Kenyan traders can now access the continent’s investment regulatory data on one platform following the launch of an e-portal aimed enhancing ease of doing business. The tool, tradebarriers.africa, has been developed by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the African Union, and also seeks to make trade less costly for local investors. The platform became operational on January 13. UNCTAD and African Union (AU) said Kenyan traders and businesses moving goods across the continent will be able to report the challenges they encounter, such as quotas, excessive import documents or unjustified packaging requirements. UNCTAD and the AU trained 60 public officials and business representatives from across Africa on how to use the tool in December 2019 in Nairobi. “Non-tariff barriers are the main obstacles to trade between African countries,” said Ms Pamela Coke-Hamilton, director of UNCTAD’s trade division. “That’s why the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) depends in part on how well governments can track and remove them,” she said, referring to the agreement signed by African governments to create a single, continentwide market for goods and services. Complaints logged on the platform will be monitored by government officials in each nation and a special coordination unit that’s housed in the AfCFTA secretariat. The unit will be responsible for verifying a complaint. Once verified, officials in the countries concerned will be tasked with addressing the issue within set timelines prescribed by the AfCFTA agreement. Kenya’s manufacturing sector is betting big on the Africa-wide...

Players in the clearing and forwarding sector are pushing for a new law to help streamline industry operations and kick out rogue clearing agents. The Kenya International Freight Forwarders Association (KIFWA) and the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA), in partnership with other relevant industry associations, want the adoption of the Kenya Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders Bill 2020. The Bill unveiled in Nairobi on Tuesday is drawn towards enhancing professionalism in service delivery and compliance to the existing regulations , the associations said. It is aimed at ending cargo delays at ports, improve cargo flow, improve revenue collection by the revenue authorities and lowering the cost of doing business. According to FEAFFA President Fred Seka, the new regulation is meant to streamline cargo clearance by ending the deployment of untrained agents, promoting fair competition, protecting industry players from unfair liability and supplementing existing government regulations. It will introduce mandatory registration and training of all customs agents and freight forwarders and fines and penalties for non-compliance and misconduct. “Kenya trades over 30 million tonnes of cargo within the East African community and the volumes keep growing, putting ever more pressure on a system that is inherently inefficient due to the lack of obligatory qualifications,” said Seka. The consequent delays are costing shippers as much as Sh25.6 billion annually in extra demurrage charges. The proposed bill will require all customs agents to demonstrate their understanding of the clearance processes, valuations, classification, rules of origin and management of the changing regional...

The UK is partnering with five African countries to mobilise private sector investment in quality, environmentally-friendly infrastructure projects, International Development Secretary Alok Sharma announced on Monday. Speaking at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London ahead of an infrastructure investment forum on Tuesday, Mr Sharma said the UK will partner with Uganda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya to design a new facility to plan, deliver and support finance to a range of infrastructure projects across Africa that are attractive to businesses and investors. Sustainability will be central to these new infrastructure projects, focusing on investments with low carbon emissions and projects that will be resilient to a changing climate. International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said “Investing in quality infrastructure enables children to travel to school and parents to go to work to provide for their families. It lets people keep food in fridges and provides light so children can do their homework at night. It also powers factories, phones and computers to connect people and grow businesses. It is the difference between surviving and thriving. “Using world-leading British expertise in infrastructure and investment, including from the City of London, the UK will support our partners across Africa to build their projects in an environmentally-friendly way and bring them successfully to market.” Alongside this, Mr Sharma pledged extra UK aid to help African governments raise finance to deliver much needed high-quality public sector infrastructure projects, such as building schools and hospitals and boosting access to clean energy and water supplies for the...

President Yoweri Museveni is among a dozen African leaders in London for a summit aimed at boosting the UK’s private sector investment on the continent. The summit aimed at boosting the UK’s private sector investment on the continent. ‘‘I thank the Prime Minister [the Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson] for the invitation. Like I told him in our bilateral meeting, Uganda is ready to receive British investors, given the immense business opportunities in the Pearl of Africa.’’ President Museveni said on Monday. He added: We have greatly upgraded infrastructure to support investment. We have sufficient electricity, a skilled workforce, fair tariffs, good roads, etc. Opportunities exist in agriculture, services, tourism, dairy sector, ICT etc. In his speech, the Prime Minister indicated that African products, including Uganda’s beef, would find its way onto the dining tables of post-Brexit Britain. The UK government has signed 11 trade agreements with African countries, just over a week before it officially leaves the European Union. It is expected to unveil a new strategy for development in Africa later on Monday, which will focus more on infrastructure and trade. This is a major shift in the UK’s relationship with Africa. It is about using aid money to support investment. The Department for International Development says it is now focusing on digital technologies, green energy and women entrepreneurs. UK businesses will also play a big role. They have already signed deals worth more than $7.8bn, with more expected during the summit. With many of the fastest growing economies...

By PAUL KIBUUKA From the discussion of the previous two parts of this mini-series on Tanzania’s import taxation regime and, in particular, the import taxes categorised therein, it is clear that the customs value (or, the Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF))—primarily, the actual value of the goods when they are imported—hugely impacts the taxes that are payable during importation. For cases where the value of imported goods cannot be determined, section 37(2)(a) and 122 of the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 (hereinafter, ‘EACCMA 2004’), read together with the Fourth Schedule thereto, provides for ad-valorem valuation. In this regard, what may be used is the transaction value of identical goods, which is the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export at or about the time of valuation. But what are “identical goods”? Part 1 of the Fourth Schedule to the EACCMA 2004 defines identical goods to mean “goods which are the same in all respects, including physical characteristics, quality and reputation”. However, minor differences in appearance are not sufficient to preclude goods from being considered as identical. Still, there are cases where the customs value of imported goods cannot be ascertained from the transaction value of identical goods. Here, the transaction value of similar goods—sold for export and exported at or about the same time as the goods being valued—may be used to arrive at the customs value. The term “similar goods” is defined in Part 1 of the Fourth Schedule to the EACCMA...

A slowdown in manufacturing activities and completion of a modern railway amid a drop in export earnings helped narrow Kenya’s trade deficit for the first time in three years, provisional statistics show. The deficit — the gap between imports and exports — shrank by Sh15.55 billion to Sh1.05 trillion in the 11 months through November 2019, according to fresh data collated by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), marking the first drop since 2016. The 1.46 percent contraction was largely driven by a slowed growth in manufacturing, which suffered a cash crunch against the backdrop of mounting arrears by the government and credit rationing by commercial banks. The troubles of Kenyan factories, which largely rely on materials and machinery from abroad, helped push down the country’s import bill for the January-November period by Sh33.22 billion, or 2.03 percent, to Sh1.60 trillion. Earnings from exports, on the other hand, slipped at a faster rate of 3.10 percent, or Sh17.66 billion, to stand at Sh551.25 billion in the year to November, the KNBS data show. A persistently higher trade deficit, economists say, slows down creation of new job opportunities for the growing number of graduates as much of the revenue earned within Kenya is spent on buying goods from foreign factories, thereby raising production and job openings there. Source: Business Daily

A decade since it came into force, the East African Community Common Market Protocol, is going through a reality check. This week, Uganda lodged a formal protest against Kenya, over blockage of its milk exports. Kenya also accuses Uganda of imposing hefty duties on some of its exports especially beverages. Tanzania has been involved in several trade skirmishes with Kenya even as they were united in disputing Uganda’s sugar surplus and for a while blocking Ugandan sugar from their markets. In a case of selective amnesia, Uganda also does not believe Tanzania has a rice surplus although many Ugandan entrepreneurs rent land in southern Tanzania to grow rice. When the common market was conceived, it was believed free trade would be a vehicle for efficient allocation of resources across the economic spectrum. For instance, free movement of labour would allow skills to move from areas of surplus to areas in the community that had a deficit. Theoretically, application of those skills would over time raise the productive capacity of such an economy, creating a degree of parity with the rest of the region. What the framers might have anticipated but did not state, was that open markets would trigger a realignment of the regional economy as investors look for the most cost efficient production bases. Uganda got a taste of this early on when multinationals Bata and British American Tobacco shifted their manufacturing operations from Uganda to Kenya. This seeming loss has however, been more than compensated for by the...

Tax, previously relegated to the background as simply another cost of doing business, is high on the agenda of CEOs and boards of multinational enterprises (MNEs)—and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in global trade and international business. Paradoxically, at a time when countries in East Africa are using tax and investment incentives to attract foreign direct investments and to stay competitive with other regions offering similar incentives, the veritable magnitude of changes in tax policies and laws made in recent years necessitates that directors and senior executives of MNEs—and the preponderance of SMEs—give due consideration to tax issues. Currently, beyond maximising shareholder value, there is growing concern about the handling of negative publicity, enduring heightened pressure from nonprofit advocacy groups to take less aggressive tax positions, and getting to grips with the impact of tax on business decisions. At the same time, community expectations of private sector companies in East Africa to pay their “fair share of taxes” are increasing. Against this backdrop, companies need to deliberately devise appropriate tax planning strategies and to actively engage senior executives, the board, and the finance and tax executives. A factor further complicating the intrinsically technical field of tax is the fast pace of changing policies and laws as the region’s tax authorities cope with the upshot of rapid technological innovations, global interconnectedness, disruptive business models, and the new era of talent mobility. Moreover, contemporary tax policies and laws are built on centuries-old principles and goals. From these observations, we can appreciate the...

THE government has said it is taking measures to tackle non tariff barriers for Tanzanian businesses at border posts, in response to the recent complaints aired by local traders. The Deputy Minister for Trade and Industries, Eng. Stella Manyanya, told the ‘Daily News’ on Thursday that local traders were facing difficulties in shipping goods to neighbouring countries due to some unnecessary bureaucracies at borders. Eng Manyanya noted that Tanzania has ratified various protocols that require each member country to remove bureaucratic non-tariff barriers to trade. The Deputy Ministersaid apart from such agreements, still traders were facing challenges in transporting goods outside the country. “As we speak, a trader transporting 30 tons of maize flour to the DRC has beestranded for days at Zambia’s Nakonde entry border post until the Zambian Minister for Agriculture signs the permit,” she said. She said the consignment could not be allowed to cross the border, though it was not meant for Zambia, but the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The deputy minister was concerned that was happening despite the fact that the government has signed trade pacts with East African Community (EAC) as well as the SouthernAfrican Development Community (SADC) member states and that those agreements call for removal of non-tariff barriers so as toallow smooth business flow between nations. “Non-tariff barriers are still hampering smooth movements of goods from borders leading to huge economic setbacks,” she said. “Some of our traders who export cattle to neighbouring countries are forced to hire vehicles from those...

Great Lake Region Private Sector Forum chairman Richard Ngatia and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni after he paid the President a courtesy call atState House in Entebe, Uganda on Friday. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged Sh10 million to the Great Lakes Investment and Trade Conference in March. Museveni made the pledge on Friday last week after the Great Lake Region Private Sector Forum (GLR-PSF) chairman Richard Ngatia paid him a courtesy call at State House, Entebbe. The Great Lakes countries surround Lake Victoria, the world's third-largest freshwater lake. Countries on Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi are als in the Great Lakes region. Ngatia led the delegation to meet Musevening after officiating at the launch of the GLR-PSF round table meeting in Kampala. The International Conference Of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, from March 18 to 20. “I would like to sincerely thank His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni for the kind gesture and pledge of Sh10 million to support of the upcoming conference," Ngatia said. "As a regional private sector body, we are committed to open up regional and international market linkages to benefit our people, especially youths and women,” Ngatia said. Ngatia, who is also president of Kenya National Chamber Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) was accompanied by Olive Kigongo, president of the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI). United Nations Uganda Resident Coordinator Rose Malango and Uganda Minister for East African Community Affairs Kahinda Otafiire were present, among others. KNCCI is focussed on expanding trade across borders, development...