The selection: Friday, 24 July

Changes in foreign investment in South Africa: a ‘Friends’ perspective (tralac)

This paper provides an update on South Africa’s foreign investment position through to and including the December 2012 year with respect to the old, new and good friends of the EU and USA; the BRICs of Brazil, Russia, India and China; and Africa, respectively. While this paper examines the ‘big picture’ only it does raise some interesting questions as to what is driving some of these recent developments. Especially important for the South African economy is the investment relationship with China, as this is the overwhelming development in the last few years. Similarly, but in a less dramatic manner, the steadily increasing South African investments in the African continent suggest than a more detailed analysis of these investments is likely to reveal some interesting stories at the firm level. [The author: Ron Sandrey]

AGOA: remarks by President Obama at White House reception celebrating AGOA (The White House)

The ties to Africa here in the United States obviously are deep; they are long; they're complicated. There have been times where there have been misunderstandings, and there have been times where there have been suspicions. But when you look at every survey, it turns out that the people of Africa love the United States and what it stands for. Perhaps unmatched on any continent. And what's also interesting about the surveys is, is that when they look to see who are the happiest and most optimistic of people, what's amazing is, is that Africans always rank high, despite poverty, despite conflict. There is a strength and a resilience there.

Where Barack Obama treads US business plans to follow (Financial Times)

Jas Bedi, chairman of the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation, says Agoa’s renewal, which is longer than previous four-year extensions, marks a huge chance for Africa. “This is the first time we’ve got a 10-year window to the finish line: you wouldn’t justify large investments in the value chain because of the [previous] four-year window,” he said. “We can see a lot of investment coming in the region now as a result.”

Kenya to ink lucrative deals with US ahead of summit (Business Daily)

Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed said on Thursday most of the deals would target infrastructure and health sectors as well as cooperation in taxation and emigration. The agreements, to be signed Friday afternoon, will signal a deepening of economic ties between the Kenya and the US ahead of President Barack Obama’s arrival Friday evening.

Global Entrepreneurship Summit should help Kenya fix its economy’s crucial ‘missing middle’ (Business Daily)

ACP-EU relations after 2020 (CTA)

This report is the result of a series of Expert Round Tables held in March 2015, the first phase of a two-stage consultation process launched by the European Union on ACP-EU relations after 2020. One hundred and three experts from EU academia, think-tanks, the private sector, Civil Society organisations, EU Institutions and EU Member States were consulted through a process of Round Table discussions. Participants attempted to identify essential elements of a good partnership, with mutual trust featuring high on the list. A future agreement should take into account factors such as i) the changes that have taken place in global geo-politics, ii) new emerging challenges and regional dynamics, iii) the heterogeneity of the partners, iv) the Cotonou acquis, v) shared universal values, vi) EU specific and mutual ACP-EU interests and, finally, vii) the flexibility needed to deal with changing circumstances.

Egypt's trade deficit grows 52.7% in April: CAPMAS (Ahram)

Egypt's trade balance deficit reached LE24.6 billion in April of 2015, representing a 52.7 percent increase compared to LE16.11 billion in the same month last year, the state-run statistical body CAPMAS reported on Tuesday. State exports valued LE14 billion in April, declining from LE17.26 billion in April 2014, due to a drop in the price of certain goods such as crude oil, petroleum products and primary form plastics. Meanwhile, imports' value rose by 15.67 percent, jumping to LE38.7 billion, from LE33.37 billion during the same month last year.

Uganda: Government unveils export strategy (Daily Monitor)

Presenting the National Export Development Strategy for the financial year 2015/16-2019/20 early this week, Mr Emmanuel Mutahunga, the principal commercial officer at the Ministry of Trade said production of traditional crops has stagnated with some falling; something which he said raises serious concerns if it is not addressed. In his presentation, total exports for last year dropped to $2.6b from $2.8b the year before—2013, resulting into continued widening of Uganda’s trade imbalance, which has had serious impact on the country’s economic fundamentals, including weakening the Shilling and inflationary pressures. [Background]

Uganda: Car importers peg prices to dollar amid falling Shilling (Daily Monitor)

Uganda: Nakumatt to buy Shoprite (Daily Monitor)

Supermarket giant Nakumatt Holdings has finalised plans to buy two stores owned by South African retail chain Shoprite. In an interview in Nairobi on Tuesday, Mr Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, the Nakumatt Holdings head of strategy and operations, told Kenyan-based Business Daily, a sister newspaper to Daily Monitor, that the “retail chain will sign the deal in less than two weeks”. The buyout will mark the exit of the South African retail giant from the East African market having sold its three Tanzanian outlets to Nakumatt for a reported Shs124b.

Zambia to issue $2 billion government Eurobond (The Post)

Zambia plans to issue a 10 year Eurobond which could reach as high as $2 billion which will be used to fund its budget deficit which has recently increased due to a fall in the global copper market. This is considered to be one of Africa’s largest international bonds.  Zambia's budget deficit is expected to grow to as much as $2.64 billion by the end of 201, considerably more than initial estimates made earlier this year. This will be Zambia’s third Eurobond in as many years. The continent’s second largest copper producer entered into the international capital markets with a debut $750 million bond in 2012 and a $1 billion bond last year.

Nairobi meeting to propose new ideas on Africa’s agriculture and food security (UNECA)

The ECA, AU, ICRAF and other technical partners across Africa are meeting in Nairobi on 22-24 July 2015 on farming systems reforms in Africa. The meeting is expected to produce a comprehensive, up-to-date forward-looking strategy on African farming systems for policy and decision makers, research organisations, development actors and investors. The expert group will base their discussions on ECA’s strategic report: ‘Rethinking Africa’s strategic agricultural commodities production systems in the new global context’ and on the book “Farming Systems and Food Security in Africa” to be published by Earthscan/Routledge later in 2015. Drawing from the ECA report and expert insights, the meeting will make recommendations and guidelines on how to turn emerging African production and food systems into a zero loss, zero waste, clean, closed loop economy towards 2063.

Biodiversity and climate change: integrating REDD+ into BioTrade strategies (UNCTAD)

A Great Green Wall for Southern Africa? (ICRAF) 

Rockefeller to support innovative ideas on post-harvest loss reduction (Daily Nation) 

Zambia: Cashew Infrastructure Development Project - SESA summary (AfDB)

The project is aimed at reviving the cashew industry by focusing on infrastructure development for the cashew value chain including cashew production, processing and marketing. The Project will aim at contributing to GoZ’s efforts of increasing crop diversification, productivity, processing and improving market linkages. CIDP will mainly contribute to core operational priority of infrastructure development and will ensure proper governance and accountability in its implementation. The Zambia cashew hub, in Western Province, is estimated to cover an area of about 1.3 million hectares with the potential to produce approximately 130,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts per annum.

Mauritius becomes 15 COMESA State to sign CAADP Compact (COMESA)

Mauritius has become the 15th COMESA member country to sign its national Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme Compact. The signing of a CAADP Compact symbolises a commitment to investment in consensually agreed key priority areas, and an overall vision for agricultural transformation. In Mauritius the signing sets the parameters for long-term partnership in the agricultural sector and also specifies key commitments on the part of government and development partners. In November last year, COMESA signed the Regional CAADP Compact with the cooperating partners involved in various aspects of its implementation at a ceremony held in Kinshasa, D R Congo. The regional compact contained a list of regional priority projects that cut across more than one COMESA Member State.

Seychelles: IMF Article IV Consultation report

The outlook for 2015 is positive, though substantial risks remain. In 2015, the authorities expect real GDP growth to accelerate modestly to 3.5 percent. Inflation is likely to be around 5 percent, with the effect of the depreciation of the exchange rate being partially offset by the decline in oil prices. The current account deficit is expected to contract to 15 percent of GDP in 2015, again largely reflecting the falling cost of petroleum imports. The US dollar value of tourism earnings has declined modestly, reflecting the pricing of most hotel tariffs in the weakening euro. Given the considerable reliance on tourism from Europe, Seychelles remains vulnerable to the faltering recovery in Europe. [Download]

Zimbabwe to hold investment conference in London (NewsDay)

Zimbabwe will hold an investment conference in London as it steps up efforts to lure foreign investors, a diplomat has said. Speaking at the launch of the Public Private Partnership (PPPs) yesterday British ambassador to Zimbabwe Catriona Laing said the country has received several delegations as there was a lot of interest in the country. Laing said an investment conference will be held in London at a date yet to be advised by the Office of the President and Cabinet.

Zimbabwe: Mobile transactions surpass $2bn in Jan-May (The Herald)

Mozambique’s GDP grew by 6% in 1st quarter (MacauHub)

Speaking on Wednesday at a question and answer session in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario said the preliminary figures indicated annual GDP growth of 6% in the first quarter of this year “which opens good prospects for meeting the target of 7.5% growth for 2015”. By June, the average 12 monthly inflation rate was 2.4%, he added, well below the target of an average inflation rate of 5.1% in the government's plans.

WTO: Deal could cut tariffs on $1 trillion in tech trade (Bloomberg)

Trade negotiators tentatively agreed on Saturday to eliminate tariffs on an array of technology products valued at $1 trillion worth of global commerce. The breakthrough toward the World Trade Organization’s Information Technology Agreement took place at an ambassadors’ meeting at the European Union embassy in Geneva. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office hailed a “major breakthrough” in what would be the first significant tariff-cutting deal at the WTO in 18 years.

ECOSOC approves texts on tax matters, least developed countries (UN)

The representative of Benin, speaking on behalf of the Group of Least Developed Countries, expressed the good will and resolve of the Group to move forward. However, he underscored the many challenges they faced and emphasized that such challenges should be taken into account in all intergovernmental processes. Development partners must honour their commitments. “We need the support of all,” he stressed.

On tax matters, the Council adopted, without a vote, a draft decision orally presented by the representative of South Africa on the “Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters”. By that text, the Council took note of the report of the Committee on its tenth session as well as of the report of the Secretary-General on further strengthening the work of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

Special report: 'Africa - the billions that got away' (TrustAfrica, Mail and Guardian Africa)

Many, including ourselves at TrustAfrica, have always been cautious about the over dramatised narrative of “Africa Rising” especially as it mostly uses Gross Domestic Product as a measure of growth. Other Human Development indicators such as Gross National Income, access to affordable health care, education, and decent jobs are rarely considered in the ongoing optimism surrounding Africa. [Download]

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This week in the news

Catch up on tralac’s daily news selections for the past week:

The selection: Thursday, 23 July 2015

The selection: Wednesday, 22 July 2015

The selection: Tuesday, 21 July 2015

The selection: Monday, 20 July 2015

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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)