News
tralac’s Daily News selection: 18 August 2015
The selection: Tuesday, 18 August
SADC Heads of State and Government Summit: updates
Closing remarks by President Khama
The people of Southern African would not judge us by the adoption of key strategic documents, but rather by the outcomes achieved, following implementation. I therefore call upon all of us to implement agreed priorities in these strategic plans in order to improve the well-being of our peoples. It goes without saying that we need each other if we are to prosper as a region. The Summit has also adopted other important decisions that cut across sectors. It is necessary to have these decisions implemented in good time.
Acceptance speech by President Khama
President Zuma hands over chairship of SADC Organ
SADC has to develop ordinary people - Dr Geingob
IGAD: Agreement on the resolution of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan
North-South Corridor: Chisali-Nakonde road rehabilitation project appraisal report (AfDB)
The road has progressively deteriorated despite these maintenance interventions. The poor condition of the road is detrimental to the movement of goods and services. In late 2014, emergency maintenance works were undertaken to ensure the road is not adversely affected by the rains, and as such a major intervention is now required to ensure the critical route does not present a transit bottleneck for trade in the region. The total project cost is estimated as USD 255.76 million, to be financed by the Bank (USD 193 million), AGTF (USD 50 million) and GRZ (USD 12.76 million).
Northern Corridor: Road upgrade to boost regional trade (Daily Nation)
Training workshop on trade in services negotiations for AU-CFTA negotiators: the programme is posted
AU tasks ARSO strategies to achieve free trade in 2017 (This Day)
Foreign investment in Angola no longer has minimum value (Macauhub)
The minimum value for a private investment in Angola is now set at 50 million kwanzas for domestic investments and at any amount for foreign investments, according to the New Private Investment Law, approved on 11 August (Law 14/15).
Investments in Angola will be faster with new law (Macauhub)
Angola asks citizens to curb foreign currency use amid shortage (Bloomberg)
Retreat of foreign investment from Africa means less looting: Gaming, naming and shaming ‘licit financial flows’ (Triple Crisis)
The meeting in Harare was dedicated to fighting illegal capital flight from across the African continent. But would some of the region’s sharpest economic-justice NGOs take the next step and also consider fighting legal financial outflows – in the form of profits and dividends sent to TransNational Corporate (TNC) headquarters, profits drawn from minerals and oil ripped from the African soil? [Download]
South Africa’s changing demographic could lift growth to 5.4% by 2030 (World Bank)
The report shows that if in the next 15 years enough jobs could be created to absorb new entrants and lower the unemployment rate by three-quarters, and if vocational training could be used to retool the long-term unemployed to make them more attractive to employ, and if education improved so new entrants to the workforce are better equipped for the modern workplace, real GDP growth would accelerate to 5.4% per year, enough to allow per capita income to double and extreme poverty to be virtually eliminated by 2030. It also contends that South Africa will need to take policy action along several fronts to realize this potential. [Download]
ANC's National General Council documentation (includes a chapter on economic issues)
Zimbabwe: Strengthening institutions of transparency and accountability project (AfDB)
The project’s broad development objective is to improve transparency and accountability in the public sector and promote gender equality for inclusive and sustainable economic development. The specific objective is to improve institutional capacity and effectiveness of institutions of public oversight and accountability. The project has three mutually reinforcing components: (i) improved capacity and effectiveness of Parliament; (ii) enhanced capacity and effectiveness of the Office of Auditor General; and (iii) Project management support.
Swaziland: EU sugar prices dropped by 50% (Observer)
Though the European Union has been a lucrative market for Swazi sugar, the price received by the local industry has dropped by about 50 percent in a space of two years. Swaziland Cane Growers Association Chief Executive Officer Sipho Nkambule said up to now Swazi cane growers have not felt the full impact of the price decline. He said the cushion has been provided by factors such as exchange rate and alternative markets.
Namibia to export bone-in beef to China (The Namibian)
Namibia will be the first African country to export bone-in beef to China after the two countries signed a protocol on veterinary health conditions and quarantine in Beijing, China, this week. The Chinese market, as opposed to the European Union, Switzerland and Norway markets, will allow for the export of bone-in beef, provided that the animals are slaughtered and the beef is processed and certified at an export-approved slaughterhouse or abattoir by the directorate of veterinary services.
Sugar shortage looms as cheap imports row rages (Business Daily)
Kenya’s stocks of sugar have fallen below normal levels, causing a creeping shortage in the market, the sugar sector regulator said yesterday, adding a new dimension to the raging public debate over sugar imports. The volume of sugar stocks in all the 11 factories stood at 3,678 tonnes last Friday, way below the 9,000 tonnes that the millers are expected to hold at any given time, the Agriculture Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA) said.
Much ado about sugar, but times must change (editorial comment, The East African)
African Natural Resources Centre Strategy 2015-2020: revised version (AfDB)
This document translates the Concept Note (Annexure 1) approved by the Board in 2013 into a Strategy for the African Natural Resources Center. It is intended to operationalize the Center by putting its activities in the context of the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy (TYS) and that of relevant sector strategies already adopted by the Bank. The document provides a contextual overview of the natural resource environment in Africa and spells out the Center’s strategic approach to assisting governments manage the opportunities and challenges. The Strategy proposes a vision, mission, objective, strategic plan, products and an operating model for the Center. It seeks to complement and collaborate with departments of the Bank and regional initiatives such as those of the African Union.
WATH earmarks more than $62m to promote export trade in West Africa (Ghana Business News)
The misconceived trade tussle between Nigeria and the EU (ThisDay)
In an interesting twist of events last week, the federal government stated unequivocally that the strife and angst over the reported economic tension between Nigeria and the EU were mostly based on ignorance and misinformation both in the media and the public. According to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sonny Echono, the recent EU ban on the Nigerian goods was blown out of proportion.
This report reveals a shift in overall regional allocation priorities by donors towards middle income countries in Asia, whereas two-thirds of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are projected to receive less aid in 2017 than in 2014. The worrying trend of continued stagnation in programmed aid to heavily aid dependent countries calls for greater ambition to improve countries’ access to external development finance for the post-2015 development framework. The extent of aid predictability is mainly explained by donors’ own operational policies and procedures. The availability of forward estimates from donors’ own budget processes is a prerequisite for being predictable; however, other key factors determining whether this information is available and communicated with partner countries include donors’ legal and political frameworks, their organisational set-up, the status of their partnerships with countries, and the extent of systematic information exchange practices.
Mozambique may sell half its public companies (Club of Mozambique)
Namibia: Dark clouds loom over agri-sector...urgent relief offered for small stock producers (New Era)
Kenya exempts US agency from taxes to increase investment (Business Daily)
East Africa: Regional tourism forum set for Friday (Daily Nation)
Tanzania: July Monthly Economic Review (Bank of Tazania)
SUBSCRIBE
To receive the link to tralac’s Daily News Selection via email, please click here to subscribe.
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)
