SUMMARY Kenya, a signatory to Africa’s Free Trade Area agreement now has a regional platform that facilitates faster clearance of goods at border points. Other signatories are Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. RCTG-Carnet is an international customs and export-import system used to clear customs in participating member states without paying duties and import taxes on merchandise that will be re-exported within 12 months. Kenya is among 13 African countries that have entered into a digital deal to ease movement of goods across the continent. The countries have jointly activated the Regional Customs Transit Guarantee Scheme (RCTG-Carnet) that allows free movement of goods among signatories to the platform. Kenya, a signatory to Africa’s Free Trade Area agreement now has a regional platform that facilitates faster clearance of goods at border points. Other signatories are Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. RCTG-Carnet is an international customs and export-import system used to clear customs in participating member states without paying duties and import taxes on merchandise that will be re-exported within 12 months. Clearing and forwarding agents will be integrated into the digital system through an app that facilitates paperless processes ending the tedious procedures that take days before goods on transit are cleared at border points. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe who spoke during the RCTG launch said the platform provides access to...

CCM Central Committee member and Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has appealed to Isaka residents in Kahama District to utilise opportunities arising from Isaka Dry Port Project for their own development. Mr Majaliwa said this on Friday during campaigns held at Kagongwa and Isaka on his way to Kakole Ward in Msalala Constituency in Shinyanga Region. He said the dry port and the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) offered best opportunities for Kahama residents to benefit from. The PM said the two major projects created many opportunities for residents living where the project was being implemented. “The dry port will help facilitate cargo handling from neighbouring countries. This is also a good opportunity for Kongwa residents to do business and Isaka residents can as well set up guest houses and hotels. Once the SGR project crossing Isaka is completed, a person will only use four hours to travel to Dar es Salaam instead of 14 hours spent on travelling by buses,” said Mr Majaliwa. He asked Shinyanga residents to choose CCM presidential candidate, Dr John Magufuli, and all candidates vying for councillorship positions in Msalala Ward for development in their areas. On the other hand, Msalala Constituency candidate Iddi Kassim passed unopposed. Speaking to Segese and Kakola residents, the PM told them a plan of constructing a 106km road stretch from Geita-Kagongo-Kahama to tarmac level. “A feasibility study has been identified on page 66 of the CCM Manifesto 2015, whereas, the new manifesto states its implementation and completion for people...

SUMMARY The depot doubled the number of cargo it handled last year compared to previous years. According to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) pre-Covid-19 performance report, in 2019, a total of 418,830 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) were handled at the NICD up from 257,972 TEUs in 2018. Consequently, truckers recorded very low business as they only handled less than 100,000 TEUs from the port to Nairobi and other hinterland regions, forcing them to protest the compulsory haulage of cargo by the SGR. Nairobi Inland Container Depot traffic last year benefited immensely from State diretcive to haul cargo from the Port of Mombasa to Nairobi using Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). The depot doubled the number of cargo it handled last year compared to previous years. According to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) pre-Covid-19 performance report, in 2019, a total of 418,830 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) were handled at the NICD up from 257,972 TEUs in 2018. Consequently, truckers recorded very low business as they only handled less than 100,000 TEUs from the port to Nairobi and other hinterland regions, forcing them to protest the compulsory haulage of cargo by the SGR. In June last year, KPA started implementing 100 percent ex-hook railing where cargo was loaded direct from ship to train, enabling the SGR to carry more than 1000 containers in two days. The report indicates that the country continues to experience unbalanced trade with exports recording very low cargo tonnage. The depot registered a total of 262,895 TEUs of imports...

The Ugandan Cabinet has approved an ambitious plan to construct roads linking the country with the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Officials said the 223km road network running from the Ugandan border deep into DRC territory is aimed at boosting bilateral trade and also addressing the country’s strategic security. “Cabinet has approved the construction and upgrading of the national road from Kasindi section (border) to Beni (80kms) and the integration of the Beni-Butembo Axis (54 kms) to national road,” said Uganda government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo on Tuesday. He further said government would also construct another road from Bunagana in South Western district of Kisoro through Ruchuru up to Goma (89kms). Opondo said the project “will benefit the government and people of Uganda through the economic interconnectivity that would provide improved mobility and ease of business.” This development comes almost a year after President Museveni and his DRC counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi agreed at State House Entebbe to jointly construct roads to facilitate cross border trade. Other roads being considered include Mpondwe-Beni road which is about 977 kilometres and Goli-Bunia road (181 Kilometres). The volume of trade between Uganda and DR Congo was estimated at $ 531 million by July 2019, but this is largely informal. Uganda last year decided to focus on the DRC market after Rwanda closed its borders to Ugandan goods and stopped Rwandans from visiting Uganda. Uganda’s trade with Rwanda was worth $200m. The closure of the border by Rwandan authorities saw Ugandan manufacturers lose millions of...

By Andrew Mold and Anthony Mveyange from Brookings institute  At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, such was the scale of the economic disruption caused by lockdown measures that there was much talk of the collapse of global trade. In the midst of the lockdowns, in April, the World Trade Organization estimated that the decline would amount from anywhere between 13 and 32 percent. In a similar vein, UNCTAD was forecasting a 20 percent decline in global trade for 2020. However, recently released trade statistics across the world reveal that those forecasts may have been overly pessimistic and underestimated the relative resilience of the global trading system. In fact, in June, after several months of sharp declines, trade volumes recorded their biggest monthly rise on record, with a 7.6 percent increase. East Africa may be shadowing these global trends. Kenya, the largest regional trader, is a good barometer of broader East African trends. The country was initially hit quite hard in terms of the decline in trade volumes, with a 19 percent drop in total trade volumes in April. As warned in our earlier Brookings policy brief, re-exports to the rest of the region were hit extremely hard, with a 83 percent decline in April. Since June, though, total trade volumes have begun to recover rapidly, with a 9 percent increase in June and a 12 percent increase in July (Table 1). Moreover, the story is a similar if the analysis is undertaken using year-on-year percent changes. Table 1. Kenyan trade, percent monthly change, January-July 2020 Total exports Re-exports...

Florence Atieno and Robert Ogola are among the cross-border traders in Busia who have been adversely affected by COVID-19. They’ve lost a huge chunk of their customer base and their revenues have taken a tumble since March when the first case of COVID-19 was reported. “Right now we don’t have business because of COVID-19. We don’t have stock to sell since we don’t have access to Uganda to bring the stock. We don’t have any business right now,” says Atieno. Robert also expressed that that business has been very low and the prices of commodities have increased while the quality of commodities has drastically dropped. Through the Safe Trade Emergency Facility programme, TradeMark Africa (TMA) is working together with the European Union in Kenya to keep trade going at the border point for people to get the goods, food and medical supplies that they need. The initiative is also working with the private sector to adapt to the new environment, especially through the production and distribution of PPEs and hand sanitizers to the border point workers like traders, immigration officials and health workers. TMA also rolled out an app for truckers that will allow for electronic COVID-19 certificates, tracking off the trucks for monitoring of the trade corridor  efficiency and bottlenecks and it was also help with contact tracing if the need arises. FAO Kenya Land Governance Programme In the Sere-Olipi community in Samburu East, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Kenya has fully adopted social distancing as...

Emboldened by the declining Covid-19 infections, EAC partner states are in the process or have already re-opened their borders, hotels and schools. According to a survey by the East African Business Council (EABC), EAC partner states are expected to lose more than $54 billion of local tourists spending for 2020, on account of protracted closures of seaports and airports. Businesses across East Africa are racing to pick up the pieces after six months of Covid-19 restrictions, setting the stage for economic recovery and a rise in employment numbers. Emboldened by the declining Covid-19 infections, EAC partner states are in the process or have already re-opened their borders, hotels and schools. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a national Covid-19 conference on September 28, in which he is expected to address re-opening bars and easing a 9pm to 4am curfew. Tanzania already re-opened all its institutions, and Uganda is set to resume international flights from October 1. Kenya partially eased its night-time curfew by three hours in June, and also lifted travel restrictions affecting Nairobi and Mombasa. "Flattening the Covid-19 curve is a national endeavour that requires action at the individual, community, county, and national levels. Every one of us must play our part for Kenya to triumph over the disease," said Kenya's Head of Public Service, Joseph Kinyua, in a statement to the media last week. According to a survey conducted last week by the East African Business Council (EABC), EAC partner states are expected to lose more than $54...

The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) (www.OPECFund.org) has signed a US$20 million term loan in favor of East African Development Bank (EADB). EADB will use the loan to support small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and infrastructure projects in East Africa. EADB is an important regional development institution for delivering key development objectives across the East Africa region. It enjoys a high level of commitment from member states Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, as well a diverse shareholder base that includes multilateral and bilateral development institutions and international financial institutions. SMEs account for more than half of EADB’s portfolio. They play an important part in development, driving economic growth and employment opportunities in East Africa and in developing countries more generally. The bank is expanding its resource mobilization activities to meet the growing financing needs of SMEs. “We are very pleased to support private sector development in East Africa, which goes to the core of our mandate,” said OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa. “We have partnered with EADB since 2001 and we appreciate the opportunity to strengthen our relationship. SMEs are critical to achieving progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on decent work and economic growth. Efficient infrastructure, as part of SDG 9, improves access to social services, reduces business and production costs, supports trade, and will ultimately provide East Africa with a more competitive business environment.” Vivienne Yeda, the Director General of EADB, said: “We are pleased to receive a line of credit of US$20...

Barcelona, September 24, 2020.- The global pandemic of the Coronavirus Covid19 remains, increases its expansion in many countries and does not have a near end. Its economic consequences are unprecedented in the last 100 years. However, we have to learn to live with this situation and conjuncture. The transport and logistics sector is one of the most important to keep us alive. The Freight News South Africa’s publication has highlighted some keys to the proper functioning of the global supply chain: Globally, movement restrictions, health screening, and border controls and closures – put in place to ward off the virus that caused Covid-19 – had led to an estimated 18% average decline in annual turnover for goods transported by road, Hügel said Unlike anything before it, the Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of harmonising legislation governing the transport of goods across borders. This was the message from all four speakers at the second webinar hosted by the Southern African Transport Conference (SATC) earlier this month. The webinar explored Covid-19’s impact on freight and logistics, and was addressed by Transnet group chief executive Portia Derby, TradeMark Africa senior director of transport Abhishek Sharma, and International Road Transport Union senior advisors Jens Hügel and Kazeem Asayesh. The view of every speaker was that harmonising the legislation that governs cross-border good transit would bolster economies by reducing transport and warehousing costs, and thus increase individual countries’ resilience in the face of economic crises. Sub-Saharan Africa had taken several hard knocks due to...

THE Civic United Front (CUF) flag bearer, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba has pledged to strengthen the economy and improve provision of education if elected in the forthcoming general election. Prof Lipumba said that to strengthen the economy, his government will put much effort in improving the agricultural sector, as the majority of Tanzanians complain over the sector’s poor performance. The CUF presidential candidate made the pledges yesterday when addressing a campaign rally at Bukoba municipality in Kagera Region. He appealed to the residents to vote for him as his party has the best manifesto where education sector improvement and economic growth are well addressed. He said that Kagera Region is strategically positioned with a number of agricultural potentials, where it can trade in cereals with Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda. “We will create an enabling business environment that will allow farmers to sell their food and cash crops in neighbouring countries,” he stated, alluding to setting up irrigation schemes as Kagera is blessed with a number of rivers emptying into Lake Victoria. He expressed concern that Lake Regions with a population of over five million people uses little of its irrigation potential, underlining that the residents will generate good incomes through agro-sector improvements. Kagera is blessed with various resources in agriculture, livestock and fish farming which if properly tapped could lift the majority of the residents out of poverty, he asserted. “If elected, I will make sure you benefit with available markets in the East African Community (EAC). For our economy to...