News
tralac’s Daily News selection: 7 September 2015
The selection: Monday, 7 September
On Wednesday, in Berlin: Africa Forum 2015 - 'Africa Beyond 2015' (OECD)
Organised by the OECD Development Centre and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, in collaboration with German Federal Foreign Office and in partnership with the African Union Commission, the 2015 edition will focus on Africa’s development agenda beyond 2015. It will do so in light of the debates on Sustainable Development Goals and Financing for Development, the impact of the continent’s future demographic development on its economic transformation, and the policy responses to climate change. [Concept notes, Background documents]
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors: communiqué
We reiterate our commitment to move toward more market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals, and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments. We will refrain from competitive devaluations, and resist all forms of protectionism. We will implement fiscal policies flexibly to take into account near-term economic conditions, so as to support growth and job creation, while putting debt as a share of GDP on a sustainable path. To this end, we will also continue to consider the composition of our budget expenditures and revenues to support productivity, inclusiveness and growth. We will carefully calibrate and clearly communicate our actions, especially against the backdrop of major monetary and other policy decisions, to minimize negative spillovers, mitigate uncertainty and promote transparency. [Download]
G20 Labour and Employment Ministers: Ankara Declaration (This declaration also provides links to various annexures: G20 Policy Priorities on Labour Income Share and Inequalities, Skills Strategy, Policy Principles for Promoting Better Youth Employment Outcomes, Framework on Promoting Quality Jobs, Principles for Effective Public Employment Services, Principles on Silver Economy and Active Ageing)
B20 Trade Taskforce Policy Paper (B20)
Expansion of the GVCs will potentially be one of the main drivers for the recovery of global trade growth. To enable GVCs, products need to cross borders multiple times; red tape in customs represents significant friction against such flows.
B20 recommendations to the G20: a summary (Other policy papers - on financing growth, infrastructure and investment, employment, anti-corruption, SMEs and entrepreneurship - prepared for last week's B20 conference can be downloaded here)
Turkey vow to serve as 'Africa's voice' at G20 (NBE)
The number of Turkish embassies in Africa, which was 12 in 2009, has reached 39 with trade volume of $23 billion between the two sides, according to the Ambassador. "Currently Turkish companies have invested $7bn in Africa of which $3bn is in Ethiopia. By doing so we are contributing in job creation and knowledge transfer to Africa. We have also provided 13,000 scholarships for Africans so far. Every year we are giving 1,000 scholarships for Africans," he said.
Luanda Declaration: official English version is now available
We [the African Governors of the IMF and the WBG] suggested few actions that the BWIs could undertake in support of our countries to achieve economic and export diversification by spurring innovation and technologies in higher-value sectors - including agriculture, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, services, data improvement, and capacity building - to unleash the spirit of entrepreneurship and drive Africa’s transformation. We proposed for Bank's support six regional transformative projects in energy and agriculture sectors; as well as a few innovative solutions to reduce Africa's growing infrastructure financing gap.
African Mining Vision: grooming home grown legal experts for the mining sector (AU)
Under the African Mining Legislation Atlas project, the World Bank Group and its formal partners the African Legal Support Facility and the University of Cape Town gathered African law students from around the continent for a 10 day training on the legal aspects of Africa’s mining sector. This year’s training also included the active attendance and participation of the African Union Commission (AUC), which presented the demands (needs) of the Africa Mining Vision and its implementation for home grown, well researched and tested solutions to the diverse challenges faced by African Union member States. By the end of the parallel sessions, the professors had agreed as a group to begin developing a series of short courses on the legal aspects of the mining sector in the first half of 2016. This consensus is the first piece in laying the foundation for the handover of the AMLA platform to an African institution.
Gerhard Erasmus: 'What is the Continental FTA mandate?' (tralac)
The negotiations to establish the CFTA will start by the middle of 2016. The indicative date for completing the first phase is the end of 2017. These negotiations will be about traditional matters as well as new approaches and challenges. It is important that the African Union and national officials responsible for the preparatory work grasp the essence of those novel aspects inherent in the CFTA initiative; which could make this arrangement a harbinger of true change. To replicate, once again, the old and trusted trade in goods agenda would be to miss a promising opportunity. The CFTA negotiations call for a bolder vision; it has the mandate to do so. The CFTA negotiations shall cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy, and shall be conducted in two phases. The first phase shall cover trade in goods and trade in services; for which there shall be two separate legal instruments. The second phase has to produce agreements on the remaining areas. [Download]
This Trade Brief argues that the private sector has a vital stake in the effective and lawful implementation of regional trade agreements such as the SADC Protocol on Trade. It sets out to explain why this is so and what the consequences of non-implementation are. There is a need for more concerted action on their part to advance efforts for proper rules-based trade arrangements, for the concomitant benefits of due process, transparency and respect for the rule of law. Some ideas are offered on how this could be achieved.
Peg Murray-Evans: 'Regionalism and African agency: negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and SADC-Minus' (Third World Quarterly)
EAC pushes for long-term trade pact with the US to replace AGOA (The East African)
The East African Community is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the United States that will remove uncertainties surrounding the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The five member states have submitted their request to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modalities and the time to start negotiations on the pact. According to EAC Director General of Customs and Trade Peter Kiguta, the USTR is expected to present the request at the next US Congress meeting. If accepted, the region expects to increase the volume of trade and the number of products exported to the US. “For EAC partner states to expand their trade partnership with the US market, there has to be a reciprocal free trade agreement like the one with the European Union,” said Mr Kiguta.
35 of 54 heads of state to attend India-Africa summit (Times of India)
The summit will address major global issues like climate change, UNSC reforms and international terrorism. It will also focus on health issue and skill development keeping in mind the young population and ocean related economy of both India and Africa. MEA has gone into an overdrive to ensure the success of the summit at a time when China is looking to further upgrade its partnership with Africa.
Sino-African partnership must come to a new balance based on more sustainable mutual growth (South China Morning Post)
However, a new balance in the African-Chinese partnership model must be found soon, because the devaluation of the renminbi against a stronger US dollar may seriously hinder our continent's exporters and domestic suppliers. The continued weakening of the Chinese currency increases the current account and fiscal imbalances that have already been affected by the recent reduction in the prices of crude oil and other hard commodities.
Unless the African states commit to devaluing domestic currencies, our consumers will be enticed by cheaper Chinese exports, which may hinder domestic entrepreneurship, innovation and growth in our homelands...Thus, instead of promoting the senseless purchase of cheap Chinese consumption goods, the new chapter of the African-Chinese partnership model will focus on the acquisition of capital goods from China. [The author, José Filomeno dos Santos, is chairman of the board of directors at FSDEA, Angola's sovereign wealth fund]
$100bn BRICS monetary fund now operational (The BRICS Post)
The $100 billion BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) has become fully operational following the inaugural meetings of the BRICS CRA Board of Governors and the Standing Committee in the Turkish capital of Ankara. “The first meetings of the governing bodies mark the start of a full-scale operation of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement as an international institution with activities set to enhance and strengthen cooperation,” said a Russian Central Bank statement on Friday.
China ratifies Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO)
EAC energy security policy in the pipeline (The New Times)
This was disclosed in Kigali at the opening of a three-day regional conference on energy, which brought together participants from the five Partner States, UN representatives and other stakeholders. The meeting was convened to discuss how a common EAC energy policy can help Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda better manage energy shortages. The policy framework, expected to come into force early next year, would entail a number of energy products, allow for the importation of affordable petroleum products and help the regional countries scale up their respective industrial ambitions.
EAC now backs Uganda on trade disputes with Kenya, Dar (The East African)
Irregular policies hurting Kenya, South Africa trade, says CS (Daily Nation)
The challenge of stability and security in West Africa (World Bank)
The study comes at a critical time for West Africa. In recent decades, the sub region has moved ahead making strides in democratic consolidation, economic growth, and regional cooperation, boasting some of the most stable countries in Africa. But future progress could be undermined unless development policies take a strong role in fostering stability. According to the study, while large-scale conflicts and wars have receded in West Africa, a new generation of threats has emerged over the past few years, including drug trafficking, maritime piracy and extremism – suggesting that the nature of violence is changing. [Download]
Security key to regional prosperity – Museveni (New Vision)
Kenya: Export-import gap up by Sh115bn (Business Daily)
According to newly released Treasury data, the gap — also called the current account deficit — increased by 22.7 per cent to Sh623.2 billion (or $5.99 billion). This amounted to an actual expansion of the deficit by Sh115.4 billion (or $1.11 billion). The deficit has eroded the value of the shilling, which has fallen a notch lower every month this year, meaning it is 13.5 per cent weaker compared to the beginning of the year. This happened as the current account deficit progressively deteriorated. [Download the May Economic Review]
Nigeria: Decline in food, tobacco sub-sectors takes toll on manufacturing sector (ThisDay)
Ghana: Letter of intent, memorandum of economic and financial policies (IMF)
DRC: World Bank supports national statistical system (World Bank)
UK funds project on implementation of the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO)
African Ministers of Communication, ICT: update (AU)
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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)
