News
tralac’s Daily News selection: 24 June 2015
The selection: Wednesday, 24 June
Featured tweets, @DonatBagula: 4 member states - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan - to establish the corridor management institution; Delighted to notice that Northern Corridor agreement is used as benchmark
TFTA Legal Texts and Policy Documents: documents from the Summit and the text of the final TFTA Agreement are now available in the four official languages - English, Arabic, French and Portuguese
Tripartite has secured $4.5m for infrastructure (COMESA)
The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite has secured an USD 4.5m grant from the NEPAD – Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility. Out of this facility, USD 1.7m will go to Botswana to implement infrastructure projects that will strengthen trade between COMESA and SADC. Secretary General of COMESA Sindiso Ngwenya said the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Project Preparation and Implementation Unit (PPIU) hosted in the COMESA Secretariat was collaborating with Ministry of Transport and Communications in Botswana for the improvements of two roads sections on the North South Corridor that will further strengthen the trade exchange between Tripartite RECs and Botswana.
COMESA immigration chiefs meet (COMESA)
Heads of Immigration from COMESA Member States are meeting in Lusaka today for a two day meeting to address the implementation of the COMESA Protocol on free movement of people and the right to establishment. This is their ninth meeting and will focus on three things and consider a report of a Task force that conducted a study on the implementation of the protocol in eight selected countries in the region. "Whereas many countries have signed and ratified Free Trade Area for goods, they have not done the same for the movement of business people who are the owners of these goods," Mr Ngwenya noted.
Industrialists in Mombasa seek access to new regional market (Coast Week)
Kenya’s manufacturers have called for the opening up of markets as industry consolidates its market position as a leading industrial hub in East Africa. Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) CEO Designate Phyllis Wakiaga said international trade plays a great role in growing the manufacturing sector and the economy as a whole, and needs to be increased. "The trend on Kenya’s export in the EAC market and in the region is mainly attributed to various trade hindrances, such as charging full Common External Tariff duty rates by customs authorities from other Partner States and various Non Tariff Barriers," Wakiaga said. Over the last two years, statistics from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics have shown that Kenya’s exports to the region have been declining by about 7%.
South Africa: Impact of the new immigration regulations on the travel and tourism industry (Tourism Business Council)
In 2014, South Africa's tourism industry lost direct spend of R886 million due to the changed immigration regulations. This spend figure only includes what the tourists would have spent whilst in South Africa and excludes spend in the generating country before departure. The total direct, indirect and induced impact on the South African economy in 2014 was a negative R2,6 billion and a potential loss of more than 5 800 jobs. In 2015, the number of lost foreign tourists due to changes in the immigration regulations is likely to increase to 100 000, with a direct tourism spend of R1,4 billion and the total net loss to the South African GDP of around R4,1 billion and a loss of 9 300 jobs.
South Africa tourism eyes East Africa market (Daily Monitor)
Number of Chinese visitors increases (The Namibian)
The Namibia Tourism Board said the number of Chinese tourists who visited Namibia has increased from 9 910 in 2013 to 11 583 in 2014.
Chinese airline to launch Nairobi route (The Standard)
Kenya: US visa applicants hit by delays over biometric data hitch (Business Daily)
Draft laws to boost aviation, says lobby (Daily Nation)
Africa has been urged to learn from the mistakes made by the European Union and the US in terms of aviation laws that curtailed, instead of boosting, the sector. This, an official has said, can be achieved by developing smarter regulation using best practice principles such as full consultation, consideration of unintended consequences, and a proportional approach. Speaking at an aviation day ceremony in Nairobi, Iata Director General Tony Tyler regretted that there were some instances when African countries have not been following smarter regulation principles.
Key statistics and trends in trade policy 2014 (UNCTAD)
International trade is increasingly regulated and influenced by a wide array of policies and instruments reaching beyond tariffs. As of 2013, technical measures and requirements regulate about two-thirds of world trade, while various forms of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) are applied to almost the totality of agricultural trade. Non-technical measures such as quantity and price measures still affect almost 30 per cent of trade flows, often in economic sectors of importance for developing countries. The past few years have also seen an increase in the use of trade defence measures within the WTO framework.
External evaluation of UNCTAD Peer Reviews on Competition Policy
Six countries were chosen for in-depth study. These are: Serbia, Nicaragua, Indonesia and the three countries in Africa under the tripartite review, namely Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. [UNCTAD peer review mechanism for competition law: 10 years of existence]
Currency deal to drive trade (Southern Times)
The business community at the once thriving northern border town of Oshikango says the currency exchange agreement between Angola and Namibia is a welcome relief, which is likely to rescue their businesses that had been teetering on the brink of collapse during the past six months. But they remain unsure about how the Currency Conversion Agreement is going to be implemented in the long run from its inception on Thursday.
Tanzania, Zambia sign key road transport agreement (Daily News)
Tanzania and Zambia have signed bilateral agreements on road transport services aimed at promoting trade between the two countries by removing non-tariff barriers to trade. Tanzania's Minister for Finance, Ms Saada Mkuya Salum and Zambia Minister for Transport, Works, Supply and Communications, Mr Yamfwa Mukanga, signed here a bilateral agreement on regulation of cross border trade and another on passengers road transport. The agreements would also put in a mechanism for promoting acceptance of harmonised vehicle and driver qualification standards and road traffic safety and improving the efficiency of permit issuance, border control procedures and operation and maintenance of transport and trade data bases.
Tanzania: Govt set to reopen blocked wildlife corridors, inks USD14 million pact (The Citizen)
Kenya: How cargo clearance will change from July 1 (Business Daily)
After nearly five years of planning, the Kenya Tradenet System, the electronic platform for lodging trade documents and making payments becomes fully operational next Wednesday. The system that is in use in Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Tunisia and Ghana is expected to boost transparency in cargo clearance, and at the same time improve revenue collection. KenTrade, an agency formed in 2011 to implement the system, says cross-border trade is headed for a radical shift. Sandra Chao-Blasto talked to KenTrade acting chief executive Amos Wangora on uptake of the electronic system and its benefits.
South Africa: concluding statement of an IMF Staff Visit (IMF)
The structural primary balance is projected to improve by 1% of GDP over three years. This, coupled with GDP rebasing, a better-than-anticipated FY14/15 outcome, and lower budgeted transfers to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries, should stabilize debt at about 50% of GDP by FY19/20 (lower than the 56% of GDP projected in the 2014 Article IV and close to the 2015 Budget). But the planned sharp deceleration in spending growth in FY16/17 and the use of the contingency reserve to accommodate higher public wages makes achieving the authorities’ targets a tall order.
Namibia, De Beers ready to sign new diamond deal (The Namibian)
The government and De Beers are ready to sign a new sales agreement, President Hage Geingob and CEO of De Beers Group, Philippe Mellier said yesterday. Geingob said the government was 'happy' with its relationship with De Beers but refused to say when the two parties will sign the agreement. Mellier said the current diamond deal was 'working well' for both parties. “We have dozens of years of production left at sea,” he said on marine-based operations in the Atlantic Ocean. “It's a good business for all of us,” he added. By his estimation, marine diamond mining could last for up to 50 years.
Nigeria eyes over $25.5bn revenue from industrial revolution plan (StarAfrica)
The Permanent Secretary in Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Abdulkadir Musa, has said that the Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) is targeting to generate about N5 trillion (about $25.5bn) as revenue from the manufacturing sector over the next three to five years. Speaking at the Chief Executive Officers’ Roundtable of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) President’s Forum in Abuja on Monday, Musa explained that NIRP was the Federal Government’s strategy for meeting the emergent challenge of unemployment as well as a roadmap for Nigeria’s real sector industrialisation.
SON, ARSO and African trade facilitation (ThisDay)
Zimbabwe: CZI: 'Speed up business corrective measures' (The Herald)
Western Cape trade mission to strengthen ties with Ghana (JacarandaFM)
SAA increases Maputo flights (IOL)
Kenya: Experts warn of rough times for the shilling (Daily Nation)
Tanzania: House passes Budget as shilling falls further (The Citizen)
Spanish billionaire targets West African Banks (ThisDay)
The Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC: 'Why we need to think about peace and security' (New Times)
'Tanzania borrowing page from Ethiopia on Commodity Exchange Market' (IPPMedia)
Tanzania: World Bank mobilizes US$100 million to promote transparency and open governance reforms
Budget reform before and after the global financial crisis (OECD)
This paper aims to contribute to the reconfiguration of the budgeting reform agenda to meet the needs of the challenging post-GFC environment. To this end, it reviews major themes of the reform agenda inherited from the past and assesses their continuing relevance. It also examines some of the emerging responses to the new context in which governments and their MOFs are now operating. Selected key issues and directions for future reforms are identified. The structure of the paper is as follows:
Senator Elizabeth Warren: 'Trade agreements should not benefit industry only' (Boston Globe)
Recently Hillary Clinton joined Nancy Pelosi and many others in Congress to call on the president to reorient our trade policy so that it produces a good deal for all Americans — not just for a handful of big corporations. Here’s a realistic starting point: Fix the way we enforce trade agreements to ensure a level playing field for everyone. Many of our close allies — major trading partners like Australia, Germany, France, India, South Africa, and Brazil — are already moving in this direction. American negotiators should stop fighting those efforts and start leading them.
BRICS business forum for enhanced partnerships (Russia and India Report)
The BRICS Business Forum met for the first time as part of the 19th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), in the run-up to the BRICS Summit that will take place in Ufa next month. Chaired by Sergei Katyrin, president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the session saw an exciting discussion on the future of BRICS as a political and economic platform, given the bloc’s rising share in the world economy. Russia’s roadmap includes 50 projects that may be implemented on a multilateral basis.
The First Inter-regional Forum of Small and Mid-Sized Businesses of the SCO and BRICS will be held at Ufa in October, 2015. The countries have agreed to create a BRICS regional Council. All institutions created within BRICS will aim to remove existing administrative barriers, including customs, registration, certification and technical regulation, insurance, visa regulations and other issues.
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)
