African trade and development policy events underway in Abuja:

(i) Fourth Meeting of the Technical Working Groups of the Continental Free Trade Area (6-17 November). It will be followed by the 8th Meeting of the CFTA Negotiating Forum (20-25 November, also in Abuja).

(ii) 9th Steering Committee and Experts Meeting for the Abidjan-Lagos Highway Corridor Development Programme: road infrastructure experts from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo will review progress on the implementation of the Technical Design and Preparatory Studies for the corridor.

(iii) The 2017 CEO Forum of African DFIs

In Kampala today: EASSI workshop on enhancing the capacity of CSOs to advocate for gender responsive trade policies. The workshop is based on the EAC Gender Equality and Development Pilot Barometer, released earlier this year.

In Brasilia today: The Fifth BRICS Competition Conference. The conference marks the culmination of the first cycle of competition policy conferences held under the BRICS banner.

Featured African trade commentaries, from the latest Bridges Africa compendium on the theme The WTO’s Buenos Aires Ministerial – what is at stake for Africa and LDCs?:

(i) Chiedu Osakwe: Strengthening the WTO – on the strategic and welfare necessity of addressing “new” and “traditional” issues. Ahead of the WTO’s Eleventh Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, some WTO members have expressed interest in including aspects of the so-called “new economy,” in particular investment facilitation and e-commerce, in multilateral trade talks. Why should African countries engage on those topics? [The author is Chief Trade Negotiator for Nigeria, Director-General of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, and Chairman of the Negotiating Forum for the CFTA]

(ii) Carlos Lopes: Give Africa policy space for structural transformation. Ahead of the WTO’s Eleventh Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, some WTO members have expressed interest in including aspects of the so-called “new economy,” in particular investment facilitation and e-commerce, in multilateral trade talks. Why should African countries engage on those topics? [The author is Professor, Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice, University of Cape Town, and Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin School, Oxford University]

Ten years on, ICBC Standard deal starts to show its worth (Euromoney)

In the 10 years since ICBC’s $5.5bn acquisition of a 20% stake in South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, there has still been no bigger single China-Africa investment. Looking back now, the deal was remarkable for the speed and relative ease with which it came together. But has it worked? [The author: Chris Wright]

Mozambique: Sharp fall in imports during 2016 (Club of Mozambique)

The economic crisis that hit Mozambique in 2016 was so severe that the country’s foreign trade declined by more than 27%. According to the latest trade data, published on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute, the total value of trade declined from $11.747bn dollars in 2015 to $8.334bn in 2016, a fall of 27.35%. Despite the fall in commodity prices, Mozambican exports were not that badly hit, falling from $3.413bn in 2015 to $3.328bn in 2016, a decline of 2.49%. The steep fall came in the country’s imports, which declined by an enormous 37.53%, from $8.334bn to $5.206bn. When the foreign investment mega-projects are excluded from the figures, the fall is even sharper – 38.46%, a fall from $7.372bn to $4,537bn. [Downloads: INE report Volume 1 - Imports, Volume 2 - Exports]

Zimbabwe: Import bill drops 11,2% June-Sept (The Herald)

The country’s import bill has dropped by 11.2% between June and September to $439,6m, trade figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency show. According to latest figures released by Zimstat, the import bill during the period under review has been on a downward trend from $495,1m in June. In July, the import bill went down to $482m before going down further to $448m in August. Since last year, the country’s import bill has been dropping largely driven by tight policy interventions the Government adopted to control imports. Despite the drop on the import bill, the country was still affected by a trade deficit as exports amounted to $326,5m in August. In January, the value of exports was $292m. Zimbabwe largely exports goods such as minerals and agricultural produce to countries such as Singapore, China, Zambia, South Africa, Belgium, Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates. [Export incentive set to increase]

Kenya’s sugar imports rise threefold as cane harvests drop (The East African)

Kenya’s sugar imports increased by more than 300% in the first nine months of this year, at a time the country’s cane production has fallen to its lowest in nine years. The latest market data from the Sugar Directorate shows that the volume of imported sugar rose to 933,844 tonnes from 219,118 over the corresponding period last year – a 3%. “The increase in table sugar imports is attributed to an amplified shortfall due to low production in the country and the drought,” the directorate said. According to the latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s production has fallen to 2.1 million tonnes over the past six months compared with 3.2 million tonnes over the same period last year. May’s production of 231,000 tonnes was the lowest the country has recorded in nine years.

Ghana records $7.4m in exports to Morocco (Business Ghana)

Ghana’s exports to Morocco stood at $7.4m as of 2016, representing less than 1% of the country’s total exports, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkora, has said. However, imports from Morocco for the same period amounted to $87.9m, he said. “It is obvious that the trade potential of the two countries remains largely untapped, hence there is the need to deepen bilateral relations to reverse the less than satisfactory trend,” Mr Ahenkora said at the first Africa Power Road Symposium in Accra. “Ghana and Morocco have had trade relations with trade and investment countries visiting both countries at various times. However, trade flows between our two countries have not been favourable over the past five years,” Mr Ahenkora said.

South Africa: IMF statement

“South Africa’s slow growth and inefficiencies in public enterprises have taken a toll on public finances by generating a substantial revenue shortfall and prompting unplanned expenditure, as described in the 2017 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. Against this background, IMF staff welcomes the National Treasury’s candid acknowledgement of the challenges and its call to the Presidential Fiscal Committee to implement reforms to unlock the economy’s potential. Specifically, IMF staff urges the Presidential Fiscal Committee to approve, in a timely fashion, fiscal measures to avoid undue increases in the debt-to-GDP ratio, including by strengthening tax revenue compliance and cutting unproductive outlays. The economy will also benefit from expeditious action from the Presidential Fiscal Committee to signal the political will to tackle long-standing issues that have led to deteriorating market sentiment. Reforms to improve governance and procurement practices and remove any obstacles to investment are essential.”

Mozambique: Chinese companies worried about limits on wood processing and exports

Chinese entrepreneurs involved in the purchase, processing and export of timber in Sofala province are worried about the extent to which activity will only be carried out by forest concessionaires from next week. About 30 companies affiliated with the Chinese Merchants Association in Sofala expressed concern yesterday during a meeting with provincial governor Maria Helena Taipo to discuss the operation and the contribution of firms to the Government’s Five Year Programme, especially to economic growth in this part of the country. Figures indicate that 80% of milling and timber exports are concentrated in Sofala and involve around 5,000 Mozambican workers, hence their importance to the national economy. Other concerns presented by the Association of Chinese Merchants in Sofala related to delays in licensing processes, which, they said, jeopardised activities.

Ghana: Heavy duty truck drivers cautioned on excess loads (Ghana News)

Mr Emmanuel Adongo Awuni, the National Coordinator of Axle Load of the Ghana Highways Authority, has commended heavy duty truck drivers for their effort to reduce the weight of goods being conveyed to acceptable levels. He said a recent survey has revealed that out of ten trucks weighed, only two or three of them would be found to have excess load which ranged between one to five tonnes as compared to the previous period where over ten tonnes of excess load were even found on some trucks.

Food Outlook: Biannual Report on Global Food Markets (FAO)

While food commodity prices have been generally stable, the cost of importing food is set to rise in 2017 to $1.413 trillion, a 6% increase from the previous year and the second highest tally on record according to FAO’s latest Food Outlook report (pdf) published today. The higher import bill is driven by increased international demand for most foodstuffs as well as higher freight rates. Of particular concern is the economic and social implications of the double-digit increases in the food import bills for Least-Developed Countries and Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries.

Accelerating climate-resilient and low-carbon development: second progress report on the implementation of the Africa climate business plan (World Bank)

This report provides an overview of the progress made in 2017 in implementing the Africa Climate Business Plan (ACBP), a blueprint for climate action in Sub-Saharan Africa that the World Bank launched during the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in November 2015. This report provides an update on resource mobilization, describes the climate co-benefits provided by the ACBP portfolio, and detail implementation progress by ACBP cluster and component. In addition, to better measure and monitor results and inform future project design, it reports on two new pieces of analysis undertaken this year: a review of the ACBP contribution to implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions of Sub-Saharan Africa’s countries; and a review of the ACBP portfolio from the perspective of its contribution to resilience building (following the resilience pathways approach). [AfDB approves its second Climate Change Action Plan for 2016-2020]

Ghana to host third Green Financing for Sustainable Development conference (ITC)

The conference (21 November) will provide an opportunity to review the current status of green finance in Ghana and the country’s efforts to green its economy. Ministers and representatives from the Ghanaian public sector will share their experience and lessons learnt from implementing the ‘Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II’, and the ‘National Climate Change Policy’. Participants from other countries will explore the perspectives of regulators and finance providers and the changes required to spur the development of new products and services.

EU trade agreements deliver tangible benefits (Europa)

The EU has today published a report assessing the implementation of its existing trade agreements. This horizontal report is the first of its kind and sheds light on what happens after trade agreements are negotiated and have entered into force. Overall, EU agreements are shown to lead to more EU exports and growth, with major export increases to, for example: Mexico (+416% since 2000), Chile (+170% since 2003), South Korea (+59% since 2011), Serbia (+62% since 2013). The report shows that it is often the EU agricultural and motor vehicles’ sectors that benefit the most. For example, exports of cars to South Korea have increased by 244% since 2011, and in the case of the agreement with Colombia and Peru there was a 92% and 73% increase, respectively, in the exports of EU agricultural goods. [Various downloads are available]

Today’s Quick Links: South Africa delays decision on LNG imports to next year Namibia eyes power self-sufficiency via leveraging private investment Tana Forum conference proceedings: The African Union - self-reliance process through institutional reform (pdf) ECOWAS seeks the cooperation of development partners in addressing infrastructural deficit Lessons from the Gulf: how Kenya can manage its oil resources The UK’s Trade Bill 2017-19