The selection: Wednesday, 28 October

Aid for Trade 10 years on - keeping it effective (OECD)

Regional aid for trade is hampered by many practical complications, from technical standards to financing issues, while negotiations can be bogged down by poor inter-governmental communications and sometimes by lack of trust across negotiating parties. In fact, regional aid for trade is still insufficiently understood and appreciated in national line ministries and among stakeholders including among donors. Moreover, implementing regional strategies is complicated by problems such as membership of overlapping regional organisations; lack of implementation of regional agreements; poor articulation of regional priorities within national strategies; and national and regional capacity constraints. This creates major complications in terms of ownership, mainstreaming and aligning national strategies around regional aid-for-trade priorities.

Aid untying: 2015 progress report (OECD)

Better tracking of ODA allocation: assessing multi-country data (OECD)

Potential of India-Africa bilateral trade manifold: EXIM Bank (Business Standard)

Bilateral trade between India and Africa has risen massively in the past decade, from $8.2bn in 2004 to $75bn in 2014. However, India’s imports from Africa grew at an average annual rate of 35% in this period, while exports only rose by an average annual rate of 23%. This has resulted in a rising trade deficit with Africa. Trade surpluses stood at $1.4bn in 2004, and turned deficit at $5.7bn in 2014, according to a working paper by Export Import Bank of India. India currently maintains the largest trade deficit with Nigeria, Angola, Botswana, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Cameroon, Guinea, South Africa and Côte d'Ivoire. According to the paper, a strategy to address this rising deficit involves the identification of select commodities with high export potential to Africa.

KPMG-CII: India and Africa - collaboration for growth

On the side lines of this event CII and KPMG have released a report which brings out the mutual strengths of both the regions. The report identifies collaboration in the key sectors namely infrastructure, energy and natural resources, agriculture, healthcare. [Download]

Sanusha Naidu: 'Trendsetting the Third India-Africa Summit in Africa’s development trajectory' (SALO)

Doing Business 2016 (World Bank)

Sub-Saharan Africa economies continue to implement reforms to improve the business climate for domestic entrepreneurs, with members of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) particularly active during the past year, says the World Bank Group’s annual ease of doing business measurement. Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency, records a total of 69 reforms in 35 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, 14 of OHADA’s 17 member countries implemented 29 reforms. The reforms implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for about 30% of the 231 reforms implemented worldwide during the past year. The region also boasted half of the world’s top 10 improvers, i.e. countries that implemented at least three reforms and moved up on the global rankings scale, with Uganda, Kenya, Mauritania, Benin and Senegal. The region stood out in implementing reforms under the Getting Credit indicator. Of the 32 reforms made globally, 14 were carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Kenya and Uganda making significant progress. [Downloads include: Regional Profile 2016 for the EAC, COMESA, SADC, ECOWAS]

Nigeria ranks 169 out of 189 in World Bank’s Doing Business Report (ThisDay)

Zimbabwe improves World Bank Doing Business rankings (Zimbabwe Independent)

SA slips in key ranking despite progress (Business Day)

UAE tops Mena region in ease of doing business ranking (Gulf News)

Rwanda: New online portal to ease investment registration, issuance of EIA permits (New Times)

Obtaining investment registration and environment impact assessment certificates will be more efficient and cheaper following the launch of a new online platform. The electronic portal (e-portal) will enable investors to submit applications for the issuance of certificates, and processing of tax exemption requests online. The e-portal is multi-lingual and allows applicants to track the approval process of their application. On other hand, the RDB team is able to verify all submissions online, which enables faster issuance of certificates.

Zimbabwean companies want salary, utility costs cut by law (NewsDay)

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, which represents the country’s biggest industrial companies, wants the government to enact laws to cut salaries and utility costs after the plunging currencies of neighbors South Africa and Zambia made them uncompetitive. “We are trying to have prices of salaries and utilities moved downwards through a legal instrument,” said Busisa Moyo, the president of the CZI, by phone on Tuesday. “Prices of goods and services can be forced downwards by 25% to 30%.” [ ZimTrade: October newsletter]

Sub-Saharan Africa's economic outlook: Dealing with the gathering clouds (IMF)

This October 2015 report discusses the fiscal and monetary policy adjustments necessary for these countries to adapt to the new environment. Chapter 2 looks at competitiveness in the region, analyzing the substantial trade integration that accompanied the recent period of high growth, and policy actions to nurture new sources of growth. Chapter 3 looks at the implications for the region of persistently high income and gender inequality and ways to reduce them.

From Chapter 2: Meanwhile, the drivers of growth since the mid-1990s—improved policies, increased aid, debt relief, abundant global liquidity, and high global commodity prices—have started to dissipate. Moving forward, to sustain rapid growth the region will need to diversify away from commodities, increase export sophistication, and integrate into global value chains. This chapter assesses how competitiveness indicators in sub-Saharan Africa have evolved, and on this basis asks if the region is well placed to diversify its export base and sustain growth. It also discusses policy options to improve competitiveness.

18 million, not 300 million: that’s the size of Africa’s 'real' middle class - and it could disappear (M&G Africa)

New wealth report throws a spanner in the narrative of a rising Africa, but even if you don’t like it, it is hard to dismiss the numbers.

Mega beer merger bets on the rise of African drinkers (AP)

Tanzania: Economy on track to achieve nation’s middle income status (IPPMedia)

South Africa: Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development cluster media briefing (GCIS)

African state oil companies must 'shape up and compete' (News24)

EU: Nigeria’s economic policies violating ECOWAS laws (ThisDay)

Arrion assured Nigeria that the EU would not invade the West African market with products that could compete with domestic products of what Nigeria and other countries in the region would be producing, pointing out that the EU has removed all its export subsidies to the West African market. Arrion also stated that a €6.5bn for every four years till 2035 has been agreed upon by the EU to provide financial trade related development assistance for Nigeria’s growth and development. He explained that the move was to demonstrate the Union’s strong belief and confidence in the Nigerian market.

Kenya loses Sh15bn to cyber crime (Daily Nation)

Kenyan firms lost Sh15 billion through cyber crime last year, with the public sector being the most affected, a new report says. The amount lost has tripled since the previous year, raising alarm on the country’s readiness to fight the menace. The 2015 Cyber Security Report released on Wednesday noted that the public sector lost more than Sh5 billion from the attacks, followed by the financial services sector at Sh4 billion.

Yaoundé-Brazzaville Corridor: appraisal report (AfDB)

With a trade volume that represents 0.5 to 1% of the aggregate trade volume of Member Countries, the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) remains the least integrated of the sub-regions in Sub-Saharan Africa, lagging far behind the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) which has an intra-community trade rate of 15%. It is also the least connected sub-region due to the extreme fragmentation of the existing land transport networks. Hence, although they share a common border that is 520 km long, Cameroon and Congo are not connected by any permanent all-weather highway. The main highway linking Yaoundé to Brazzaville (1,624 km) comprises 657 km of road segments in good condition, 307 km under rehabilitation, 427 km being paved and 233 km of earth roads. The poor state of this road is a major obstacle to trade between the two countries and even within the Central African sub-region.

African Economic Research Consortium: capacity building project appraisal report (AfDB)

“Research Capacity and Knowledge Enhancement for Africa’s Transformation” is a Bank Group project aimed at enhancing knowledge and research capacity in ADF-eligible countries and Regional Institutions, with a view to fostering structural transformation. The project will be financed through an ADF grant of UA 5 million over three years. The project is also expected to enhance communication and dissemination of knowledge, and to strengthen the capacity of academic institutions in terms of staff skills and equipment.

Exporter Dynamics Database: World Bank releases updated version

The Exporter Dynamics Database version 2.0 now offers information for 70 countries. It also contains updated information and its time coverage has been extended with 2005-2012 being the period most commonly covered. For a selected group of countries, data is available from the 1990s and beyond 2012.

South Sudan: AU releases report of the AU Commission of Inquiry

Tanzania: preliminary statement of EAC Election Observation Mission

SADC reviews the targets of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development

Economic integration in East Africa will prove challenging

Today: the 3rd BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Ministerial

4th BRICS International Competition Conference (12-13 Nov)

Lowering world poverty depends on India (Bloomberg)

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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)