News
tralac’s Daily News selection: 9 July 2015
The selection: Thursday, 9 July
Azevêdo: members must consider best path to success in Nairobi (WTO)
“Considering everything I have heard from members over the last three weeks, I see very little prospect of delivering a detailed and substantive work programme by the end of July. Nevertheless, we must keep working. Whether we can deliver a work programme is in the hands of the members and their ability to bring forward new proposals in the coming days which will pave the way to find consensus.”
EAC urged to speak against farm subsidies (Business Daily)
Agriculture experts have urged the government to use the World Trade Organisation forum to be held in Nairobi to rally developing countries against price support and export subsidies that rich nations offer their farmers. “The subsidy distorts the market and there is need to relook at this policy to address the matter,” said Jamie Morrison, a senior economist with the Food and Agriculture Organisation Kenya. Mr Morrison made the remarks on Wednesday during a two-day workshop aimed at coming up with recommendations to be submitted at the conference.
Delays along key SADC trade corridors costing ‘billions’ in trade – study (Engineering News)
A reduction in delays along Southern Africa’s three busiest trade corridors – the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, between Namibia, Botswana and South Africa; the North–South corridor, between Tanzania and South Africa; and the Maputo Corridor, between Mozambique and South Africa – would significantly boost overland fleet capacity and potentially lift the value of trade between the frontier markets by “billions”, a recent [CBRTA] study found. Based on hypothetical interventions to reduce delays on only the South African portion of each of the regional corridors, the Maputo Corridor would realise the most dramatic return-on-investment, with the implementation of interventions along the South African portion of this corridor expected to increase the trade value through the Lebombo border post by about five times.
What is the future of Tripartite FTA negotiations on movement of business persons? (tralac)
Whereto from here for negotiations on movement of business persons? Article 45 allows Members to conclude protocols “in any other trade-related matters”, which could then also include movement of business persons. However, seeing that such an arrangement is no longer required for the conclusion of Phases I and II of the negotiations, Members may now decide to address issues relating to the liberalisation of movement of business persons as part of the negotiations on trade in services. It also means that the focus of the separate legal instrument on measures facilitating movement business persons will be limited to measures such as relaxation of visa and permit procedures and requirements. [The author: JB Cronje]
Scheduled to take place from 7 – 9 July 2015 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, the Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa conference will convene Ministers and senior government officials responsible for Home Affairs in the 15 SADC Member States as part of regional efforts to improve the capacity of SADC Member States in systematically addressing mixed and irregular migration. Themed “Addressing Mixed and Irregular Migration in the SADC Region: Protection of the Unaccompanied Migrant Child”, the 2015 MIDSA Conference will apprise Member States on the current trends on mixed and irregular migration in the region, especially that of unaccompanied migrant children, as well update stakeholders on the contents and status of the Draft Regional Action Plan drawn up to address mixed and irregular migration in the region.
Scrap visa requirements, Mzembi urges Zimbabwe (The Herald)
Zimbabwe should scratch entry visa requirements if it is to meaningfully achieve its $5 billion income from the tourism industry, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi told Parliament yesterday. “If we are to meet the $5 billion economy, we have to review the aspect of regulation of entry through visas. What we dream for Africa, if vision 2063 is to succeed, it is free movement of people. If you enter Cape (Town), you should have entered Cairo,” said Minister Mzembi. His dream, said Minister Mzembi was to have an electronic passport and visa by 2020. A pilot project, he said, had since started in Zambia and would cascade to selected SADC countries.
Kenya, SA in bid to end visa rules row (Business Daily)
South Africa’s top immigration officials are expected in Nairobi in the next three weeks to review bilateral visa rules that could pave the way for issuance of free passes at major airports from September. Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed said the South African team would be in Kenya between August 3 and 5. “We are going to discuss whether they (South Africans) will be affected by the regulations or we have a special regime with them,” Ms Mohamed told the Business Daily in an interview on Wednesday. “But this must be on reciprocity basis. We have already made our position known to them. There is no way we are going to pay for visa and wait for a week,” she said.
Ahead of next week's Addis FFD conference: a collection of updates
IMF: Revisiting the Monterrey Consensus
IDS: Trust is key to building tax capacity for future development financing
Brookings: Empowering families to finance development with remittances and diaspora savings
Final draft of the outcome document for the UN Summit to adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda
ECOSOC: ministers commit to ‘people-centred’ post-2015 development agenda
East African currency updates:
Tanzania: Is dollarisation a monster that has defied BoT? (The Citizen)
Here is why the Uganda Shilling is weakening (Daily Monitor)
Steep price rises loom as shilling defies CBK action (Business Daily)
Ethiopia: Overcoming constraints in Ethiopia’s manufacturing sector (World Bank)
The Ethiopian economy has continued a remarkable expansion with the gross domestic product (GDP) growing by an average 10.9% in the past decade, compared to a 5.4% average throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet with 75% of jobs in labor-intensive agriculture, this growth is not reaching everyone. Addressing the challenges to a flourishing manufacturing industry will expand benefits to more Ethiopians, and support the government’s plans to become a manufacturing powerhouse, according to the new Ethiopia Economic Update, Overcoming Constraints in Ethiopia’s Manufacturing Sector. The update’s focus on addressing barriers to expanding the manufacturing sector and creating jobs comes amid challenges to diversifying the economy. Several constraints such as limited access to credit and land, and unreliable electricity make it difficult for entrepreneurs in Ethiopia to start new companies. The country’s complicated tax requirements and burdensome customs and trade-related regulations drive up costs for small and large companies alike and discourage foreign investors, according to the report. [Download]
The depreciation of the exchange rate and its implications for manufacturing industry (Bank of Uganda)
Unfortunately there is little prospect for substantial improvement in the external economic environment in 2015/16. Global economic growth is forecast to remain weak and there is no immediate prospect of a recovery in demand from South Sudan, which is our largest export market. Nevertheless, I expect a modest improvement in the BOP in this fiscal year for two reasons. [The author: Prof Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile is the Governor of the Bank of Uganda]
Global manufacturing sustains low growth amid further slowdown in China (UNIDO)
World manufacturing sustained low growth during the first quarter of 2015 as a further slowdown in manufacturing output was observed in key emerging industrial economies, especially in China. Global manufacturing output rose by 2.8%, according to a report released by UNIDO. The repercussions of low growth in Europe were apparent in Africa, which relies heavily on exporting to Europe. The manufacturing output of the Africa continent in the first quarter grew by a mere 2.1 percent. In Morocco, it rose by the modest rate of 2.3%, in Senegal by 1.3% and in South Africa by 0.8%. [Download]
Despite poverty’s plunge, middle-class status remains out of reach for many (Pew Research Centre)
Africa is the poorest region overall, with more than nine-in-ten people who are poor or low income in almost all 30 countries studied. Only in Seychelles, Tunisia, South Africa, Morocco and Egypt were one-in-five people or more either middle income or better off in 2011. And only Tunisia and Morocco experienced notable growth in the shares of their middle-income population from 2001 to 2011, from 17% to 27% in Tunisia and from 11% to 19% in Morocco. In Egypt, the share of middle-income people increased from 17% in 2001 to 21% in 2011, and in South Africa the share rose from 11% to 14%.
Regional livestock policy framework developed (COMESA)
The COMESA Secretariat in collaboration with the African Union – Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is holding a two day regional workshop in Lusaka, Zambia for the validation of the COMESA Livestock Policy Framework. The COMESA Secretariat has been requested by the Fifth Joint Ministerial meeting for agriculture and natural resources to produce and implement a livestock policy framework that will help and guide the Member States to raise livestock production and productivity to a level that meets the projected demands. The COMESA Livestock Policy Framework will therefore act as a guide for the Member States and the region to:
Textilers want Chinese products banned (NewsDay)
The Zimbabwe Textile Manufacturers, Association (ZITMA) wants a complete ban on polyester knitted fabric and finished blankets entering the country to protect the textile industry from collapse. The move comes as cheap imports, mainly from China, were flooding the market establish suffocating local industries. “With immediate effect the tariff codes that carry duty of 10% should be aligned with the tariffs codes that carry duty of 40% plus $2,50 per kg or we request a complete ban on polyester knitted fabric and finished blankets entering Zimbabwe,” the association told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce yesterday.
Cooking oil producers fend off imports (Financial Gazette)
Zimbabwean cooking oil producers have stepped up production and reviewed prices, warding off competition from imports, an official with an industrial body has said. Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) vice president, Henry Nemaire said local cooking oil producers had gained a significant market share, and were now highly competitive.
Imports ruin local drugs firms (Financial Gazette)
Maersk sees 10% East African freight growth as harbors develop (Bloomberg)
Cotton farmer numbers in Sofala province on the decline (Club of Mozambique)
Investment protection in Southern Africa (WilmerHale)
Rural smallholder farmers have big potential to reduce agriculture's carbon footprint (IFAD)
African Peace Facility: annual report 2014 (EU)
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