News
tralac’s Daily News selection: 11 June 2015
The selection: Thursday, 11 June
@Francismangeni: 15 countries have just signed the Agreement establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area, and 23 have signed the Declaration
Text of the Agreement establishing a Tripartite Free Trade Area among COMESA, EAC, SADC
COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area: Sharm El Sheikh Declaration
Namibia to sign TFTA declaration (New Era)
Namibia arrived in Sharm El Sheikh with an understanding to in the meantime sign the declaration only, while allowing for the continuation of negotiations on outstanding issues before stakeholders arrive at a final TFTA draft agreement. “We cleared everything and the declaration is prepared for signing,” Namibia’s Attorney General Sackey Shanghala responded yesterday to New Era regarding last week’s cabinet decision not to sign the TFTA agreement during the summit in Egypt.
Notwithstanding some of the challenges that have been experienced, the Tripartite Framework of integration has and continues to provide valuable lessons, which include but are not limited to the following:
The third lesson is that the whole Tripartite process of program formulation and design should include the private sector and other stakeholders as at the end of the day they are the ones to deliver jobs and economic growth.
The fourth lesson is that there is need to invite private sector companies that stand to benefit from the Tripartite Free Trade Area to come to the table, open their wallets and fund regional integration programs.
dti's Rob Davies: 'Africa a step closer to free trade area' (Business Report)
The TFTA if properly utilised, can be a springboard that catalyses a wave of growth in the manufacturing sector. The challenge for the member states is to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunities and proximity to fast growing African markets. For South Africa, the Tripartite area already absorbs a significant share of South Africa’s exports. Over the past three years, South Africa has exported on average, annually, goods to the value of $16.8 billion to this region. This constitutes 18.3 percent of the country’s global exports. Hence, the importance of this initiative to South Africa’s industrial and employment objectives.
Tripartite Summit: speech by WB's Jim Yong Kim (World Bank)
All of us know that the private sector has an important role in development – it creates the jobs that build prosperity. Today, Africa, more than ever, it is open for business, but countries must continue to reduce transaction costs. Now, it takes an average of 37 days to import and 31 days to export goods in Sub Saharan Africa, compared to less than 20 days to import and export in North Africa, Latin America and South East Asia. The difference is even greater for landlocked countries, where the averages are 50 days to import and 40 days to export.
Regional integration is more than trade. Greater regional integration has a vital role to play in helping countries move beyond conflict. In the Great Lakes Region, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa, we’re designing programs that will help entire regions, including support for multi-country sustainable energy projects and improvements to cross-border trading, which promote peace and stability. These efforts, in partnership with the United Nations and institutions such as the Islamic Development Bank, are accompanied by strategic dialogue and development diplomacy. We’re also looking to expand this regional approach to countries in the Middle East.
The take-aways from four dozen papers on conflict and fragility in Africa in under 2,000 words (World Bank Blogs)
Three pointers on Trade:
With cross-country data, Calì & Mulabdic suggest that a rise in exported commodity prices is associated with more (and longer) conflict, but that intense trade with neighbors is associated with less.
Food prices can simultaneously increase and decrease violence: rising consumer prices increase armed conflict in food-deficit areas, while higher producer prices reduce civil conflict in food-surplus areas, using global food price shifts (McGuirk & Burke).
In case you doubted that informal is normal, as much as 97% of trade between Algeria and Mali is informal, argue Benassi et al. as they seek to measure the difficult-to-measure.
The Revised SADC RISDP and plans for market integration and industrial development going forward (tralac)
The plans to shelve and reassess the linear integration model is a welcome development as it will help to ascertain the viability of continuing on this track that SADC has been on, given its position in a dynamically evolving world of regional integration frameworks. In this regard, the launch of the TFTA and also of negotiations towards the CFTA this week and next week, respectively, will be instructive for plans for the region in its quest to effectively integrate into these arrangements. [The author: William Mwanza]
Today is 'Budget Day' in East Africa: selected previews
Kenya: Treasury has achieved some targets but it has more to go (Daily Nation)
Kenya: Treasury’s Sh2.2 trillion budget signals tax pain (Business Daily)
Tanzania: Mkuya’s balancing act (The Citizen)
Uganda: Is the economy big enough to bankroll Shs24 trillion Budget? (Daily Monitor)
Uganda: Museveni launches National Development Plan today (New Vision)
AGOA: African textile exports may reach $4 billion under US trade deal (AJOT)
“Ten years is a game-changer,” said Gail Strickler, assistant United States trade representative for textiles and apparel, adding the extension could be passed “imminently”. “Africa should be able to quadruple its exports, literally without a lot of trouble, creating another 500,000 new jobs.” Last year, U.S. clothing imports from sub-Saharan countries reached $986 million, up nearly six percent from 2013, as countries such as Lesotho, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania participated in the program.
Developing countries face tough transition in 2015 (World Bank)
Developing countries face a series of tough challenges in 2015, including the looming prospect of higher borrowing costs as they adapt to a new era of low prices for oil and other key commodities, resulting in a fourth consecutive year of disappointing economic growth this year, says the World Bank Group’s latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, low oil prices have considerably reduced growth in commodity-exporting countries (Angola, Nigeria), and have also slowed activity in non-oil sectors. Although South Africa is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries of low oil prices, growth is being held back by energy shortages, weak investor confidence amid policy uncertainty, and by the anticipated gradual tightening of monetary and fiscal policy. Growth in the region is forecast to slow to 4.2 percent, slower than previously expected. This mainly reflects a reassessment of prospects in Nigeria and Angola following the sharp drop in oil prices, and in South Africa, because of ongoing difficulties in electricity supply. For 2016-17, growth is expected to be only marginally higher as these challenges partially offset stronger trading partner growth and the continued expansion in the region’s low-income countries. [Economy and region specific forecasts and data]
Understanding South Africa’s current account deficit: the role of foreign direct investment income (AfDB)
This article unpacks the contribution of the investment income balance to South Africa’s current account deficit post-1994 and places it within the context of South Africa’s balance of payments and FDI history. It highlights the prominence of net investment income payments made to foreign direct investors in driving South Africa’s current account deficit (37% between 2004-2013). During the same period net payments to all other investors accounted for 14.5% of the deficit. [The author: Ilan Strauss]
@WorldBank: On 6/12 find out which South African cities are easiest for SMEs to do business
India prepares for World Bank’s Doing Business test (LiveMint)
Will India succeed in improving its ranking in the next edition of the Doing Business report published by the World Bank? The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) believes it has done enough in the past one year to move the country up in the rankings, but not enough to make it to the desired Top 50 countries in the world in terms of doing business. The Union government made its case before a mission from the World Bank on Monday.
Private participation in infrastructure: 2014 figures (World Bank)
Total infrastructure investments in 139 emerging economies – for projects with private participation in the energy, transport and water sectors – rose to US$107.5 billion in 2014, driven largely by increasing activity in Brazil, according to an update released today to the World Bank Group’s “Private Participation in Infrastructure” database. The data, covering the period from 1990 to 2014, reviews more than 6,000 projects across 139 low- and middle-income economies, providing a rich source of data on private infrastructure investment in emerging markets.
“Our update reveals that the top five countries with the highest investment commitments in 2014 are Brazil, Turkey, Peru, Colombia and India,” said Clive Harris, Practice Manager, Public-Private Partnerships, World Bank Group. “These five countries together attracted US$78 billion, representing 73 percent of the investment commitments in the developing world in 2014.”
This report provides an overview of the maritime transport situation in SIDS and presents data on relevant aspects, including shipping connectivity levels, direct and indirect shipping services, port issues, as well as trade structure and patterns. Relevant cross-cutting concerns such as SIDS high dependency on fossil fuel energy imports, exposure to climate change impacts and natural disasters as well as financial and human capacity constraints are also addressed.
International policy coordination for development: the forgotten legacy of Bretton Woods (author: Eric Helleiner, UNCTAD)
SADC holds counter-terrorism strategy workshop (StarAfrica)
This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 300 recipients across Africa and internationally, serving in the AU, RECS, national government trade departments and research and development agencies. Your feedback is most welcome. Any suggestions that our recipients might have of items for inclusion are most welcome. Richard Humphries (Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @richardhumphri1)
