Kenya’s exports to key markets in Africa fell to an eight-year low in the first four months of the year, official statistics show, continuing a trend that has been reflected in annual data over the years. Latest data by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) show earnings from the continent were about Sh71.44 billion, a 4.5 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2017 and the lowest since 2010. Reduced trade between Kenya and the rest of Africa is in keeping with a trend observed in the 12 months to December 2017. Kenyan factories have been losing their market share in Africa despite the country being a member of the six-nation East African Community (EAC) and 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) partly due to import substitution amid dwindling industrial competitiveness. Export orders from neighbouring Uganda, the country’s largest market in Africa, for example fell by 5.69 per cent in the period to Sh20.41 billion, maintaining a flat trend witnessed in recent years. “We don’t get our VAT refund on time, we don’t get export incentives and that’s why our trade within the region has been reducing,” Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) vice chairman Sachen Gudka said in an interview late April. “The government should address competitiveness because when you look at Kenya in terms of global benchmarks, cost levels are at least 10 per cent higher.” Kenya’s exports to Africa, however, accounted for 33.74 per cent of her total exports, which stood at Sh211.71...

Parliament has begun the ratification process of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement, which will create an integrated market between 26 African countries. Parliament’s trade and industry committee was briefed on the agreement on Wednesday by Department of Trade and Industry chief director Wamkele Mene, who said ratification by SA would send a strong signal of its commitment to regional integration. SA is also engaged in negotiations on the Continental Africa Free Trade Area and the department’s director-general, Lionel October, told the committee that it was now ready to sign it. SA signed the TFTA agreement in July 2017. It will enter into force once it has been ratified by 14 member states. So far only Egypt, Uganda and Kenya have ratified it. The TFTA will include members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States (Comesa) and the East African Community. These countries have a combined gross domestic product of $1.2-trillion and a combined population of about 626-million people. Some TFTA countries, such as Rwanda, Ethiopa and Tanzania, are among the fastest-growing economies on the continent. SA’s trade with TFTA countries represents about 16% of its total trade with the world. In 2017 SA’s total trade with TFTA countries amounted to $27.6bn. "SA will build on its current share of the African market and have access to a larger, more integrated and growing regional market. This has the potential to stimulate industrial development, investment and job creation," Mene said. He...

President Uhuru Kenyatta is slated to officially open the first phase of the Sh11 billion Dongo Kundu bypass to decongest Mombasa which has been bedevilled by huge traffic snarl-ups affecting movement of people and goods. Mombasa is Kenya’s main international gateway by sea and crucial to the country’s economy. The Port of Mombasa is also used by most of neighbouring land-locked countries to import goods. Deputy President William Ruto announced during his recent tour of the coast that ended Thursday that Mr Kenyatta will open the 10-kilometre bypass Thursday. He said the government was building the Mombasa-Mariakani Road that would ease traffic along the busy Nairobi highway. “And this Thursday, the President will be here to open the Southern Bypass road, which has already been completed and we will continue putting up roads here, as you are aware Dongo Kundu will go up to Kwale County. “All this is done to ensure that Mombasa is among counties being developed by our government,” said Mr Ruto. Opened last week The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), headed by Director-General Peter Mundinia, opened the bypass to the public last week. Plans are underway to build the second and third phases of the bypass to connect the North and South coast. KeNHA Assistant Director of Corporate Communication Charles Njogu said the bypass is expected to decongest the Mombasa-Nairobi highway. The work started in July 2016. The road runs from Mombasa port’s second container terminal to Nairobi highway at Bonje, near Mazeras. “This is a...

NAIROBI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Tuesday signed an agreement with Singapore to phase out double taxation and attract investments from the Southeast Asian country in key sectors like agro-processing and financial services. Henry Rotich, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning, said the elimination of double taxation will promote trade between the two countries alongside sharing of expertise required to hasten economic growth. "The main objective of eliminating double taxation is to create a conducive environment for investments and trade in goods and services between Kenya and Singapore," said Rotich. "Other benefits include facilitation in tax administration through sharing of information by tax authorities of the two countries, hence checking tax evasion," he added. Rotich said that Kenya is keen to tap into Singapore's expertise in policy and regulatory reforms as well as human resources development that catapulted it to middle income status within a short period. Currently, the balance of trade between Kenya and Singapore is in favor of the latter and represents a deficit of an estimated 51 million U.S. dollars. According to Rotich, Kenya's exports to Singapore that includes tea, fruits, nuts and vegetables stood at 30 million dollars while imports from the country that included synthetic fibers and polymers stood at 50 million dollars in 2017. He said the signing of an agreement on promotion of investments between Kenya and Singapore will help address the yawning trade deficit. "The agreement is also designed to encourage investor confidence by setting high standards of investor...

JUBA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said Tuesday that it is ready to start processing and issuing East African Community (EAC) electronic passport to enhance cross-border movement of people and goods. Mou Mou Athian, the under-secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and East African Affairs, said the e-passport is expected to unleash benefits linked to regional integration. "We are ready to start issuance of the EAC digital passport to our citizens because it is very important to have one society that is governed by a common market protocol," Athian told journalists in Juba. He said the e-passport will have categories that include diplomatic, service and ordinary and its validity depends on the beholders' terms though it is set for 10 years validation. The move came after the regional economic bloc set August as the deadline for South Sudan and Rwanda to start issuing their citizens the electronic passports. Last year, the EAC's six partner states including South Sudan were directed to start issuing the new East Africa machine readable electronic passports by January but the preparedness of each member state was considered. South Sudan applied for membership to the EAC as soon as it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. However, its application was declined because of the country's institutional weakness. In 2016, South Sudan was officially admitted to become the sixth member of the EAC after President Salva Kiir signed an accession treaty in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. The East African Community was originally formed...

Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has announced plans to partner with the private sector to build more cargo storage facilities along the Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge rail (SGR) line. The move is aimed at easing pressure on the Sh23 billion inland container depot (ICD) at Embakasi that was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta last December. “We are going to partner with the private sector to build more cargo storage facilities along the Nairobi-Mombasa SGR line to improve port evacuation and ease congestion at the ICD in Embakasi,” said Kenya Railways Managing-Director Atanas Maina. Mr Maina, who was speaking to ‘Shipping and Logistics’ in an interview, said feasibility studies to ascertain the cost of the project are ongoing and will take two months. Once the study is done, he said, the project will start as soon as funds are available. Works on the high speed line, he said, will take about three years to complete. “I cannot be able to tell you the total amount of money we require to implement this project at the moment. All I know is that the amount involved is quite huge and it’s the reason we are partnering with the private sector,” he said. Currently, the ICD has capacity to handle 450,000 TEUs per year, up from its original design of 180,000 TEUs. It receives four trains daily carrying 108 containers each, ferrying a total of 432 container units daily to the ICD since April 1. There are plans to increase the trains to five from May...

ADDIS ABABA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- East African countries, under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), on Monday disclosed their interest in penetrating Southeast Asia's meat and live animals market via Hong Kong. IGAD member countries, which usually export live animals and meat to Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said Hong Kong's meat and live animals market could help to mitigate some of the challenges faced while exporting to MENA region, IGAD said in a statement. According to IGAD, despite the close proximity and East Africa's rich animal resources, the region was only able to meet 50 percent and 10 percent of the annual demand of the Middle East and North African markets respectively. Noting the seasonal nature of MENA's meat and live animal market, which reaches its high peak during religious seasons when millions of live animals exported especially to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for festivity slaughter, IGAD stressed "the need to mitigate the seasonal demand and promote continuous exports." "It was necessary to explore new markets in Southeast Asia while at the same time expanding the existing market in MENA," the statement read. The East African bloc IGAD, which recently sent its trade mission to Hong Kong to explore opportunities of entering the market for meat, also hailed the possibilities to penetrate the region's meat market via Hong Kong. "Hong Kong can serve as a gateway to different cities that have a combined population of 66 million people that can provide good market for imported...

Trade policy cooperation and coordination are more than ever of utmost importance to us. Increasing protectionist tendencies provide us with a clear incentive and opportunity to express our strong support for the multilateral trading system. Joint press release by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, World Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina on the occasion of their meeting in Berlin on 11 June 2018. Our common approach of fostering international economic policy cooperation remains necessary to address global challenges, set new standards and improve the prospects for inclusive and sustainable growth. To this end, we remain committed to strengthening both institutional and informal links among national governments, international organizations and other stakeholders, including such fora as the G7 and G20. The global conjuncture remains favorable. World growth rose to 3.8% in 2017. The IMF projects a slight pick-up in global growth to 3.9% in 2018-19. Among advanced economies, expansionary fiscal policy is expected to drive the US economy above full employment, while excess capacity in Euro Area economies is projected to narrow with support from accommodative monetary policy. Among emerging and developing economies, prospects are for continued strong growth in emerging Asia and Europe but are more subdued elsewhere. Inflationary pressures remain contained, despite the increase in commodity prices. Financial conditions are generally supportive, but with some signs of differentiation across countries. The WTO anticipates merchandise trade volume growth...

NAIROBI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- East Africa Community (EAC) member states have agreed to complete cross-border frequency coordination by the end of 2018, an official said on Monday. Ally Simba, Executive Secretary of East African Communications Organization (EACO), told a media briefing in Nairobi that that people living at border areas in the region have for long experienced forced roaming as a result of cross-border mobile network interferences. Simba said that this has resulted in those residents paying high roaming charges to access mobile telecommunications services. Speaking during the 25th East African Communications Organization (EACO) meeting of assemblies, Simba said cross-border frequency coordination for mobile services has been done in 90 percent of the borders and the verification exercise by the regulators is ongoing. He noted that the aim of the coordination exercise is to reduce forced roaming so that users are able to connect to their home networks without interference from the neighboring country's networks. Simba added that cross-border frequency coordination for broadcasting services has also commenced and the work of implementing the cross-border framework for broadcasting should be complete by the end of the year. Peter Munya, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary in the EAC Ministry, said the EAC member states and private ICT firms in the region have in the past initiated projects that are not only fostering integration among people but have also lowered the cost of doing business in the region. Munya said among the most successful is the multi-country initiative that harmonized the regional mobile roaming...

Unprecedented operational hitches at the Nairobi inland container depot have been blamed for the pileup of cargo along the transportation chain, threatening Kenya’s position as a regional transportation hub. The chaos at the port of Mombasa has culminated in the reorganisation of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) top management, with the managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi being sent on compulsory leave. But she got a reprieve after the High Court revoked her suspension. Shippers, logistics firms and clearing agents say improving operations at the port will not succeed if the issues at the ICD are not sorted out. While in the past Mombasa was the only focal point of inefficiencies in cargo handling, the ICD has now become a congestion hub as the government pushes cargo owners to use the standard gauge railway for cargo destined upcountry. The government issued a directive that 40 per cent of cargo arriving at the port of Mombasa be transported by the SGR to the ICD has turned the once quiet Nairobi-based facility into a den of bureaucratic ineptness and disorder. Such is the disorder that the KPA has been forced to put up notices in Kenyan newspapers telling importers to clear cargo at the facility to decongest it. On Thursday, the KPA, in a paid advertisement, said there were 2,000 cleared containers at the depot that have not been collected despite exhausting their free storage period. It warned that uncollected cargo will be transferred to nominated warehouses outside the ICD for storage at the cost...