China’s engagement with Kenya has been a subject of much debate over the past decade dating back to 2012 when then President Mwai Kibaki signed a deal to build the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). In the following years, the project was hyped by government officials who said it would increase Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by almost Sh100 billion upon completion. So far, this promise has not materialised. Instead, Kenyan taxpayers are forking out Sh1 billion monthly to subsidise the railway that has also failed to persuade the majority of traders in the region to shift from the costly but convenient trucking options. Nevertheless, China is keen to paint its relationship with Kenya as one of mutual benefit. China’s Economic and Commercial Counsellor Prof Guo Tse underscored this point when he met business leaders in Nairobi last month. “China’s nonfinancial direct investment to Kenya more than doubled in 2018 to $520 million (Sh52 billion),” he said. Tse noted that trade volumes between the two countries have reached $3.74 billion (374 billion) and that “China is Kenya’s largest trading and investment partner.” This is not accurate. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicates in the last six years, Chinese exports to Kenya have shot up from Sh167 billion to Sh390 billion - representing an average annual growth of Sh37 billion. Kenya’s exports to China, on the other hand, have grown at a more subdued rate from Sh4.1 billion in 2013 to Sh9 billion in 2017 representing an average annual growth...

British businesses are being urged to see beyond Brexit and look to new opportunities in Africa by an architecture and engineering firm celebrating 20 years of success in East Africa. FBW Group has operations in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania – but its roots are in the UK and it has a base in Manchester. It has now unveiled ambitious expansion plans across all four countries. The company’s growth plans come as the UK government works towards its ambition to be the largest G7 investor in Africa by 2022. That ambition was announced by Prime Minister Theresa May on a visit to Africa, alongside a range of measures to boost trade and encourage UK investment, including the creation of a new Africa Investors Board. An Africa Investment Summit is also planned later this year. It will bring together the UK and African governments, alongside major international investors to grow awareness of opportunities on the continent and ensure progress towards the 2022 goal. FBW Group says, regardless of its attempts to leave the EU, opportunities for UK businesses in Africa, with its young and dynamic population – set to make up a quarter of the world’s consumers by 2050 – are clear. FBW, a major player in the region’s construction and development sector, was founded in 1994 by architects and engineers working in Tanzania, including Geoff Wilks, from Stockport, who is still the chairman of the group. He arrived to work for an international company, recognized the opportunities that existed and...

A strong call has been made to the East African Community (EAC), partner states to prioritize on policies that will attract and promote investment focusing on the development of the people and business community. The integration of the people into the economy is the only way to ensure that growth has a broad effect and is sustainable. “We have to listen to the people and to the businesses and it is only by working together that we will be able to spur economic growth in our region,” The Chairperson of the Summit of East African Community Heads of State, Paul Kagame said over the weekend. President Kagame made the call at the opening of the strategic retreat of the EAC Council of Ministers and Heads of EAC Organs and Institutions in Kigali with the theme, “Renewing our commitment to the objectives of the Community, accelerating our integration agenda.” President Kagame noted that the retreat offers an opportunity to focus on the EAC vision, and to make concrete plans on how this vision can be achieved. He urged EAC Partner States to urgently address all matters impeding the swift implementation of the various regional integration projects and programmes. “There is urgent need to take ownership of this integration agenda, and this includes Partner States remitting our statutory contributions on time,” he said. “As the African continent is coming together, the EAC has all that is needed and all that it takes to lead this process at the continental level,” he added....

On a sunny afternoon in Kigali Rwanda, on March 21, 2018, about 80 per cent of African countries, including Uganda, made a statement of intent. Forty four Heads of States - one by one - signed an agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area during the 10th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) held in Kigali, Rwanda. By the end of the day, the AfCFTA agreement and related protocols were signed by 44 countries including Uganda), a figure that constitutes about 80 per cent of the African Union membership. Never before in the history of African integration has a legal instrument been signed by that number of countries at a single sitting. According to the trade minister, Ms Amelia Kyambadde, this is a testimony to the desire of the African leaders to economically integrate their countries together for the development of the African people for mutual benefit. In a statement she issued later regarding the development, she said: "We agreed to the principle of variable geometry, which allows those that are ready to proceed while the others will join whenever they are ready." She continued: "Thus there are 11 countries (including Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia and GuineaBissau) that did not sign the Agreement. These countries will sign the Agreements at a convenient time whenever their domestic processes are completed." To date, 21 countries have since ratified the agreement with a total of 22 ratifications needed...

With Gambia’s ratification, a massive new African free trade zone is springing into being, said a top African Union official on Tuesday. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) “market is being born and is one step ready for launch of its operational phase in July this year,” Albert Muchanga, African Union commissioner for trade and industry, wrote on Twitter. “The AfCFTA’s work on rules of origin; tariff concessions, payments and settlements; non-tariff barriers; and trade information are the other steps and are also progressing very well for the launch,” he added. The deal will make Africa the world’s largest free trade area created in terms of the number of participating countries since the World Trade Organization was formed in 1995. It will create a market of $3 trillion and a market of 1.2 billion people with no tariffs or border restrictions. Twenty-two countries are required to ratify the deal, and Ethiopia and Gambia took the deal over the line. Intra-African trade accounts for around 16 percent of the continent’s total trade, according to the African Union, and under the AfCFTA this could increase by half. Source: AA

Gambia became the 22nd African country to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA), meaning the bill now has the minimum number of ratifications needed to come into effect. On March 21 Ethiopia became one of the last African nations to ratify AfCFTA, bringing the tally of endorsing countries to 21. The trade bloc spanning 49 countries with a combined GDP of $3trn, will facilitate inter-regional trade, boost growth and help to alleviate poverty, its supporters say. The news was tweeted by the African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga: “Good news! The Parliament of The Gambia has APPROVED ratification of #AfCFTA Agreement making us meet the minimum threshold. “The AfCFTA market is being born and is one step ready for launch of its operational phase in July this year. The agreement, signed by 49 of the 55 African Union nations in March last year, will dodge a patchwork of trade regulations and tariffs that make intra-African commerce costly, time-consuming and cumbersome. Its promotion of tariff-free movement of goods, people and services across the continent is also expected to favour SME’s, who account for 80% of Africa’s employment and 50% of its GDP, according to the World Bank. But skeptics have pointed to the impending challenges of uniting countries with the greatest level of income disparity between them, under the umbrella of one trade bloc. For example, over 50 percent of Africa’s cumulative GDP is contributed by Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa, while Africa’s six sovereign island nations collectively contribute...

The Democratic Republic of Congo has emerged as a crucial export destination for the East African Community, accounting for around six per cent of EAC total exports from the region. President Felix Tshisekedi, who announced that his country’s economic recovery is paramount in his first term, has already visited Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda within the first three months of his presidency, as he moves to secure trade ties. In his visit to Rwanda last week, he highlighted the need for security in the EAC and urged both Rwanda and Uganda not to escalate the political tensions that have affected free movement of people and goods. “I will not go into the details of what we discussed with both President Yoweri Museveni and President Paul Kagame, but I have listened to both presidents and I don't believe there will be an escalation of violence between them,” he said at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali. Violent past President Kagame and President Tshisekedi also agreed to put behind them the violent past of their countries, and cooperate on ending armed violence perpetrated by armed rebel groups based in eastern DRC. “My problems in Rwanda end up being the problems of people in DRC and vice versa. We have to address these challenges. “President Tshisekedi has made commitments to the people of DRC and the people of the region. We must believe him and extend our hand of cooperation, as he does with us, and see how far we can go,” President Kagame...

Tanzanian parliamentary budget session will begin in the capital Dodoma Tuesday to debate the east African nation’s budget for 2019/2020, a statement released by the Parliament’s office said on Monday. The government of Tanzania plans to spend 33.1 trillion Tanzanian shillings (about 14.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the 2019/2020 financial year, up from the 32.5 trillion shillings it targeted to spend in 2018/2019, according to the statement. The statement said the budget session will start from April 2 and end before June 30 this year to pave way for the start of the new financial year starting on July 1. Maulid Mtulia, the Member of Parliament for Kinondoni constituency, said he hoped that the 2019/2020 budget will allocate enough funds for completion of implementation of the election manifesto of the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi which President John Magufuli pledged to fulfill during presidential campaigns in the 2015 general election. The chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitution and Legal Affairs, Mohamed Mchengerwa, said he was optimistic that large amounts of the 2019/2020 budget will be spent on development projects. However, the opposition camp in Parliament said the government should concentrate on implementation of projects that will empower ordinary people. “The government should also pay contractors on time to improve money circulation,” said shadow deputy Minister for Finance and Planning, David Silinde. Tanzania’s economy is forecast to grow 7.3 percent in 2019, from an estimated 7.2 percent last year. Source: African Daily Voice

Talks between Kenya and Uganda when President Yoweri Museveni came visiting last week mainly focused on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and operations at the Port of Mombasa. The main reason the two facilities took centre stage is obvious to see; the 2018 port transit report places Uganda as the biggest user of the port where it had imported 7.4 million metric tonnes of goods last year. It was an increase from 6.5 million tonnes of goods compared with the previous year. The country’s transit market share in 2018 was a massive 82.1 per cent . Between 2017 and 2018 cargo imports into Uganda increased by 0.9 million tones. According to the report, Uganda was followed by South Sudan that had imported 563,663 tonnes which represented 7.6 percent of the transit market share. DRC Congo came third with 413,249 imports representing 4.9 percent. The rest of the imports were Tanzania s 229,652 (2.6 percent), Rwanda’s 219,650(2.4 percent), Burundi’s20, 610(0.2 percent). Other countries including Somalia, Ethiopia and Burundi had 0.1 percent imports through the port. In total the Mombasa port handled 8.8 million metric tonnes of transit goods. Transport and Infrastructure cabinet secretary James Macharia said Uganda is Kenya’s biggest trading partner and one of its huge clients at the Port of Mombasa. Addressing journalists at the SGR Miritini terminus before Mr Museveni boarded the Madaraka Express to Nairobi, Mr Macharia said out of the over 30 million tonnes of cargo throughput at the port, 25 percent is destined to Kampala....

The Democratic Republic of Congo has emerged as a crucial export destination for the East African Community, accounting for around six per cent of EAC total exports from the region. President Felix Tshisekedi, who announced that his country's economic recovery is paramount in his first term, has already visited Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda within the first three months of his presidency, as he moves to secure trade ties. In his visit to Rwanda last week, he highlighted the need for security in the EAC and urged both Rwanda and Uganda not to escalate the political tensions that have affected free movement of people and goods. "I will not go into the details of what we discussed with both President Yoweri Museveni and President Paul Kagame, but I have listened to both presidents and I don't believe there will be an escalation of violence between them," he said at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali. Violent past President Kagame and President Tshisekedi also agreed to put behind them the violent past of their countries, and cooperate on ending armed violence perpetrated by armed rebel groups based in eastern DRC. "My problems in Rwanda end up being the problems of people in DRC and vice versa. We have to address these challenges. "President Tshisekedi has made commitments to the people of DRC and the people of the region. We must believe him and extend our hand of cooperation, as he does with us, and see how far we can go," President Kagame...