Tanzania’s energy sector to receive financial boostTanzania’s energy sector to receive financial boost NMB Bank Plc has pledged to continue supporting investors in the energy sector in Tanzania. The bank re-affirmed its commitment to continue financing investors in Tanzania’s energy sector value chain as part of its commitment to complement government’s efforts and support the sector’s growth. NMB Chief of Wholesaler Banking, Alfred Shao, said the bank has several finance options to support potential investors in the energy sector, both upstream and downstream. Shao said the bank is a certified investment advisor that also offers advisory services to clients and sometimes helps raise equity for potential companies. “We understand that the energy sector is a capital-intensive sector. As a bank, we will be financing the energy sector because we have a strong balance sheet and our single borrower unit is now over 310bn/- to a single borrower,” he said. He said the bank has also built good partnerships and collaborates with international financiers such as the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), among others who are interested in green bonds. “We successfully issued the NMB Jasiri bond, which was oversubscribed and we are looking forward to issuing a green bond targeting the renewable energy sector,” he said. On his part, the Deputy Minister for Trade and Investment, Exaud Kigahe said the government looks forward to harnessing untapped areas, especially in renewable energy and reiterated government’s commitment to continue working with the private sector. He said the...

  President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking views from American and Kenyan firms on the proposed fresh free trade window as it lays grounds for a new pact. The call follows fresh trade talks Washington opened with Nairobi in July. The United States Trade Representative Office (USTR), which has been spearheading the talks, said comments received from interested parties will help the USTR as it develops negotiating objectives and positions for the agreement. The deadline for the submission of written comments is September 16. “The Office of the US Trade Representative is seeking public comments by September 16 that will help it develop objectives and positions for enhanced engagement and subsequent negotiation under the US-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership,” USTR said this week in a public notice. Firms have been asked to provide their views about general negotiating objectives on agriculture, anti-corruption, digital economy, environment and climate change, transparency and good regulatory practices, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, worker rights and protections and participation of women, youth, and others in the trade. Other issues up for debate include standards collaboration, customs and trade facilitation, and other measures or practices that undermine fair market opportunities for US workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses. The USTR said in July that the two sides planned to begin developing within three months a detailed roadmap for engagement in these areas. The bilateral talks — which will form the benchmark for the rest of Africa — restarted following a review of the Trump-era document. Washington...

  The season B harvest in Rwanda in July has enhanced food availability. However, according to Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) in the Eastern Province, some shortfalls in bean production are expected due to poor rainfall distribution. In addition, Northern Province will likely see shortfalls in Irish potato production, due to the high cost of farm inputs including fertiliser, pesticides, and improved seeds that have led farmers to reduce planted acreage. “Typically, Northern Province produces 70% of the country’s Irish potato supply and households rely on sales of potatoes for income. Lowland marshland areas in Southern Province may also see atypical harvest shortfalls for the minor Season C harvest in September due to heavy rainfall,” FEWS NET noted. “The number of people that are Stressed (IPC Phase 2) is likely to peak in rural areas during the October to November lean season, when household reliance on purchasing food from the market is highest. “High food prices persist, with prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages rising by 27% above June of last year, according to the June 2022 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.” It added that most poor households will rely on income earned from small ruminant and poultry production and both agricultural and casual labor to purchase food. Government support and improving cross-border trade flows with Uganda will also help cushion household food access. Kigali City, Rwanda’s Capital, is also likely to sustain Minimal (IPC Phase 1) outcomes, reinforced by relative improvements in economic activity and income-earning opportunities...

Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a new destination for Nairobi financiers and die-hard merchants. If all goes well, this fledgling relationship could be a catalyst for Central Africa’s digital transformation and a significant boon for the East African tech market. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has only joined the East African Community (EAC) for just four months, but even before joining the EAC there were economic ties that made it possible. rice field. The border towns of Goma and Bukavu are active market places where merchants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda exchange consumer goods. There are also a number of artisanal mines staffed by miners from neighboring countries and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition to petty cross-border trade, the DRC’s rich mineral resources have also attracted the attention of neighboring countries. Some of that attention has been covertly or overtly violent, helping the DRC fight rebel groups in several parts of the country. The resulting instability has turned the Democratic Republic of the Congo into a boxing ring of neighboring countries vying to defend their interests on Congolese lands. With more than $24 trillion of untapped mineral deposits and 90 million inhabitants, the DRC is an attractive market for investors around the world. However, a shift in political winds in 2018 led to the resignation of long-time ruler Joseph Kabila in 2019, and Kenyan merchants, high and low, poured into the DRC. consolidated its position...

AfCFTA testing new tool to measure ease of trade among African countries Early test results indicate major gender parity issues AfCFTA secretariat to seek national policy change to ease cross border trade  So you wish to invest in Africa, with 51 countries to choose from, what factors are going to guide your decision? Once you have overcome that huddle, comes another matter to address and that is ‘how easy is it to do businesses between said African countries?’ The second part of the question is what we will focus on here, how easy is it to do business between and among various African countries.’ There already exist several trading blocs and free trade zones etc and finally the largest of them all the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has finally been passed and is in action. So what does this mean for investors, for businesses seeking to trade between countries? To address this question, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has effectively developed a first of a kind method to measure how easy, or hard, it is to do business between/among African countries. The tool has been christened the AfCFTA Country Business Index (ACBI) and was launched during the 54th session of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers in Dakar, Senegal in 2018 the tool focuses on African integration. This means that it measures ease of doing business for companies or entities that are first of all located on the continent and secondly, those that operate among several...

This new investment is the third from Google's $50 Million Africa Investment Fund, which CEO Sundar Pichai announced in October 2021. Named by the Financial Times earlier this year as Africa's seventh fastest-growing company, Lori Systems has helped thousands of shippers and carriers move over $10B of cargo across the continent since its founding in 2017. Lori Systems, the e-logistics company digitising haulage and providing shippers with solutions to efficiently manage their cargo and transporters, is today announcing an investment from Google. This new investment is the third from Google's $50 Million Africa Investment Fund, which CEO Sundar Pichai announced in October 2021. It comes off the back of the launch of Google’s first product development centre on the continent, in Nairobi, Kenya, the city where Lori Systems first launched. Named by the Financial Times earlier this year as Africa's seventh fastest-growing company, Lori Systems has helped thousands of shippers and carriers move over $10B of cargo across the continent since its founding in 2017. A pioneer in e-logistics in Africa, Lori Systems lowers the cost of goods by eliminating pain points along the cargo journey: seamlessly connecting shippers to transportation, providing shippers with solutions to efficiently manage their cargo and transporters, and digitising their entire transport operations from sourcing transportation to documentation and payments. "At Google, we understand the transformative power digitisation can bring to the African continent. The region has so much potential, but innovation can unlock this. Lori Systems is a great example of how technology can...

African countries have been charged to urgently domesticate the provisions of the African Continental Free Trade Area, (AfCFTA) treaty to fast-track the continent’s economic progress. Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene made the call recently in Accra, Ghana at the maiden edition of the Ghana Trade Policy Enlightenment Summit for Foreigners, GaTPES2022. GaTPES2022, which was held under the theme ‘Helping foreign businesses to better navigate the trade policy landscape’, was organised by Ghana’s premier travel company, Standard Travel and Tour, STT. It had the endorsements of the GIPC, RGD, Lands Commission, GRA, FDA, Office of the Speaker of Parliament and the AfCFTA headquarters; and, support from Fine-Prints Limited, Eddu Motors and the Ezeigbo Ghana Foundation, among others Mene urged state-parties to the AfCFTA agreement to use its provision to build their economies and transform lives. “The agreement, which is the treaty, needs to be translated into laws; and those laws are then used by the business person in order to do business, and to put money in the pockets of the business person, and to put money in the economy of the country at large,” Mene stated. Echoing the same sentiment in his address, the speaker of Ghana’s parliament, Mr. Alban Bagbin, assured of legislative support by the parliament of Ghana to make the AfCFTA and the goal of greater intra-African trade a reality. “The AfCFTA has come to stay,” he assured. Mene was represented by Beatrice Chaytor, head of trade in services division at the AfCFTA headquarters; while Bagbin was...

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has inaugurated the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone. This is the country’s first free trade zone which is set to boost its economy by improving its import and export trade. The development of free trade zones is one of the major economic initiatives set as part of Ethiopia’s 10-year perspective development plan. The Dire Dawa Industrial Park ,the dry port along with the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway station form the free trade zone. “The Free Trade Zone we are building is one of our ways to integrate into a rapidly changing world. I have no doubt that the zone will not only facilitate trade and investment but also enhance our technological capabilities,” state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted Abiy Ahmed as saying. He also affirmed that the development of free trade zones will facilitate the country’s export and import trade, as he emphasized the Ethiopian government’s commitment to construct additional free trade zones to enable competition with the global trade system. Located some 445 km east of the capital Addis Ababa, the Dire Dawa was selected to be the first free trade zone due to its proximity to ports, market potential and huge cargo gravity as well as suitability for multimodal transport and logistics operation according to the Ethiopian government Ethiopia’s Minister of Transport and Logistics Dagmawit Moges stressed that the East African country has been implementing several strategies to enhance its import and export trade. According to the Ethiopian government, the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone...

Participants from last week’s joint business forum be- tween Uganda and South Sudan in Juba have resolved to boost trade and investment ties between the two countries through industrialization and infrastructure development, writes NICHOLAS BAMULANZEKI. The talks were intended to identify ways to enhance investment opportunities between both countries and consequently improve the livelihood of their people. According to the Foreign Affairs ministry, the forum created enormous benefits for both countries, including employment opportunities and a larger market access for both goods and services. South Sudan is one of Uganda’s largest trading partners. In 2021, trade between the two countries was worth $389 million, according to the 2021 Bank of Uganda report, not considering the large volumes of informal trade across the borders. Uganda’s exports to South Sudan amounted to $482.46 million, while imports were $10.25 million, about 37.34 percent of Uganda’s exports within the East African Community. What’s more, exports from Uganda to South Sudan have increased at an annualized rate of 46 per cent, from $17.3 million in 2012 to $357 million in 2020. The top exports include foodstuffs such as grain, sorghum, cane sugar and chemically pure sucrose in solid form. The South Sudan-Uganda Business Forum is a private sector-driven event where over 30 businesses are exhibiting products from the sectors of agriculture, agribusiness, cosmetics, arts and crafts and services such as banking, and telecommunications, among others. It is on this background that Brig Gen Ronald Balya, the Uganda ambassador to South Sudan, noted that the agreement...

Trade between Commonwealth member states has been growing exponentially, with intra-commonwealth trade expected to surpass $700B in 2022 .The Commonwealth has been a part of the development of AfCFTA since inception, and has remained steadfast in its commitment to work with African countries, in strengthening and deepening their national and institutional capacity, together with developing trade policies over the years. How can member states leverage their commonwealth connections to collaborate and drive sustainable economic growth in Africa? The combined GDP of Commonwealth countries, with a total population of over 2.4B, is now around US$13 trillion Intra-Commonwealth trade expected to surpass $700 billion in 2022 AfCFTA facilitates better access to trade across the continent for all Commonwealth citizens in member states The 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place in Kigali, hosted by the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame in late June. Prince Charles, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson were among the dignitaries who attended the meeting. In his remarks, President Kagame noted that the Commonwealth’s objective is to drive inclusive growth and a common future, such that no nation, particularly the small developing countries, is left behind. Baroness Scotland highlighted that her ambition was to facilitate trade within countries. “At the heart of our mission is trade, the lifeblood of economic activity and the arteries of the economic relationships between our Commonwealth member countries. This is the true Commonwealth advantage.” In light of this, she officially launched the Commonwealth Digital Trade...