US President Donald Trump barely mentioned Africa or trade with the continent during his whirlwind campaign and has been mostly silent about the region since taking office. But the annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum being held in the Togolese capital Lome this week will bring together top US officials and African ministers. The gathering will finally shine a light on Trump's policies toward the region of 1.2 billion people. What is the African Growth and Opportunity Act? It was a trade deal inked between the United States and eligible African countries nations under Bill Clinton's presidency and enacted in 2000. It gives 39 African nations duty-free access to the US market for about 6,500 products including textiles, cars, fruit and wine. Those countries permitted to participate in AGOA are obliged to prove that they are making efforts to improve human rights, the rule of law and worker protections. Is Trump getting involved in Africa? Early signs were not good for the 45th president's interest in trade with the continent. He spoke regularly on the campaign trail about the need to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and to get a better deal with China -- but Africa did not feature in his top priorities. But he has now sent his top trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer to Lome for the two-day meeting that concludes on Thursday along with a top level negotiating team. Trump himself will not attend the talks. A good deal for Africans? When asked...

Consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas for the six months to June dropped 38.91 per cent, latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has shown. Data shows LPG consumption for the first half of the year declined by 36,050 metric tonnes to 56,590 tonnes from 92,640 tonnes during the same period last year which comes on the backdrop of strained bilateral trade ties between Kenya and Tanzania. In April, Energy CS Charles Keter designated Mombasa as the only point of entry for LPG, a move aimed at locking out traders from importing cooking gas through Tanzania. The move, he said, was intended to curb cheaper LPG from Zambia which was reportedly being imported to the country through Tanzania, with most of it ending in illegal refueling plants. KNBS data shows that since the ban, cooking gas uptake has been recorded at 5,740, 6,550 and 5,190 in April, May and June respectively. The data shows that cooking gas prices hit the Sh2,000 mark in April this year, highest prices since September 2016. Prices are still averaging slightly above the Sh2,000 mark. The government’s April ban on LPG coming through the Namanga border renewed the long-running trade feud between the Kenya and Tanzania. More than a fortnight ago, Kenyan Foreign Affairs cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed and her Tanzanian counterpart Augustine Mahinga announced that the two states had agreed to end the restrictions after ironing out long-standing trade differences. Kenya lifted restrictions imposed on Tanzanian wheat flour and liquefied petroleum gas while...

The just ended 2017 election outcome, agriculture output, and inflation levels are set to determine Kenya’s second half year growth, a new insight by Bloomberg Intelligence Economist has revealed. Dubbed East Africa Insight, the analysis by economists Mark Bohlund also reveals that Uganda may expand faster than Kenya for the first time since 2011 amid stronger farming output. Based on the outcome of the election results, analysis Bohlund shows that if the opposition is granted victory, there are high chances that the GDP will grow. “BI Economics expects that an opposition victory would engender a more expansive fiscal policy in coming years than outlined in the 2017-18 budget, because of pledges to accelerate fiscal devolution and undertake structural reform” He said. The analysis shows that Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product growth fell to 4.7 per cent year-over-year in first quarter from 6.1 per cent in the preceding quarter, partly reflecting a 1.1 percentage point drop in agricultural output, the sharpest contraction since 2009. It also pointed out a 2.7 per cent month-over-month drop in food prices in June, the largest drop since 2010 as a cause for the GDP growth drop as compared to -3.2 per cent and -2.0 per cent drop in Rwanda and Uganda respectively. According to statistics from Kenya Bureau of Statistics, Uganda’s GDP data showed growth of 1.8 per cent quarter-over-quarter in first quarter, following a relatively robust expansion of 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter. The growth was attributed to a 3.4 per cent rise...

The dry port to be set up in Naivasha is part of the northern corridor whose master plan aims to establish inland freight hubs to end congestion at the Port of Mombasa. The Mombasa port's total annual freight handling is expected to exceed 50 million tonnes by 2030, doubling from 24 million tonnes in 2015. The dry port is expected to reduce the overall cost of handling goods at the seaport, which faces cutthroat competition from the Port of Dar es Salaam. The purpose of dry ports the world over is not to drive existing mother seaports and inland depots out of business, but to complement them. Dry ports allow the provision of additional logistic services for the mother ports such as cargo consolidation, provision of additional storage space for both cargo and empty containers, as well as container cleaning, fumigation and light repairs. All these cannot be undertaken in congested seaports and inland container depots. The establishment of dry ports, therefore, relieves the stiff competition for space between cargo storage and clearing as well as customs activities at the seaports and makes them more efficient, neat and competitive. The proposed dry ports in Voi and Naivasha are therefore expected to complement the traditional cargo freight services at the Port of Mombasa and the inland container depots in Embakasi, Eldoret and Kisumu. The need for such ports is now urgent, following the commencement of SGR operations. In Tanzania, for example, the government aims at operating the internal container terminal at...

THE government has pledged to address complaints raised by clearing and forwarding agents in regard to alleged inaction by the Directorate of Maritime at the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA), in addressing delays in clearing of shipments at the Dar es Salaam Port. In an interview with the ‘Daily News’ yesterday, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Prof Makame Mbarawa, confirmed to have received the concerns from stakeholders at the port. “The clearing agents forwarded their concerns to my office; I am still assessing their complaints before taking action on the said inactions by the directorate,” Prof Mbarawa told this paper in a telephone interview. Prof Mbarawa said it is only after thorough assessment of the said indecision by the ministry that the government would take appropriate actions. Clearing and forwarding agents are up in arms over what they describe as unwarranted delays in clearing goods at the Dar es Salaam Port, blaming the Directorate of Maritime at Sumatra for not taking action to solve the problem. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the ‘Daily News’ yesterday, the Secretary General of Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA), Mr Tony Swai, said despite repeated complaints from port stakeholders to the directorate the delays have continued to haunt the industry. “For instance, it takes up to five hours to obtain proforma invoice from the Tanzania International Container Terminal (TICTS) and additional four hours for clearing agents to make payments before they are issued with invoice and receipts. “As if that...

Kenya has agreed to allow wheat and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) imports from Tanzania following bilateral talks. According to a joint communique issued by the Kenya’s Ministry of Trade, the Tanzanian products had been prevented from entering Kenya due to a number of administrative issues. “Tanzanian LPG and wheat should flow without restrictions to Kenya with immediate effect,” the ministry said on Friday. Following consultations between trade officials from Tanzania and Kenya, the two governments undertook a fact finding mission on Thursday at the Namanga border Post to further follow up the progress made on the decisions of the Heads of State of Kenya and Tanzania to unlock the trade impasse. Kenya’s Trade principal secretary Chris Kiptoo said that regarding LPG imports into Kenya, the delay in the implementation of the directive issued on July 28 to allow free flow of LPG from Tanzania was due to an administrative challenge. He added that Tanzanian wheat imports were restricted from entering Kenya due to an existing East African Community legal provision. “Therefore, the 26 trucks currently stopped at the border should be released immediately since the legal lacuna has been resolved,” Kiptoo said. The statement added that a meeting of key stakeholders including wheat millers and farmers association should be held during the next bilateral meeting to agree on how to support wheat farming in the two countries. Source: New Times

Dar es Salaam. The government reaffirmed yesterday that it will speed up the process of repossessing the factories that were privatised 20 years ago to investors who violated the terms of contracts under which the industries were bought. This was said by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr Adelhelm Meru, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday. He said after repossession, the factories will be handed to investors who would be ready to inject new capital and technology into the facilities to revive them. “The privatization exercise was done between 1990 and 1995. In other words 20 years have gone since that exercise was carried out. Some of the owners have done nothing to develop them despite buying them at throw-away prices. This cannot go unnoticed,” he said. Dr Meru’s statement comes only three days after the Opposition Chadema issued a statement, indicating that the fifth phase government was turning Tanzania into an unpredictable country to foreign and local investors. He said contrary to some political assumptions, the government has worked hard to ensure that the privatized firms were running while at the same time, it is attracting investors who establish new factories across the country. Some of the factories established during Dr John Magufulis presidency include Pipeline Industries, Global Packaging, Masasi Food Industries and Cata Mining. Source: The Citizen

President Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart John Pombe Magufuli, last Saturday laid the first foundation stone for construction of the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), as a gesture for joint political will, for the development of the multi-billion dollar project within the stated timeframe. The event that attracted hundreds of residents at Chongoleani, in the northerly seaport city of Tanga in Tanzania, also symbolised the start of the construction of the $3.5b (about Shs12.6 trillion) pipeline. It will run from Hoima in mid-western Uganda to Tanga port at the Indian Ocean. Actual construction is expected to start early next year and to be completed by 2020, if all goes according to plan, including timely securing of financing from the international lenders. The two head of states assured that the project will not be held back by the customary profuse bureaucracy, which in Uganda has imperiled nearly all large infrastructure projects as government officials scheme for kickbacks. President Magufuli, known for his unorthodox work methods of cracking whip on incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats, said three years are enough to start and complete construction of the 1,445 km pipeline. “Three years are too long and you can finish before that time if you work day and night,” he said in his speech at Tanga. Last year in April, government settled for the Tanga route as destination for Uganda to export its crude oil to the international market, ditching the Kenyan route on grounds of being expensive despite being shorter route...

Work on the pipeline that will take Uganda's crude oil to export markets begins after Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni laid the foundation stone at Chongoleani, in the port city of Tanga Saturday. President Museveni arrived in Tanzania on Friday evening for a two-day state visit. The pipeline, estimated to cost Sh355 billion ($3.55 billion), will transport Uganda's crude oil from Kabaale, in the western Hoima district, to Chongoleani peninsula, near the Tanga port in Tanzania. Construction of the 1,445km line is expected to start at different points. After the ceremony in Tanga, the two leaders are expected to also launch the building project in Hoima at a later date. According to the project report, the 24-inch diameter pipeline will move 216,000 barrels of oil per day at a cost of about Sh1300 ($12.2) per barrel. The pipeline will be pre-heated and covers 1.2 metres underground. There will be temporal facilities such as coating plants and pipe storage yards, access roads, burrow pits, hydro-test dams, a marine terminal and a jetty. The pipeline is expected to be completed by 2020.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics figures show that Kenya’s exports to Tanzania went down by 34 per cent in the first five months of the year, perhaps reflecting the negative effects of a trade war between them. Exports to the neighbouring country plunged by a huge Sh4.35 billion to Sh8.2 billion in the review period while Tanzania has been Kenya’s second biggest export market in the region after Uganda. A number of things are wrong in this whole standoff. One, the negotiations have been anything but transparent going by how one truce after another is ignored while senior officials in Nairobi report inability to reach their counterparts in the neighbouring country. But, two, and more important, the two countries ought to revisit the East African Community (EAC) integration ideals, which should be easy to pick out after many years of discussing the subject. While it’s expected that trade deals will be full of back and forth, such a longstanding disagreement is worrying for nations working on free  movement of goods, services, and people. Dar and Nairobi must sit at a table and iron out the differences, once and for all. We ask the two countries to dust themselves up and talk conclusively. Source: Business Daily