DAR ES SALAAM, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) senior officials on Wednesday urged members of the regional bloc to remove trade barriers to boost economy in the region. Wilbert Ibuge, Tanzania's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, said the appeal to remove trade barriers among SADC members was made by SADC Council of Ministers permanent secretaries at the start of their three-day video conference meeting. Ibuge, who chaired the meeting, told a news conference in the business capital Dar es Salaam that the officials agreed that SADC member states should open their borders wide to ease trade amongst them with a combined population of about 345 million. "The permanent secretaries from the SADC felt that it was high time the member states enhanced their trade cooperation in order to improve economic and trade growth in the region," said Ibuge. He said the three-day meeting that ends on Friday will, among others, review the implementation of SADC's theme for 2019/2020 "A Conducive Environment for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, Increased Intra-Regional Trade and Job Creation". Tanzania is the current chair of the SADC, an inter-governmental organization established in 1992 to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 16 southern African countries. Enditem Source: Xihuanet

Are we now in a “new Cold War,” as headlines in recent months suggest? As the covid-19 pandemic rages on, relations between the United States and China have reached new lows, and President Trump threatened to “cut off the whole relationship.” This leaves economists and policymakers considering a question that once seemed unthinkable: What would happen to global supply chains if this decoupling should occur? Which countries can step into the vacuum created by this superpower conflict? Our recent study gives some answers. We show the building blocks are already emerging for a new international trade order — with a rapidly increasing number of poorer countries navigating this system. This has happened largely without the direction of global superpowers like the United States and China. Here is what you need to know. The ‘China shock’ has hit poor countries Like the United States, many poor countries have struggled with the economic and political effects of a “China shock” since the 1990s. As China’s export dominance in manufactured goods satisfied much of the demand from wealthier nations, developing countries saw a sharp decline in trade with the global north, as the figure below indicates. These countries have also been shut out of lucrative trade agreements with Europe and the United States, which concentrated primarily on deals with the larger “BRICS” (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). 5 ways the coronavirus is making the world’s most vulnerable a lot more vulnerable Our study explores what this shock has meant for poor countries...

Tea exports to top three markets declined significantly in the first quarter as the world grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on global trade. Data from the Tea Directorate shows exports to Pakistan dipped 15 percent while Egypt and the United Kingdom recorded declines of 10 percent each, pointing to reduced orders and demand impacting negatively on prices. Pakistan, Kenya’s main market for tea, saw its import volumes decline to 42 million kilos from 49.3 million kilos in the previous quarter. Egypt registered a decline of 2.8 million kilos with the UK shedding 1.3 million kilos. “Lower prices at the auction were attributed to increased supply coupled by depressed demand in the global tea markets occasioned by disruption and restrictions of movement due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the directorate. The average auction price in the review period stood at Sh225 a kilo down from Sh233 in the previous quarter. East African Tea Traders Association (Eatta) managing director Edward Mudibo said the demand at the auction, previously driven by panic buying, has now gone down. “In the last eight weeks prices at the auction have registered a mixed bag. In the latest auctions, they have been down on account of reduced demand but it is important to note that the volumes withdrawn from the auction floor have gone down,” he said. Mr Mudibo said the auction performance trends over the initial past four sales have kept on improving despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but there...

Economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continued to improve business climates with best performance seen in the area of getting credit. Some 25 per cent of the reforms recorded by Doing Business 2020 were in the economies of SSA. Economies of the region enacted 73 reforms in the 12 months leading to May 1, 2020. Mauritius (13), ranked the highest in the region overall, followed by Rwanda (38) and Kenya (56). Compared with the previous year, SSA economies increased their average doing-business score by 0.9 points. Notably, most reforms in the region were in the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits and getting credit. Be that as it may, despite the advancements, there's still a long road ahead. Seventeen economies had no reforms in the 12 months through May 2019; three economies (Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan) have never implemented any reforms in the past five years and two (Somali and South Sudan) have never implemented reforms in the areas. Regional score at 51.8 (out of 100) is way below OECD high-income average of 78.4 and the global average of 63. Only two SSA economies rank in the top 50 on the ease-of-doing-business rankings while most of the bottom 20 economies in the global rankings are from the region. Within the context of the much-hyped African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), one indicator — trading across borders — shows the region lagging. For instance, time to clear exporting goods at the border takes 97 hours compared to eight and...

Cargo throughput at the Port of Mombasa for the period January to April declined by 2.1 per cent, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has said. The port recorded a total of 11.3 million tonnes of cargo against 11.6 million tonnes handled in the corresponding period in 2019. KPA acting managing director Rashid Salim attributed the decline to decreased loose cargo import. The port recorded slowed handling of iron and steel at 4.9 per cent and motor vehicles at 23.6 per cent. KPA said the port handled 445,435 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) compared to 454,466 TEUs handled in the corresponding period in 2019, representing a two per cent decline. “The decline was occasioned by a decrease in the handling of exports and transshipment, which recorded a negative variance of 3.3 per cent and a 9.2 per cent respectively,” KPA said in a statement. Raft of measures Total container traffic was below the set target of 447,576 TEUs by 32,141 TEUs which represents 7.2 per cent during the period under review. “The raft of measures put in place have paid off as port performance has been spared a major slump during this Covid-19 crisis,” he said. At the same time, business at the facility got a major boost following the arrival of the first container vessel deployed under the Asea service line arrangement commonly known as “School Bus”. “Marking her maiden call into the calm waters of the sheltered Kilindini harbour, CMA CGM group vessel Mv Blue Whale validates efforts towards sustenance...

Introduced to lessen days and facilitate inter-regional and international transport and road transit, the one-stop border points (OSBPs) are reeling under the deadly coronavirus (Covid-19). When exiting one country and entering another, OSBPs combine two stops into one thus fast-tracking movement of people and improving business environment in the East African Community (EAC). However, Covid 19 has virtually crippled operations of the multi-million-shilling facilities with EAC member states witnessing unprecedented traffic jams of heavy- duty trucks. A senior Regional Kenya Revenue Authority officer said there were more than 1,200 cargo trucks stuck in Busia and Malaba alone and continues piling up in the standoff. “They are all loaded with a wide range of multi-million-shillings cargo destined for markets in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but they are now stuck in the endless jam,” he told Business Hub. Stringent protocols The official, who requested to remain anonymous, attributed the jam to number of drivers protesting some protocols involved in undergoing the mandatory Covid-19 checks before exiting. Drivers, he added, are protesting the way they are being handled, particularly the requirement that they be tested in Kenya on exiting and also in Uganda before proceeding to their destinations. The official said when the government introduced a raft of measures to control the spread of the disease, the first to be hit were the long-distance cross-country Public Service Vehicle (PSV) drivers. Lake Region Counties Economic bloc’s Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry...

NAIROBI, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's flower exports increased from 20 percent to 65 percent of normal levels in the last one month after some European Union countries relaxed their lockdown regulations, the industry association said on Wednesday. Clement Tulezi, CEO Kenya Flower Council (KFC), said there are high hopes that production will hit 80 percent by the end of the year as the sector recovers from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have been one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic and we project that we shall return to normal business by mid next year," he said. The EU trading bloc absorbs approximately 70 percent of the east African nation's flower exports which are among the country's leading foreign exchange earners. Tulezi said that the floriculture sector is currently facing challenges in accessing cargo flights to transport the perishable goods to the EU. "Currently our weekly demand is 2,800 tons per week but we can only export 1,000 tons due to lack of flights and the high charges," he said. He observed that about 50 percent of the permanent staff of flower farms were now back on duty, adding that farmers were working to bring others on board. "Flower farmers did not sack any workers but they were sent home on unpaid leave and we have started the process of getting them back as demand for flowers rise," he said. Earlier, Jack Kneppers, the owner of Maridadi flower farm, said that they were shipping out...

Notwithstanding calls for the implementation of a continental trade deal, the latest Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII 2019) has shown that regional integration remains very poor and vital to building resilient economies that will survive the effect of the pandemic. According to the report, much more needs to be done to integrate regional economies to make them more resilient to shocks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the Index shows that levels of integration on the continent are relatively low with an average score of 0.327 out of 1. The second Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII 2019) was unveiled recently by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission (AUC), with a call to action to African economies to deepen their integration. The 2019 Index, which builds on the first edition published in 2016, provides up-to-date data on the status and progress of regional integration in Africa. It also helps to assess the level of integration for every Regional Economic Community (REC) and their member countries. The report observed that although 20 countries score above average, no African country can be considered well integrated into its region. Even the most integrated country, South Africa, scores 0.625 less than two-thirds of its potential on the scale. For Nigeria and other African countries to succeed in its long-standing efforts towards closer economic integration, ARII 2019 recommended that countries improve regional networks of production and trade by enhancing countries’ productive, distributive, and marketing capacities; build...

Poultry farmers in Kenya want the Ministry of Trade to intervene on the discriminative tariff by the Uganda on chicken meat. Uganda Revenue Authority has in the past two years charged Kenyan chicken meat exports a cumulative 25 per cent in taxes – 18 per cent VAT, one per cent Railway Development Levy and six per cent Withholding Tax. “We want the government to review the taxes charged by our neighbors, both Uganda and Tanzania,'' Kenya Poultry Farmers president Monica Wanjiru said. She added that their plea is to the government to impose tax Uganda poultry imports or for the Ugandan government to waive 19 per cent tax on VAT and Railway Development Levy. The taxes charged by the Uganda, Wanjiru argued, violates World Trade Organization first principle on fair trade. This means that the Uganda poultry products have free access to the Kenyan market while the Kenyan products are hindered from access to Uganda through Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) or imposition of domestic taxes (VAT, withholding taxes or railway levies). Wanjiru added that “Tanzania has also imposed stringent requirements for compliance from the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) which many players in the poultry sector have seen as deliberate efforts to bar them from accessing the market." In 2016,Tanzania banned the importation of poultry and poultry products into the country. “We, therefore, cannot overemphasize the vulnerability of the Kenyan poultry industry from the regional attack,"Wanjiru said. According to the lobby, the most recent impact of such actions by Tanzania culminated...

Over the last few weeks, rumors—and then a few stories—have emerged that the long-expected implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement due on July 1 would be delayed for up to a year while the continent deals with an unprecedented economic crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the African Union hasn’t formally confirmed any intention to pause their plans, it hasn’t seemed totally unrealistic this would be under consideration during such unprecedented times. AfCFTA, which was ratified by enough African countries last year, created the world’s largest free trade zone with a combined GDP of $3.3 trillion. Dropping trade barriers between African countries would boost trade on the continent by over 50%, according to some estimates. Others believe it would double intra-continental trade in Africa. But even with all the practical concerns around a pandemic which is not believed to have peaked yet on the continent, many long time supporters do not believe now is the time to delay the AfCFTA’s implementation—they argue the opposite. “The Continental Free Trade Agreement can be one of the most important tools of our economic recovery,” says Paulo Gomes, a former World Bank executive director and chair of the executive committee of AfroChampions, an African Union-mandated network to coordinate private sector discussions around AfCFTA. “If I’m an African finance minister I don’t have quantitative easing and the money printing money tools of the wealthier economies—trade can be our stimulus.” For Gomes and others this isn’t simply about intra-African...