News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
AGOA Forum 2017: the report of the conference proceedings is published
Underway, in Dar: 2nd phase of training on the Tariff Reform Impact Simulation Tool. [Details of an earlier training session in Accra]
WTO delegation to review Egypt’s trade policies in February 2018
A high-level delegation from the WTO arrived in Cairo on Sunday for a five-day visit to discuss the WTO’s draft report on Egypt’s trade, economic, and investment policies. The main meeting to review Egypt’s trade policies will be held on 20 and 22 February 2018, according to Willy Alfaro, the director of the Trade Policy Reviews Division at the WTO. Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil said that the Egyptian government will make use of this opportunity to highlight the economic and legislative reforms that have been taken recently and to present the government’s future plans to boost economic growth and attract more investments. [Downloads: West African Economic and Monetary Union TPR]
COMESA: Proposed 2018 annual budget drops
The proposed 2018 annual budget for the COMESA Secretariat and its agencies has declined by $10m as several cooperating partners grants come to an end. This was revealed during the opening of the 37th meeting of the Committee on Administration and Budgetary matters. “The annual budget will decrease from $42m, in 2017, to $32m, for 2018. This translates into a 30% reduction,” Mr Ngwenya said. Member States are expected to contribute $16.7m while cooperating partners are expected to provide $15.6m. He told delegates that funding from cooperating partners may however increase for 2018 if the programming processes of the 11th European Development Fund are completed early and grant agreements are signed. Among the COMESA agencies that will be affected are the Regional Investment Agency, the Federation of Women in Business and the COMESA Competition Commission. He noted: “At some point, our cooperating partners will naturally expect COMESA Member States to assume a greater share of funding of the COMESA work programme.”
Tanzania scraps customs pact with DRC to boost cargo trade (IPPMedia)
The government has suspended the Single Customs Territory clearance system it initiated with the DRC in 2015 after facing a myriad of challenges including Congolese ships deserting the port of Dar es Salaam. According to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Investment, Prof Adolf Mkenda, the government has already sent a six-month notice to DRC on its plans to terminate the agreement. The PS made the disclosures at a high-level public-private dialogue on the state of doing business in Tanzania, held in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday. Participants at the dialogue asserted that clearing goods at the port for transit to DRC takes far too long (two to three months) under the SCT system, at severe cost to businesses in terms of lost revenue and storage charges. As a result, they said, many clients have stopped using the port and choose instead to pass their goods through competing ports, particularly Durban, Beira and Mombasa. Under the SCT arrangement, Tanzania and DRC had adopted a destination model of clearance of goods where assessment and collection of revenue was done at the first point of entry - Dar es Salaam. The system was established in hopes of increasing efficiency in clearing Dar port cargo, and curbing tax evasion. But its implementation has been rocky, resulting in an increase in the number of days for clearing cargo.
Dar Port efficiency pays off (Daily News)
Despite an unprecedented drop in the number of ships arriving at the Dar es Salaam Port, Tanzania Ports Authority’s monthly revenue collection continue to increase, as efficiency and transparency equally go up. TPA Director General, Engineer Deusdedit Kakoko told the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that as of June 2017, the authority had collected 728bn/- above the 623bn/- target for the financial year ending June 30, 2017. The number of ships arriving at the port has gone down after TPA sealed all loopholes and corrupt elements that made some business people to evade tax, he said. Engineer Kakoko, however, said that despite the decrease in the number of ships, revenue collection continued ballooning. The number of ships plus Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) according to him was 2,132 in 2012/2013 FY, with 27.998 million tonnes. In 2013/2014 TPA registered 2,329 ships with 33.517 million tonnes; 1,958 ships in 2014/2015 with 32.848 million tonnes; 1,698 ships in 2015/2016 with 33.663 million tonnes; and 1,649 ships with 30.342 million tonnes in the 2016/2017 FY.
Zambia and the IMF: two reports
(i) 2017 Article IV Consultation: The external position has been under pressure from low copper price (Text Figure 1). The current account balance turned from a 2.1 percent of GDP surplus in 2014 to a 3.9 percent of GDP deficit in 2015 and 4.4 percent of GDP in 2016, reflecting lower copper export earnings and higher interest payments. Despite the large currency depreciation in late-2015, imports in 2016 fell by only 12 percent due to higher imports of fuel and electricity to cope with the shortages in the domestic power supply. Gross international reserves declined to US$2.4 billion at end-2016 (3⅓ months of import cover) compared to nearly US$3 billion at the end of 2015 (4.5 months of import cover). With copper accounting for about 70 percent of Zambia’s export earnings, the recent steady increase in the world price has brightened prospects in the mining and external sectors, with positive spillovers to other sectors.
(ii) Selected Issues paper (pdf): Large exemptions and rising imports from regional free trade areas are contributing to the decline in trade taxes. At 1% of GDP in 2015, Zambia’s customs duty collection is below the average for SADC of 3.8% of GDP due to the existence of several exemptions or reduced rates including on import of fuels by the government, irrigation and other farming equipment. Additionally, Zambia’s trade taxes have been declining due to increased trade from regional free trade areas. According to the Zambia Revenue Authority, the Value of Imports for Duty Purposes - VIDP (i.e., the tax base for customs duties) narrowed from 24% of the total value of imports in 2014 to 19.5% in 2015.
Tripartite Transport and Transit Facilitation Programme: launch update (SADC)
The Tripartite Sectoral Committee of Ministers of Infrastructure at their inaugural meeting in Dar es Salaam officially launched the Tripartite Transport and Transit Facilitation Programme, appointing Hon. Agrey Henry Bagiire, Minister of Transport and Works, Uganda, as the Champion of the TTTFP. Ministers also made the following decisions: (i) endorsed the TTTFP which is designed to accelerate the pace of harmonisation of laws, policies, regulations, standards and systems that affect cross border road transport in the east and southern African region; (ii) noted the progress on the harmonization of cross border road transport laws, policies, regulations, standards and systems that affect drivers, vehicles and loads; (iii) urged respective ministries, government agencies and private sector stakeholders to participate in the implementation of the program; (iv) directed the COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats to finalise the harmonisation of outstanding instruments, standards and regulations in collaboration with national and continental stakeholders such as the African Union Commission;
Central Africa: Transport-Transit Facilitation Project update (World Bank)
The objective of the Transport-Transit Facilitation Project is to facilitate regional trade among the Member States and improve the Central African Republic’s, the Republic of Cameroon’s and the Republic of Chad’s access to world markets. The proposed restructuring is related to the completion of rehabilitation works of the Mora - Dabanga - Kousseri road (205 km), which is of critical regional importance, and is situated in an active military conflict area in the Far North region of the country. The implementation of the CEMAC TTFP continues to be rated Unsatisfactory due to:
Review of Maritime Transport: poor maritime connectivity hurting weaker, smaller nations (UNCTAD)
The Review of Maritime Transport 2017 presents key developments in the world economy and international trade and related impacts on shipping demand and supply, and freight and charter markets in 2016 and early 2017, as well as seaports and the regulatory and legal framework. In addition, this year’s Review features a special chapter on maritime transport connectivity, reflecting the prominence of physical and electronic connectivity as a priority area in the trade and development policy agenda. Missing connections: More than 80% of country pairs do not have a direct connection. This includes large trading nations that lie across the same ocean, for example Brazil and Nigeria. “A key question for trade and transport analysts is whether there are no direct connections between the two countries because there is not enough demand, or whether there is not much trade between them because the two trading partners are not well connected,” notes Jan Hoffmann, Chief of the Trade Logistics Branch of UNCTAD. The report explains that lacking a direct maritime connection with a trade partner is associated with lower export values – up to 40% lower when there is an additional trans-shipment – and that country pairs can reduce trade costs by 9% when they add a direct maritime connection.
SADC Regional RVAA (Humanitarian Response)
Compared to last year, the total number of food insecure population in the 12 Member States reporting, decreased by 19% from 31 million in 2016/17 marketing year to 25 million in the 2017/18 marketing year. This positive change is attributed to improved rainfall, national strategic interventions and subsequent harvests in almost all countries, with the exception of parts of DRC, Namibia and parts of Madagascar. National strategic interventions included input subsidies and nutritional support programmes. For countries that had poor production reasons varied from poor rainfall performance, crop and plant diseases, pest infestations, conflict and displacement of populations. [Download, pdf]
Spaces of vulnerability and areas prone to natural disaster and crisis in six SADC countries (Humanitarian Response)
To enhance the understanding of the specific disaster risks in Southern Africa, the International Organization for Migration conducted a desk review to explore key concepts of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and resilience, taking into account human mobility aspects. This report (pdf) presents the findings from the review and is divided into a global chapter, a regional overview of Southern Africa specifically focusing on the SADC, and six country chapters elaborating the findings from the six target countries of the desk review, namely, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Each country chapter includes a hazards and vulnerability map as well as sections on hazards, development challenges and vulnerabilities, migration trends and patterns, and disaster risk management and governance systems.
AU scorecard deal shows Africa ready for agriculture revolution (Business Daily)
The African Union Commission and the NEPAD Agency have been leading the review process through the collection of data on a set of 43 indicators from its 55 member countries. With the findings of this first biennial review now set for presentation at the AU heads of state summit in January next year, it was a wholly new experience, too, to hear Mr Gates, one of the non-state world leaders and philanthropists at the meeting, comment on the enthusiasm for the scorecard concept, as he encouraged participants to move quickly to take advantage of the momentum created to secure support for the tool. The agricultural scorecard draws its inspiration from the success of similar tools, like the African Leaders Malaria Alliance Scorecard for Accountability and Action, which have seen countries across the continent act to eradicate the disease from the continent by 2020. [The author, Boaz Keizire is Head of Policy and Advocacy at AGRA]
FAO West Africa multidisciplinary team meeting: update
The two-day deliberations, led by Serge Nakouzi, FAO Deputy Regional Representative for Africa, came out with recommendations that will shape joint actions in the short, medium and long term. Among concrete actions towards strengthening regional initiatives on ending hunger and malnutrition in West Africa are a review of the Right to Food situation in West Africa; an analysis of the hunger and malnutrition trends over the last 20 years; the formulation of a strategic framework and road map for achieving zero hunger and malnutrition in West Africa by 2025; and a strengthened institutional capacity of the ECOWAS Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food.
UNIDO-ACP symposium: Boosting ACP inclusive and sustainable industrialization
An additional area for ACP-UNIDO collaboration, possibly rests on the need for “Blueing” the industrialization of developing countries so as to harness new frontiers for sustainable development of marine and maritime resources. Of great significance in this regard is the ACP Fisheries Mechanism and the recent Declaration of Ministers responsible for Fisheries and Aquaculture at their meeting the Bahamas just a month ago in September. [Related: EU-ACP roundtable - Putting partnership into practice. Various downloads are available]
