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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Underway, in Nairobi: TFTA committee of senior officials, in preparation for the 10th meeting of the Tripartite Council of Ministers
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Trade Ambassador Julius Onen is leading the EAC Delegation. Onen noted that as a region, partner states have made progress on most of the outstanding issues and are ready to move forward with the finalization of the negotiations with other regional blocs. He informed the meeting that EAC had finalized all the tariff offers, however, some countries had not yet responded to the offers. Among the key outstanding issues that are being negotiated by the member states in the Nairobi meeting include: tariff offers, rules of origin, trade remedies and dispute settlement, modalities for phase II negotiations and the signature and ratification of the TFTA.
On the signature and ratification of the Tripartite Agreement, member states are still indicating varying positions with some stating that the Agreement and all its Annexes should be finalized first to enable them deposit the instruments for signature and ratification. However, other member states are willing to sign the Agreement notwithstanding that there are outstanding issues to be finalized.
DRC: Trade Policy Review documentation (WTO)
The second review of the trade policies and practices of the DRC began yesterday and continues tomorrow (27th October). The basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat (pdf) and a report by the Government of the DRC (pdf).
Zambia-DRC trade facilitation study: Kasumbalesa border and surrounding areas (AfDB)
The AfDB’s Zambia Field Office, in conjunction with the Regional Integration and Trade Department, concluded a working visit on 22 September, to Lubumbashi in the DRC to establish current trade patterns with Zambia. The delegation, led by Country Economist Peter Rasmussen, drove from Lusaka to Lubumbashi, through the Kasumbalesa border crossing and crossed back through Kipushi border in the North Western Province of Zambia. The mission was part of a study on trade facilitation at Kasumbalesa border and surrounding areas that the Bank is conducting on behalf of the Zambian Government. The study on trade facilitation at Kasumbalesa border will be presented and validated at a stakeholder meeting in late November.
Northern Corridor: joint Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda real-time transit cargo tracking starts in January
This follows the award of a contract to a Malaysian firm, BSmart, to roll out the platform. The three countries will ride on the Electronic Cargo Tracking System as a single customs tool to curb theft and dumping of goods on the Northern Corridor (Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali highway). The electronic platform, it is hoped, will seal loopholes for revenue losses to the taxman as a result of under-declaration of the value of exports by rogue traders. The upgraded system was successfully pilot by the Uganda Revenue Authority and was initially meant to be implemented in June. The KRA said a central command centre would be established in Nairobi and 13 rapid response stations established throughout the country to act on any incident.
Dar beats Kenya in another deal (IPPMedia)
The business competition between Tanzania and Kenya’s main seaports has gone up another notch after Rwanda and Burundi stopped importing their fuel through Mombasa because of alleged cargo contaminations occurring there and instead opted to route their shipments via the port of Dar es Salaam. According to reports confirmed by the Kenya Transporters Association, the two inland EAC member states did the route switch earlier this year after making sure that imports through Dar es Salaam were untainted. KTA chief executive officer Alfayo Otuke said in an interview with Bloomberg that another advantage of picking the port of Dar es Salaam over Mombasa is that Tanzania also allows heavier loads. “Kenya’s position as the preferred petroleum importation route for landlocked East African nations is slipping out of our hands,” Otuke said. “It’s because importers feel our fuel is contaminated. We have unscrupulous traders. We have cases where some load transporters siphon fuel, add other products and when it gets to the destination countries, it is found to be adulterated,” he added. [MPs questions ‘fishy’ TPA bank deals leading to 38bn/- deficit]
This year’s Doing Business report includes, for the first time, a gender dimension in three indicators: Starting a Business, Registering Property and Enforcing Contracts. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 13 economies require additional legal hurdles for women entrepreneurs. For example, six economies (including Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau) require additional steps for women to formally register a business compared to men. The Paying Taxes indicator has been expanded to cover post-filing processes, such as tax audits and VAT refund. The report finds that the region has room for improvement in these new areas. In most economies in Sub-Saharan Africa – where it is likely for an audit to take place – taxpayers are exposed to a field audit whereby the auditor visits the taxpayers. This is the case in Botswana, The Gambia, Malawi, Niger, Zambia and Zimbabwe. [Downloads: Doing Business 2017: Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf), Regional profiles for Southern African Development Community (pdf), East African Community (pdf)]
Related: India’s rank improves by one in World Bank’s Doing Business survey, Why India fared badly in World Bank’s Doing Business survey
Multispeed growth: Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook (IMF)
This aggregate picture, however, belies considerable heterogeneity in economic paths across the region. (i) Most of the non–resource-intensive countries—half of the countries in the region—continue to perform well, as they benefit from lower oil import prices, an improved business environment, and continuous strong infrastructure investment. Countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Senegal are foreseen to continue to grow at more than 6%. (ii) In contrast, commodity exporters are under severe economic strains, including the region’s three largest countries, Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa. The near-term prospects of oil exporters in particular have worsened, notwithstanding the modest uptick in oil prices, as the slowdown is becoming entrenched - activity among these countries is expected to contract by 1¼ percent this year. Among other resource-intensive countries, growth in the DRC, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is decelerating sharply or stuck in low gear. [Akinwumi Adesina: ‘Africa’s growth story: a new chapter’ (pdf, AfDB)]
Gerhard Erasmus: ‘Governance implications of South Africa’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court’ (tralac)
The reasons offered by the South African government as to why it is withdrawing from the ICC are discussed here, together with some of the domestic and International legal principles which now come into play. There are broader governance issues and they will also be mentioned.
South Africa: ‘We need to up our game to provide support to exporters’ – dti Director-General October
October said exporters needed more support on institutional measures as well as financial to the level of the export bank. He said government was in fact in the process of converting the Export Credit Insurance Council into an Export Import Bank to ensure that exporters and export councils have the necessary resources they require. “Countries do not export, companies do. At best we can play the facilitating role but companies should also play their role. We must close the gap between government and exporters, identify top 100 exporters and work with them to break into markets,” said October. He highlighted the importance of driving transformation and ensuring that companies are compliant with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) legislation for government to assist them.
Nigeria: LCCI proposes policy to block N1tr revenue leakages (TODAY)
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has proposed measures that will save the country N1 trillion revenue leakages at the ports within the next 12 to 18 months. LCCI also said the measures if implemented will generate10, 000 new jobs in the maritime sector, and 800,000 jobs in the industrial sector over 18-24 months. Vincent Nwani unfolded the measures on the occasion of a dialogue on Port Efficiency and Maritime Sector Roadmap, jointly organised by LCCI and Financial Derivatives Company.
South Sudan: EAC Permanent/Principal Secretaries discuss integration of new Partner State into EAC
The Secretary General revealed that the integration of the Republic of South Sudan (RSS) into the Community will be done in phases, saying: “Aware of capacity requirements, the implementation shall be phased-in and progressive to allow for South Sudan to build relevant capacity and strengthen its institutions.” He disclosed that in the course of the negotiations for the admission of RSS into the Community, it was agreed that South Sudan will have 3 years after accession to prepare for implementation of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols. “After the three-year period, RSS will still be allowed to request for additional time in line with EAC laws if it finds itself unable to comply with certain requirements.”
Kenya shifts gears in drive to raise coffee exports into America (Business Daily)
Kenya is pushing to increase its market share for coffee in the US as a means of improving the global visibility of the local commodity. The government through the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Coffee Directorate on Tuesday said it is also targeting China, South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Nigeria as emerging markets for the coffee. “Kenya has embarked on an aggressive marketing of her coffee globally. In view of this, the country is set to be the ‘portrait country (main feature)’ during the 2017 Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Exhibition in Seattle, Washington, US,” said Grenville Melli, interim head of the directorate during a briefing in Nairobi.
Uganda: Coffee exports drop for third year on unfavorable weather (Bloomberg)
Coffee exports from Uganda, Africa’s biggest shipper of the commodity, fell 4.1 percent in the 2015-16 season, extending declines for a third year as poor weather hurt the crop. Shipments from 1 October 2015 through September fell to 3.32m 60-kilogram bags from 3.46m bags a year earlier, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said by e-mail on Tuesday. Uganda, which mainly grows robusta coffee, consumes less than 3% of its annual crop and exports mainly to Europe. It plans to plant 900 million new coffee trees in the three years through June 2019 to boost production, according to the UCDA.
EU-African Union Partnership: joint communiqué of the AU Peace & Security Council & EU Political & Security Comittee
Angola set to increase export capacity (Footprint2Africa)
George Wachira: ‘Economic powerhouse status beckons Tanzania in a decade’ (Business Daily)
Kenya access to Europe intact despite EAC hitch (Daily Nation)
McKinsey Global Institute: ‘Digital finance for all: powering inclusive growth in emerging economies’
WCO releases Guidelines on Customs-Tax Cooperation
Finance Minister: EU remains a vital link for a modern, forward-looking and prosperous Mauritius (GoM)
ATOR report charts path for a “nutrition revolution” in Africa (Ifpri)
Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: discussion on common policies of member countries (IMF)
Global cooperation through carbon markets could cut climate mitigation costs dramatically (World Bank)
D. Ravi Kanth: ‘The pitfalls of multilateral pragmatism’ (LiveMint)
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