This financial year, EAC Partner States are challenged with COVID-19 pandemic and some have reviewed their targeted economic growth downward by nearly 50 percent. The COVID-19 pandemic is both a health crisis and fundamentally an economic crisis. Four East African Community member states will on the 11th of June this year. The countries, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda will jointly unveil their Budgets for the Fiscal Year 2020/2021. The EAC Partner States except for Burundi and South Sudan usually unveil their budgets on the same day in June every year after holding Pre-budget Consultations of EAC Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning. Through the Pre-budget consultations, Ministers discuss and agree on various tax measures each Partner State is going to implement in the coming financial year. This financial year, EAC Partner States are challenged with COVID-19 pandemic and some have reviewed their targeted economic growth downward by nearly 50 percent.  The COVID-19 pandemic is both a health crisis and fundamentally an economic crisis. In the region, the impact of the pandemic has been felt differently across sectors depending on the measures instituted to contain the spread of the pandemic as well as the linkage of the particular sector to the global economy. According to an analysis from the East African Business Council (EABC), the expectation of the EAC private sector is that the EAC budgets for 2020/21 will contain economic stimulus packages that will mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and East Africans, stimulate economic growth and recovery....

The East African Community (EAC) stands to be affected by shortages of raw materials, capital goods and delays in getting consumer goods, which were originally imported from the Asia region. Following the first reports of Covid-19 in mainland China in late 2019, over 300,000 people have since died of the disease, with over five million infections reported worldwide. To limit infections, several countries in Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas have banned large gatherings and imposed strict travel restrictions. The global pandemic will most likely continue as efforts to find a potential cure are made. STRICT MEASURES South Korea has started seeing the reduction in the number of Covid -19 cases after it moved swiftly to implement tough measures. The same was seen in China. Governments are racing to implement safety measures to avoid a situation like Italy's, where cases skyrocketed before lockdowns were put in place. In Africa, the Covid-19 cases present a significant challenge to the EAC economies due to the countries' links with the world economy. EAC trade is set to be affected negatively, given the region's trade ties to China, Europe and the Middle East, which are among the regions heavily affected by the pandemic. The region stands to be affected by shortages of raw materials, capital goods, and delays in getting consumer goods from the Asia region. Already some EAC states are experiencing declines in imports from China, including raw materials, capital goods, intermediate goods, and final products. However, medical supplies and essential goods...

The East African Community (EAC) Partner States have adopted the EAC Regional Electronic Cargo and Drivers Tracking System that will be hosted at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The system is expected to share truck driver’s information leveraging on that which is managed and operated by Revenue Authorities in the region, and the existing health information systems in Partner States. The system allows the users to share information across borders in a transparent manner, and the truck drivers will need to upload the phone app on their phones. Continuous screening will be done at selected check points along the transport corridors, which have already been designated, and information made available for all Partner States. Verification of documents will be done by customs, immigration, law enforcement agencies/ persons who will confirm if a particular traveller is fit to proceed on their journey. The Digital surveillance tracker will interface and connect directly to designated laboratories in the Partner States to allow the Partner States, for purposes of COVID -19 laboratory results needed to generate the COVID-19 Test Certificates / attestation Certificates for COVID-19 test results. The system will be supported by four (4) Command Operating Centres (COCs) located in four locations at designated national Revenue authorities in Kenya, Uganda, DRC and Rwanda, with one additional COC to be set up at the Nimule border post for the Republic of South Sudan. The Ministers/Cabinet Secretaries were further informed that the truck driver and crew members’ mobile phones will be used as the...

The tourism sector in Kenya is working on four protocols that will ensure a safe reopening and maximum impact of the $56 million stimulus package injected by the government. The protocols will involve hotels, tour guide companies, airlines and the standard gauge railway, and are expected to be ready before the end of cessation of movement on Nairobi and Mombasa and curfew in June. Players in the sector are upbeat after President Uhuru Kenyatta hinted at a likelihood of relaxing containment measures in his address to the country. Kenya Tourism Federation chairman Mohammed Hersi said the hotel protocols has already been developed, and it directs how guests will be checked in, hotel sitting arrangements, interaction with guests and also how fumigation will be conducted on to keep premises infection-free. Mr Hersi said the other three protocols are expected to be complete in the next few days to give direction on transfer of guests to and from airport and railway stations and how to interact with them. FACILITY RENOVATIONS “We ask everyone to abide by the protocols. We do not expect things to be normal but we also want to receive healthy visitors, remain disease-free and that they leave the country safe. Some of the measures will reduce the number of visitors handled each time. For instance, in the tour guide protocol, the number of passengers boarding vehicles will be reduced and no passenger will be allowed at the front seat,” said Mr Hersi. The KTF chairman said different airports and...

Of all the legacies of colonialism, one of those which has most hampered economic growth and the alleviation of poverty is fragmentation – neighbours with different currencies, regulations enabling trade with Europe but not with other Africans, and a neglect of intra-African transport and infrastructure links to facilitate this trade. In good times, with Europe accounting for around 30% of African trade, there has been little appetite to upset the status quo. In times of economic unease, African nations, like many around the world, have tended to withdraw into themselves rather than pursue broader trading options. Repeating this pattern for a generation, African nations have historically ceded economic power to external actors, remaining price-takers and struggling to develop their own solutions at times of crisis. Change is in the air A confluence of factors is lining up to shift Africa from the old way of doing things and drive the continent towards greater prosperity and resilience. The rise of China as an economic force and major partner (19% of Africa’s trade) has given African leaders experience in opening new trade routes and the benefits this brings. At the same time, regional trading blocs like SADC, EAC, COMESA or ECOWAS have grown in strength as countries became more adept at spotting gaps in their neighbors’ markets and adjusting areas of specialization to meet demand. Building on a decade long trajectory towards greater continental integration and more diverse trading relations, the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (‘AfCFTA’) now has the capacity to...

DAR ES SALAAM, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said on Saturday the 44th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) will be held from July 1 to 13 with all COVID-19 precautions in place. A statement by the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued in the capital Dodoma said the DITF held annually at the J. K. Nyerere grounds in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam will observe all guidelines issued by health authorities to protect exhibitors and visitors against COVID-19. Themed Industrial Economy for Employment and Sustainable Trade, the 44th DITF will introduce business-to-business virtual meetings to avoid mass gatherings, said the statement. Visitors and exhibitors to the 44th DITF can also access the trade fair through live streaming and virtual exhibition, added the statement. Products to be exhibited at the trade fair include food and beverages, textiles, garments and yarns, manufacturing equipment and building materials. Others are automobiles, electrical articles, chemicals and cosmetics, timber and furniture, engineering products, machinery, information technology and agricultural products. Enditem Source: xinhuanet

The African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) and International Trade Centre (ITC) team up to help businesses make the most of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Cairo/Geneva) − Afreximbank is teaming up with ITC to train small business owners and young entrepreneurs in Africa to trade with other African countries as part of the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The training programme, How to Export within the AfCFTA, is being launched as the new free-trade area comes on stream and amid the economic strain of climate change and the coronavirus pandemic. The training will give business owners the knowledge and skills they need to engage effectively in cross-border trade under terms of the emerging free-trade area for Africa. Intra-African trade is structurally low at 15% (compared to Europe at nearly 70%, for example), and the AfCFTA will open a market of 1.2 billion people. 'Against the backdrop of the current COVID-19 health and economic crisis, African micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) need support to take full advantage of the continental market,' ITC acting Executive Director Dorothy Tembo said. 'Through this partnership, African businesses will have the opportunity to learn, plan and succeed in growing their business by taking full advantage of the AfCFTA.' Kanayo Awani, Managing Director of Afreximbank's Intra-African Trade Initiative, said that the initiative was necessary because promoting intra-African trade through increased exports of goods and services by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was the cornerstone of the AFCFTA. It signals an optimal strategy to aid businesses...

Uganda’s coffee exports have continued to surge despite the coronavirus pandemic with April figures showing growth compared with a year ago. Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said in a report released in April that Uganda coffee exports were 359,973 60 kilogramme bags worth $36.93 million compared with the 305,643 bags exported in April 2019 valued at $30,048,530 million. This was an increase of 18 per cent and 23 per cent in quantity and value respectively, compared with the same period last year. For the coffee authority, the increase in exports has been attributed to higher production on account of fruition of the newly planted coffee and not necessarily the harvest season. “Coffee exports for the first 10 months of the financial year 2019/20 amounted to 4.24 million worth $ 413.53 million compared with 3.48 million bags worth $350.26 million the previous year. This represents 21.89 per cent and 18.06 per cent increase in both quantity and value respectively. Cumulatively in 12 months, (May 2019-April 2020), a total of 4.93 million bags worth $478.47 million were exported,” said UCDA in a statement. LOCKDOWN TROUBLES The coffee authority says that apart from an increase in harvested coffee, exporters also “drew down on their stocks due to the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.” Joseph Nkandu the executive director of the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises said the Covid-19 surge in March forced many coffee buying companies to stock up because the coffee destination countries had closed. He cited major...

JUBA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Wednesday that it has entered into a partnership with the South Sudanese government and other United Nations agencies to ramp up surveillance at the country's borders to curb the spread of COVID-19. The UN migration agency said a joint team led by government officials recently completed assessment on the establishment of an entry point in Wunthou, Renk, a county bordering the Blue Nile state of Sudan. "Renk is an important and busy trade and humanitarian corridor," Jean-Philippe Chauzy, IOM South Sudan's chief of mission, said in a statement issued in Juba. With 40 to 50 trucks moving across the border each week, Renk has proven to be an important trading hub and is vital to the humanitarian aid lifeline connecting South Sudan and Sudan, Chauzy said. "As a first step and before establishing a fully-fledged point of entry, infection prevention and control measures such as the installation of handwashing stations must be in place as well as proper management of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19," he said. Chauzy said the team assessed the preparedness and capacity to carry out border management, and found that protracted disputes over demarcation between Sudan and South Sudan due to lack of shared intelligence, leaving movement across the borders uncoordinated. Zacharia Modi, director of public health in the ministry of health, said: "It is an important step to ensure that while we keep borders open for essentials and humanitarian relief, we do...

Unlike the first community of 1967 to 1977, the current East African Community integration process is people-centered and private sector driven. It was designed to be a bottom up integration. History and experience shows it is the only way for such an undertaking to be sustainable. The stated objectives of the community are the development of policies and programmes aimed at widening and deepening cooperation among the partner states in political, economic, social and cultural fields, research and technology, defense, security and legal and judicial affairs for their mutual benefits. In order to achieve these objectives, the Partner States (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan) established a Customs Union, a Com-mon Market and in the process of establishing a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation. The process is moving from one phase of integration to the next is fluid, that is not every aspect of that phase of integration needs to be fully implemented prior to progressing to the next phase. The integration agenda is a long political process and not a single event. Currently, significant parts of the Customs Union and the Common Market has been implemented. We have a common external tariff and internal trade is duty and tariff free subject to the rules of origin. We have free movement of goods, persons, labour, services, capital, information and technology and citizens have a right of establishment in any Part-ner State. All the freedoms have some exceptions. Free movement of persons Article 7(1) and (2) of...