the new 42-day lockdown measures two weeks ago, after a spike in infections, which he said was beginning to bear heavily on both the economy and the health care system. Experts said as it was with the first lockdown, the new measures announced by the President will definitely dampen economic activity and several sectors are likely to remain paralysed post lockdown. Economic performance in the first COVID-19 wave contracted to 3.0% from an estimated 7%, before rebounding to 3.3% in 2020/21, according to finance state minister in charge of planning Amos Lugoloobi. According to Bank of Uganda (BOU) deputy governor Michael Atingi-Ego, the Government was more concerned with how to save lives at the onset of the first wave, hence the lockdown and, as a result, the economy suffered enormously.
Uganda’s traders sleep rough as Covid lockdown drags on (The Citizen)
Under a strict 42-day coronavirus lockdown imposed on June 18, vendors at Nakasero market in downtown Kampala were allowed to keep trading – but only if they agreed not to return home and sleep where they worked. Sentoongo Mansoor, vice chairman of Nakasero market, said the lockdown was having an economic impact, hitting traders particularly hard. Throughout the night, truckloads of fresh produce are delivered to Nakasero from across Uganda, but it is not clear it can all be sold with trade in a slump.
Italy top destination for Uganda’s exports (New Vision)
The year 2020 was a dark year for business, but not for some exporters. The European Union is a lucrative market of 450 million people. Any business person’s dream is to have a share of such a pie. According to Bank of Uganda external sector statistics 2020, Italy was the top destination for Uganda’s exports, fetching $166m in export revenue. Uganda’s total exports to the European Union (EU) totalled $505m. Italy contributed 32% of this amount to our national coffers. Compared to other trade blocs, the EU figures might appear overshadowed. The market has high growth potential and unexploited opportunities. Uganda earned $1.9b from the Middle East. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) raked in $1.3b. This means exports to the EU make up less than half the exports to COMESA and the Middle East. The EU is Uganda’s third ranking export trade bloc destination.
Niger’s key economic players review their country’s AfCFTA strategy (UNECA)
Key players in Niger’s economy are reviewing their country’s National Strategy for implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the support of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the European Union Commission and the government of Niger. The two-day meeting which began on Thursday in Niamey is part of a technical assistance project aimed at deepening trade integration through the effective implementation of the AfCFTA with financial support from the EU.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Youth Entrepreneurship, Mr Gado Sabo Moctar, said: “the implementation of the AfCFTA is perfectly in line with the objectives of the Niger Renaissance Program Act 3. There is a need to create the conditions for the emergence of a competitive private sector by taking concrete actions to promote investment in the productive sectors,” he said.
In her own remarks, the EU Ambassador to Niger, Mrs Denisa-Elena Ionete, said: “The first reason for satisfaction is to note that this national workshop brings together all stakeholders involved in this process, and follows the national consultations. This indicates the participatory and inclusive nature of the exercise. Trade is one of the strategic and traditional areas of mutual interest in EU-African Union cooperation and a key pillar of the new EU-Africa partnership.”
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Sub-Regional Office for West Africa (SROWA) on Tuesday held a conversation with young people in Côte d’Ivoire on their contributions to the structural transformation of their countries. The meeting, which was held in Abidjan under the chairmanship of the Director of the ECA’s Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, Ngone Diop, brought together some thirty representatives of youth movements and associations in Côte d’Ivoire. The main objective was to engage Ivorian youth to take ownership of the imperative of structural transformation and the development strategies to achieve it in the case of the sub-region in general, and Côte d’Ivoire in particular, so that they can contribute and benefit from it.
Driven by a decline in both oil and non-oil sectors and several concurrent shocks including COVID-19, South Sudan’s economic growth is expected to contract by -4.1 percent, according to the World Bank. The South Sudan Economic Update, Pathways to Sustainable Food Security, shows that declining exports and private consumption, as well as the effects of the pandemic, floods, locust invasion and higher subnational conflict intensity have contributed to a dire economic outlook. While the oil sector continues to dominate the economy – accounting for more than one-third of gross domestic product (GDP), 90 percent of central government revenue and more than 95 percent of the country’s exports – the report says recent economic downturn highlight the need to diversify growth and revenue. Despite the negative economic indicators, the report anticipates economic recovery as the global economy rebounds to support higher oil prices, commitment to a credible reform process and resilience to climatic shocks and conflict.
Tunisia hopes Libya stability could bring economic relief (WION)
After years of war in Libya, Tunisian traders celebrated the reopening of the border with their oil-rich North African neighbour as a positive sign they hoped would stimulate economic growth. Tunisia’s economy has lurched from crisis to crisis since the country’s 2011 revolution, most recently due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures. Now Tunisian traders now are hoping for better times ahead. In March, a new Libyan unity government was sworn in, and in June, Libya’s coastal road – linking Tunisia in the west to Egypt in the east – reopened after two years of being closed due to fighting. The challenges are not over, as Libya has once again closed its border for two weeks following a surge of coronavirus cases in Tunisia.
Africa
Durban announced as new host of Inter-African Trade Fair (APA)
The South African port city of Durban has been awarded the right to host the 2nd Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) after logistical challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced organisers to move the event from the Rwandan capital Kigali. In a statement on Monday, IATF2021 Advisory Council chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo said the decision to move the fair was arrived at after the Rwandan government “indicated that logistical constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected the progress of construction of a new facility to host the event.”
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today made a pre-launch presentation of a report which offers policy recommendations to member states wishing to take advantage of the economies of scope and scale of the envisioned AfCFTA Investment Protocol to attract investment. The report, titled “Towards a Common Investment Area in the African Continental Free Trade Area: Levelling the Playing Field for Intra-African Investment” was presented by Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Integration and Trade Division of the ECA, at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) event “AFRICA Unlocked: Innovation & Sustainability as the Drivers of Economic Growth.”
“As Africa faces a steep decline in foreign direct investment (FDI) during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opportunities presented by a continental common investment area could hardly have arrived at a better time,” Mr. Karingi said. He said amidst a sharp drop in global FDI due to COVID-19, Africa’s FDI inflows fell 18 percent from $46 billion in 2019 to $38 billion in 2020, a level not seen for at least a decade, and deeper than that in developing economies where they declined 12 percent. To attract new FDI during the post-pandemic recovery and rebuilding stage, he said upcoming AfCFTA negotiations should serve as a platform to harmonize investment rules and create a level playing field for investors.
Africa needs radical international investment law reforms (Namibian)
Emerging literature based on African economies has argued that foreign investment laws have led to countries favouring multinationals, neglecting local companies. As a result, Africans need to spearhead radical reforms to become providers of investment rules as opposed to mere consumers of such rules, law professor Olabisi Akinkugbe says. “Contrary to the promise of spurring economic development in developing countries, international investment laws infringe the interests of investors,” he says. In a paper Akinkugbe released earlier this year, titled ‘Africanisation and the Reform of International Investment Law’, he describes the Africanisation of international investment law as a form of post-colonial African international legal knowledge production.
Matrix talks up AfCFTA prospects (The Southern Times)
Diversified United Kingdom-based Metrix Petroleum says the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) presents great opportunities for Africa’s development. Matrix CEO Mr Malvin Chiwanga this week said their company was already present in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and it was now expanding into Namibia and Tanzania through the linkages provided by AfCFTA. “Intra-Africa trade is worrisomely low at the current moment, especially when it comes to oil and gas… Perhaps what has dragged intra-Africa trade back is the fact that we are all resource-centred and we produce more or less the same commodities, hence we need to look at value addition. In terms of oil and gas, we need to look at potential to refine crude oil.”
Sadc PF symposium shines light on key pitfalls (Sunday Mail)
A regional symposium convened by the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) last week, has revealed pitfalls on the road towards full realisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and galvanised parliamentary action as the region angles for rich pickings from the colossal trade agreement. “The impact of the AfCFTA will depend not only on what is agreed in the negotiations, but also on whether African countries domesticate, implement, and comply with the provisions of the AfCFTA agreement,” H.E. Wamkele Mene said. “The immediate benefits of the AfCFTA are expected to come from a reduction in tariffs/duties, elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and cutting red tape by simplifying customs procedures… You need the correct infrastructure, a developed industrial base to manufacture finished products and an integrated market.”
Port users set for better services as EA states battle for dominance (The East African)
A quiet, yet vicious battle for the shipping business is under way in Eastern Africa with Tanzania, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia as the protagonists. Tanzania, home to the most ambitious port project in the region – the $10 billion Bagamoyo Port – has announced plans to revive it construction, potentially turning the tables on its competitors. The project features a special economic zone and industrial park that are billed to attract at least 700 business units and dominate the freight business along Africa’s Indian Ocean coastline, eclipsing Kenya’s equally ambitious Lamu port project.
This battle of the ports has come at an opportune time for users, who are gearing up for improved services and competitive rates and a range of choices on which port to use. Shippers Council of Eastern Africa Chief Executive Gilbert Lagat said competition is working to their advantage. Mr Lagat said the competition has seen most ports invest in different modes of transport but noted a need to embrace the Multimodal Transport Treaty, which allows the carriage of goods by at least two different modes of transport, to reduce congestion.
Soyabean, pulses shipments stuck in E. Africa (BusinessLine)
Subramani Ra Mancombu About one lakh tonnes of soyabean and pulses set to be imported into India have got held up in East Africa due to non-availability of containers. According to two trade sources, soyabean makes up nearly 70,000 tonnes of the consignments stuck in Africa with higher costs of freight adding to the importers’ woes. The pulses, all from the crop being harvested currently comprise mainly pigeon pea (arhar or tur) and lentils (moong or green gram), have been contracted for imports but are struck as importers are not able to find a way to get it into India. “Containers are simply not available. Even if they are available, we face uncertainty as to when they will load our consignments” said a Mumbai-based trader. The other problem that importers face is the cost of hiring a container to get the consignments. “Currently, we pay $60 a tonne for the container. This is almost thrice the $20-25 we used to pay earlier,” the Mumbai based trader said.
EAC Ministers Meet Today as EALA MPs Eye Millions of Dollars in Allowances (ChimpReports)
The East African Community (EAC) Meeting of the Council of Ministers opens this Monday morning in Arusha, Tanzania, to discuss the endless demand for allowances by East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) MPs. High on the agenda seen by ChimpReports is the consideration of the facilitation for EALA meetings held through video conference.
DR Congo joining the East African Community (Independent)
Felix Tshisekedi has been busy on the regional integration front since he became president of the Democratic Republic of Congo two years ago. But he has particularly been busier this year. On June 16, Tshisekedi and President Museveni met at the border post of Mpondwe in the western district of Kasese to launch joint infrastructure construction projects. Museveni says Uganda’s footing of a substantial amount of money to construct the roads inside Congolese territory is aimed at boosting trade between the neigbouring countries. In April this year, Kenya and the DR Congo signed four framework cooperation agreements covering several economic sectors, security and defence as well as maritime transport. Among the four pacts, signed on the second day of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s three-day state visit to DR Congo, was the general cooperation agreement which provides a framework for joint promotion of economic, technical, scientific and socio-cultural programmes.
West Africa’s Eco currency plan remains a pipe dream (DW)
Since its conception in 2003, leaders of the fifteen-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have postponed the launch of a single currency at least four times. ECOWAS leaders had set a goal of achieving a monetary and currency union by late 2020. However, the COVID pandemic and the failure of many countries to meet the criteria for launching the single currency precipitated the postponement to 2027. Jerry J. Afo Larbi, an economist and financial analyst told DW that for the Eco currency to be successfully launched, there must be a unanimous agreement between anglophone and francophone countries in the region. “Some countries believe their currency is stronger than the other. Therefore, this would complicate regional trade within the ECOWAS region,” Larbi added. “West African countries already don’t have a structured way of managing their banking and trade sectors. Therefore, I don’t see the Eco currency coming in place any time soon.”
How new tax regime will change Africa’s socioeconomic fortunes (The Nation Newspaper)
In the view of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the proposed new tax regime is an indeed a milestone. In a statement signed on behalf of the Secretariat by Mr Logan Wort, ATAF’s Executive Secretary, he said: “Due to the adoption by the Inclusive Framework of a number of the measures set out in the ATAF proposal, the new Pillar One rules are far simpler than the Blueprint proposals and will ensure that no member of the Inclusive Framework will be excluded from receiving its reallocation of profit under the so-called Amount A. The Pillar One rules are a step in the right direction in starting to address the issue of the current imbalance in the allocation of taxing rights between source and residence countries which deny source countries such as African countries of much-needed revenue. However, there is still much more that needs to be done to further redress that imbalance, and in partnership with the African Union, we are calling upon the Inclusive Framework to undertake further work on the tax allocation issue.”
African Development Bank’s new economic governance strategy advocates bold public finance reforms (AfDB)
The African Development Bank on Friday launched its Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa (SEGA), aimed at fostering transparent and accountable governments and institutions to secure inclusive, sustainable development. The strategy proposes bold reforms in the management of public finances to eliminate revenue ‘leakages’ and ensure an efficient, productive, and transparent use of scarce resources. The strategy document also outlines interventions to strengthen African governments’ domestic mobilization of resources, even as pandemic responses have increased debt levels and harmed economic productivity. Better governance is expected to enable countries to strengthen macroeconomic stability, foster a business enabling environment, and improve the efficiency of public spending and investments, according to the strategy document. SEGA will cover the 2021-2025 period.
Pushing agribusiness agenda (The Nation Newspaper)
The agricultural sector boasts of significant potential, but it also faces challenges due to several issues. One has been the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused serious disruption to production activities last year and lack of financial and logistics that has made the country increasingly unable to satisfy its domestic market demands in staples. Currently, exports fall short of supply, causing some surplus production to go to waste, and those products that are exported, are shipped in difficult conditions, sometimes leading to spoilage. Analysts say attempts at reducing the import bill by increasing local milk production have been made with several obstacles, including lack of financial and technical to boost milk cattle breeding and local milk production, which would be a good step forward for the dairy industry. Hence, experts have been calling for the implementation of agric policy that is based on the sector’s comparative advantage and not just on excess production.
African tech reboots as investment roars back (African Business)
Africa’s tech sector is starting to bounce back as startups from all four corners of the continent raise $940m in tech deals so far this year, raising hopes of a return to the ground-breaking records of previous years. Most reports say that Africa is set to raise over $2bn this year, depending on the recovery from Covid-19 which is testing many countries in the form of a third wave. However, Africa has started the year well for tech deals and 2021 is expected to outperform 2020.
COVID-19: Africa plans a vaccine revolution (Deutsche Welle)
The challenges to building a dedicated vaccine infrastructure in Africa are immense. In addition to the usual difficulties such as financing and a lack of technical expertise, issues surrounding patent protection, which have been discussed for many months, have still not been resolved. It is also questionable whether the bulk of the projects currently being pursued in Africa will actually make the continent less dependent on pharmaceutical companies from the developed nations. According to AVMI Director Simon Agwale, most projects are filling plants that rely on the supply of raw materials by vaccine manufacturers. While this is welcome in principle, he says: “If there is not also investment in the production of the actual substances, we end up with countless filling plants, but no product that can be filled.”
How regionalism has helped Africa manage the COVID-19 pandemic (The Conversation)
Since March 2020, African countries have adopted various measures to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond the national responses were continental and regional approaches under the auspices of the African Union through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the regional economic communities. Regionalism was adopted as a strategy for many reasons. The first was the limited capacity of some states to manage the pandemic. A regional approach helped mitigate the negative effects of this weakness through mobilisation of resources and distribution of critical health equipment. The second reason was the fact that borders separating African countries are very porous, artificial and arbitrary. Third was the huge financial requirement for managing the pandemic.
Mainstreaming Gender in India-Africa Partnership for Energy Access (Observer Research Foundation)
Cooperation between India and African countries has expanded over the past several decades, and today, the two sides are partnering in manifold ways in the economic, political, and socio-cultural domains. One of these areas of partnership is energy, where initiatives have been mostly in the form of capacity-building. Both India and the African countries are working to achieve the seventh of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. In 2021, however, the ITEC lists only one course on Renewable Energy Technologies and there are no dedicated courses on energy access. India-Africa cooperation can improve solar electrification in both regions and ensure increased energy access to fulfil SDG 7.
Global
How countries are faring on global goals amid COVID-19 (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD’s updated SDG Pulse, released on 2 July, shows how the COVID-19 health crisis exacerbated many imbalances in 2020 and delayed progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The pandemic hit hard structurally weak and vulnerable economies such as least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS), reversing hard-won socioeconomic gains. Consequently, 2021 has seen the rise of a new agenda for multilateralism calling for equal access to vaccines and resources to tackle the pandemic and ensure a more equitable economic recovery.
As trade declined in spring 2020, many governments imposed barriers to exports of medical products and lowered tariffs on imports of agricultural products to maximize the supply of critical goods to domestic markets. The resulting economic shock had many consequences. External debt, for one, grew to a record high in 2020 – reaching 31% of GDP in developing economies, according to the SDG Pulse. Flows of foreign direct investment and official development assistance to those in most need – the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS – continued on a downward trajectory.
Longer TRIPS transition period for LDCs overlooks post-graduation challenges (The Daily Star)
On June 29, members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) extended the deadline for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to protect intellectual property under the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) until July 1, 2034. Members agreed to extend the present transition period, which was scheduled to end on July 1, by 13 years. The TRIPS Agreement that facilitates trade in knowledge and creativity, covers areas such as copyright, trademark, geographical indicators, industrial design, patents, layout designs of integrated circuits and undisclosed information. It may also be mentioned that the transition period for pharmaceutical products was earlier extended by the Council for TRIPS until the end of 2032.
However, WTO members did not agree to the LDC request for continuation of the transition period after a country graduates from LDC status to the developing country category. This is unfortunate since during the initial period after graduation, LDCs face challenges in terms of the loss of several international support measures. These include loss of preferential market access for LDC products in several developed and developing countries, access to concessional finance, TRIPS waiver, LDC-specific funds and technology transfer, among others.
The Global Trade Map After COVID-19: Where to for Global Companies and Investors, and Policymakers? (Observer Research Foundation)
In the wake of rising protectionism over the last half decade, the sudden economic stops wrought by COVID-19, the corollary disruptions of supply chain activity, and shocks to supply and demand, commentators from across the globe have trumpeted the ‘end’ of globalisation. With the shift from the old to the new economy – that is, growth in services activity and employment – experienced by many advanced economies (including the US, the UK, and the Netherlands), less goods – or volume of merchandise – are being moved around the world. This carries with it certain implications, as the manufacturing and industrial eras associated with the production of goods have significantly boosted national incomes within domestic borders. Additionally, competitive export of these goods to foreign markets has further contributed to both domestic as well as global economic growth. Looking beyond goods, cross-border exchanges of services (such as travel, IT, and legal and professional services), as well as flows of finance, and exchanges of human capital have been integral components of the globalised business landscape, critical for building business, profit, and generating returns. With the future of trade hanging in the balance, what’s in store for corporate executives and investors?
With less than 10 years until the 2030 deadline for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), governments need to step up their efforts to meet global food security and environmental targets, according to the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030. Productivity improvements will be key to feeding a growing global population – projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 – sustainably. Trade will continue to be critical for global food security, nutrition, farm incomes and tackling rural poverty. On average across the world, around 20 percent of what is consumed domestically is imported. Looking ahead to 2030, imports are projected to account for 64 percent of total domestic consumption in the Near East and North Africa region, while Latin America and the Caribbean region is expected to export more than a third of its total agricultural production.