News
tralac’s Daily News selection
The selection: Monday, 18 January 2016
Profiled conference alert: 2nd Annual Competition and Economic Regulation Conference (Lusaka, 11-12 March)
Profiled conference report: Trade and economic transformation session (TDS2015 Nairobi, ODI)
Competition in the road freight sector in SADC: a case study of fertilizer transport and trading in Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi (CCRED)
The efficiency and affordability of transportation, particularly in the road freight sector, is a key enabler in achieving broader industrial policy, trade and regional integration goals in the SADC region. Competition, market structure and arrangements between firms in the road freight sector – as well as the relationship between road freight operators and large importers – play an important role in determining the price and trade of commodities between countries. The paper focuses on the transportation of fertilizer in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia in seeking to understand the role that different actors including regional economic communities, policymakers, large importers and large exporters play in influencing market outcomes in road transportation. The paper also considers the structure of markets, main players, and prices and costs in each country.
The main findings are that competitive outcomes in road freight in the context of fertilizer trading are driven by the inter-relationships between large transporters and users of transport, cross-border rivalry, and both small and large regulatory interventions to enhance outcomes in road transport. A reduction in relative prices in Zambia has been driven, among others, by a combination of increased competition in road transport and the prosecution of a cartel in fertilizer trading; whereas the benefits of entry in the Tanzanian fertilizer market may have been undermined by arrangements in transport and the entrenched position of incumbent multinational importers. In Malawi, a lack of rivalry at various levels of the value chain and regulatory barriers meant prices of fertilizer have been well above those in the comparator countries. [The authors: Phumzile Ncube, Simon Roberts, Thando Vilakazi]
Namibia: Weak Rand undermines currency link (Namibia Economist)
The recent weakening of the South African Rand has undoubtedly triggered the erosion of the primary benefits of the fixed exchange rate embedded in the Common Monetary Area agreement. The arrangement which entails that Namibia pegs its currency to the Rand has been beneficial in several ways, but since the recent downward spiral of the Rand, these benefits are gradually eroding. This situation has brought to the fore the fundamental question of whether Namibia should explore alternative exchange rate regimes that will better serve Namibia’s developmental interests. In the absence of a documented official plan B exchange rate regime, Namibia can still explore the following three basic choices: [The author, Mally Likukela, is Standard Bank’s Manager of Economics and Market Research]
China mulls Free Trade Area pact with Africa (Daily News)
Prof Hu Hailiang, the Vice-Chairman of the Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education in China, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the envisaged free trade area falls under its new five year development plan slated to begin this year. The free trade area agreement is expected to increase exports of goods from Africa to offset huge trade imbalance between the continent and China, he said. “China will negotiate with individual African countries and regional blocks to develop free trade area agreement to promote exchange of goods and services and investments,” he said at a press conference organised after a seminar on new China.
India battles China for Kenya’s market (The Star)
India is seeking to recapture its long-held position as Kenya's largest source of imports from China. India, which has generally been the top exporter of goods to Kenya over the last three years, fell behind China after its exports dipped by 4.84% in the first ten months of 2015, provisional data from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates. The value of India’s exports to Kenya dropped to Sh208.3 billion between January and October from Sh218.9 billion in the same period of 2014.
India: December exports fall 14.75% in 13th straight month of declines (Livemint)
Text of President Xi Jinping's speech at launch of AIIB (Shanghai Daily)
India received the most loans from World Bank in the past 70 years (Scroll)
Peter Drysdale: 'Get used to living with Chinese economic tremors' (editorial comment, East Asia Forum)
Justin Yifu Lin: 'Regardless of Washington's beliefs, China is vital for world's economy to survive' (RT)
BRICS member states contribute first $750m to New Development Bank (Tass)
Foods available to African farm households increase with market access and off-farm work (ILRI)
A unique dataset covering land use and production data by more than 13,000 smallholder farm households in 93 sites in 17 countries across sub-Saharan Africa is described in a paper recently published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Mark van Wijk, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute, led the study with other colleagues from ILRI and partner institutions. Excerpts from the paper, and its key messages, follow.
Towards better pastoralism policies in West and Central Africa (Premium Times)
Regional pastoralist civil society organisations like ROPPA, CORET, APESS and RBM need to assess how far these programmes have impacted on pastoralists and livestock production in the region, what the success stories are and which areas need improvement. I urge participants to take this into cognisance in making recommendations in this conference. Finally, I hope this conference will put in a place a mechanism of sustained collaboration and cooperation between pastoralists, farmers, fisher-folks and other natural resource users so that they we can speak with one voice to improve food production, food security, sustainable livelihoods and peace in our regions. [The author: Mohammed Bello Tukur is the Acting Secretary General of the Confederation of Traditional Herder Organisations in Africa]
Ethiopia: El Niño Response Plan 2016 (FAO)
Under the current El Niño, crop production in Ethiopia has dropped by 50 to 90% in some regions and failed completely in the east. The drought resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of livestock. The new FAO response plan aims to assist 1.8 million farmers and livestock keepers in 2016 to reduce food gaps and restore agricultural production and incomes. The first critical phase of the $50 million will focus on the meher season between January and June.
One less burden for regional food trade in Côte d’Ivoire (USAID West Africa)
In northern Côte d’Ivoire, exporters of food crops in the Bouake region will no longer have to provide certificates of origin for agricultural commodities as they cross borders as stipulated in the “Note de Service” or policy circular 01 of March 2015. Though contrary to the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme - approved decades ago to encourage free regional trade, especially of staple crops - certificates of origin are still demanded at numerous borders throughout West Africa. This creates an undue burden on agricultural traders and an opportunity for border officials to demand bribes, driving up the cost of goods.
Supporting remittance flows to Somalia (World Bank)
The project aims to tackle key challenges with the UK-Somalia remittance corridor until a sounder financial system is in place in Somalia, and to accelerate and support the development of that financial system. More specifically, this project is intended as an interim set of activities to support the supervisory role of the Central Bank of Somalia. The activities will also support the Somali Government’s plan on the formalization of the Somali financial sector. Over time, the project has evolved to include both shorter-term and longer-term elements to strengthen the systems supporting the flow of remittances to Somalia. The proposed solution is to be dealt with in two phases:
Understanding Ghana’s growth success story and job creation challenges (UNU-WIDER)
Ghana’s status as one of the African Lions is linked to the country’s remarkable growth performance, which culminated in the attainment of lower middle-income status. However, employment response to growth has been weak. Additionally, growth has been accompanied by substantial reduction in poverty, albeit increasing inequality. [The authors: Ernest Aryeetey, William Baah-Boateng]
Ghana: Port management programme continues to produce results (UNCTAD)
Two dozen managers from the two main ports of Ghana presented case studies they had conducted as part of UNCTAD's Port Training Programme. The national port authority, encouraged by the results, committed to a fourth cycle of training. A total of 81 managers have graduated from the programme.
Tanzania: Locals given mandate to take up jobs in all ports (Daily News)
Tanzania Seafarers Community (TSC) has been officially given the mandate to ensure all jobs and other services at the Country’s ports are handled by locals only. “The minister (Prof Mbarawa) has directed us (TSC) to write and inform the shipping agents about the move in order to get ready towards ensuring the locals take over the jobs,” he noted. Commenting on the readiness of the TSC to take over the jobs, Mr Chagyra said the country has enough well trained seafarers mostly youths able to take over the jobs.
Nigeria: FG to create 250000 jobs in railway sector (ThisDay)
“Government will focus on railway to encourage mass transit of and cargo freights by railway. The current government is planning massive investment into the standard gauge whose constructions will begin 2016, with the Calabar-Lagos coastal railway”. On seafarers’ development, the minister expressed dismay that opportunities for sea time experience for cadets were lacking. THISDAY checks revealed that since the Nigerian National Shipping Line Limited was liquidated in 1995, the lack of training berths have plagued Nigerian seafarers whose formal training remain incomplete until experience at sea is acquired.
Selected postings on Africa’s energy sector: India's 2015 imports of African oil highest in at least 5 yrs - trade data (Reuters), 4th India Africa Hydrocarbon Conference (21-22 January), Buhari leads Nigeria's delegation to world energy summit in UAE (Premium Times), World Future Energy Summit 2016 (18-21 January), The future of energy investment in Africa (Washington, 21 January)
New US Ambassador: 'I will help Swaziland retain AGOA' (Swazi Observer)
Nigeria: Ministers invade China, shop for FDI, tech transfer (ThisDay)
CITES calls for urgent action to maintain pressure on illegal ivory and rhino horn trade (WWF)
OECD Employment and Labour Ministerial: Building more resilient and inclusive labour markets
Harnessing emerging technological breakthroughs for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNCTAD)
High-Level Panel Report on Humanitarian Financing to the Secretary-General (UN)
Jay Naidoo: a commentary on the HLP report (Daily Maverick)
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