The construction of Tanzania standard gauge railway Line has received much needed impetus after the China Exim Bank agreed to support the project with a USD7.6m loan.- According to the ministry of transport officials the Tanzania standard gauge railway is expected to cover about 2,190-kilometre and will be implemented by Chinese contractors in assistance with local contractors. The statement also added that the loan given will be able to fund the construction of the project fully and it’s expected to begin in the current financial year as the government has also allocated funds for the same. The state officials added that the money that was given by the Chinese Bank will be able to finance the project. Construction of the Tanzania standard gauge railway is expected to start this financial year as the government has also set aside about 1tri/- from the current budget for the purpose. Standard gauge railway will enhance cross border trade Once the project is complete it will be able to streamline Tanzania’s Transport Sector and will boost trade between Tanzania and its neighborhood countries. The railway is expected to cover countries including Burundi, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The construction will involve three phases while the first phase will see the construction of the railway line from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza via Isaka and Tabora. According to Exim Bank president, Mr Liu Liang they look forward to ensure the Transport sector of Tanzania gets to another level. Mr Liu added that the...

Delays in clearing goods, corruption and theft at the Port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, and high fees charged by some regulatory agencies continue to hurt trade along the Central Corridor, officials have said. Members of the East African Business Council (EABC) brought the matter up during a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) in Dar-es-Salaam last week. Traders also complained about value added tax (VAT) charged on auxiliary services levied on goods on transit. Omar Kassim, chairperson of Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association (UCIFA), said the issues need to be addressed to ease doing business. Kassim, who is also EABC vice-chairperson for Uganda, said, for instance, clearing of goods in Tanzania takes 10 days on average, while in Rwanda the same task takes a maximum of three-days. “Long clearing time in Tanzania is attributed to complicated documentation and compliance activities as businesspersons require 10 documents to import or export to Tanzania,” Kassim said. Various documents, he argued, attract different costs estimated to be double the average costs incurred in other sub-Saharan countries. “As if that is not enough, delays and challenges linked to documentation and border compliance has bred corruption among trade facilitation agencies,” Kassim said. According to Tanzania’s VAT Act 2014, supply of international transport services is zero-rated regardless of who the supplier is. Eighteen per cent VAT is applicable to additional services such as cargo inspection, preparation of customs documentation, container handling and storage. Sources say for goods in transit to qualify for to zero-rate, the services must have a...

The president of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has appreciated the flourishing trade partnership between Rwanda and Uganda. In his key note address at the opening of the government and political leaders retreat at Kyankwanzi yesterday (Tuesday) Museveni said Rwanda and Uganda’s export and import of goods and services is on good footing. He noted that; “Today Uganda exports US$263 million worth of goods and services to Rwanda. Rwanda, in turn, is exporting US$78 million worth of goods to Uganda. Through Rwanda Airlines, Uganda is currently contributing about US$ 24.1 million to the prosperity of the people of Rwanda…” Here we reproduce his full speech as presented to the NRM Central Executive Committee, cabinet and permanent secretaries gathered at Kyankwanzi; “REFOCUSING ON THE NRM’S IDEOLOGICAL ORIENTATION As we have repeatedly pointed out in all the NRM documents, the NRM principles are four: patriotism (anti-sectarianism and anti-gender-chauvinism); pan-Africanism; socio-economic transformation; and democracy. As the leader of the NRM and its precursors (Fronasa, etc), for almost fifty years today, I must salute the Ugandans in general and our supporters in particular because they have always rallied around our cause. They listened to our message when we were students. They supported us in the anti-Amin struggle ─ witness the Fronasa force we built up so quickly on the western axis in 1978/79. In their millions, they supported us in the anti-UPC war of 1981-86. Ever since 1986, the Ugandans, in their millions, have supported our anti-terrorism military campaigns and our political struggles against opportunism....

Foreign funding will help pay for key road rebuilding work in Rwanda. Loans worth US$162.4 million are being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with a $22 million development grant also coming from the EU. These financial sources will help pay for work to improve the 92km long link connecting Kayonza with Rusumo as well as the 116km road between Kagitumba and Kayonza. These road links are of importance as they help connect Rwanda to its neighbours. Kagitumba is close to Rwanda’s northern border with Uganda, while Rusumo is close to the border with Tanzania, which lies to the east. Through traffic between landlocked Rwanda and the much larger countries of Uganda and Tanzania are crucial for trade and to its economic development. Highway links from Kenya’s port of Mombasa and Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam are vital for East Africa, with work underway to improve these links and boost capacity. Meanwhile a series of road development projects are also underway to construct a new orbital network around Lake Victoria, which sits in between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, as well as being close to Rwanda and Burundi. Source: World highways

According to information received from Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian government signed a comprehensive financing deal with China's EXIM Bank, securing the necessary funds to commence construction of this new Central Corridor mega-rail project. Once complete, the new Standard Gauge (SGR) line will link the port of Dar es Salaam with Kigali, although there are also plans afoot to connect Eastern Congo to the rail line and maybe even Burundi, although that country is currently in a political and economic freefall, unable to look beyond today. The new rail line will broadly follow the present narrow gauge line, also connecting from Tabora to Isaka, the designated link station from where the line then continues into Rwanda to connect the capital Kigali. Additional domestic rail lines from Tabora are reportedly also planned, to the Lake Victoria port of Mwanza but also to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika. The signing of the finance deal concludes one of the key prerequisites for the construction of the new rail line and going by the Kenyan experience, where the new Mombasa to Nairobi SGR line is ahead of schedule, the same is now expected for Tanzania, once construction proper goes underway. Promoters of the Northern Corridor rail link between Mombasa, via Nairobi and the Ugandan border to Kampala and on to Kigali, are now said to be scratching their heads though, trying to figure out what Kigali's position will be vis a vis their proposed link via Mirama Hills to Kampala. When the rail line to...

Intra-African trade has long been a weak point hit upon by leaders looking to strengthen sustainable growth on the continent. Within certain regions, such as the West African Economic and Monetary Union, WAEMU (or by its French acronym, UEMOA), the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), regional economic unions have flourished along trade needs and cultural links. The most recent African Economic Outlook (AEO) shows that despite varying degrees of economic growth and development, economic blocs have benefitted community members through not just increased trade, but income convergence, with UEMOA leading among them. Incomes have narrowed at an average rate of 19.6 per cent between WAEMU’s richest and poorest countries over 15 years, according to AEO. In almost all WAEMU countries, the per capita GDP has risen compared to Côte d’Ivoire, the region’s leading economy. Benin and Senegal have caught up with Côte d’Ivoire, while remaining members Niger, Benin, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso are still behind. “This could mean that poorer countries grew faster than richer ones to narrow the gap. The convergence may also be explained by the slowdown of the Côte d’Ivoire economy during the country’s political crisis of the early 2000s,” the report stated. African trade with the rest of the world, especially the European Union, has remained consistently high throughout a decade of growth and the 2008 economic crisis. However the ‘Brexit’ shake-up, along with a general downturn in commodities prices, puts...

NAIROBI - The East African Community (EAC) governments have been urged to support grain trade, with the argument that such trade is the only sure way for the people to transact and exchange value and thereby raise the standards of living of the citizens. The directors of Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) pointed out the challenges faced by their members in conducting cross-border trade, particularly within the region. It is understood some regional governments have been taking short-term measures to block trade and thereby undoing all the efforts made towards long-term solutions. The directors cited cases where export permits were cancelled without notice. "Some of the effects include trucks being impounded and stopped at the border points, resulting into very heavy financial losses in transport waiting charges, loss of time, inability to meet contractual obligations and high expenses," they said in a press statement. They acknowledged that each of the regional countries had different agro-ecological zones and that at any one time within the year, crops were being harvested in one country and when one country was harvesting, another was not. The EAGC directors said there is reason and basis for continuous trade in grains throughout the year. And their argument is that as a region, if free trade is facilitated by the various national governments, then the entire region will always have sufficient food to feed the East Africans. Regional governments were urged to refrain from any actions that would impede cross-border trade. The meeting, which took place in...

Businesses in Tanzania are accusing the government of being anti-business after its recent announcement that it will introduce value added tax on ancillary services. During an East Africa Business Council meeting this month, Gilead Teri, the director of policy at the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation, said the introduction of VAT on ancillary services provided for goods in transit had resulted in a drastic decrease in the amount of transit cargo shipped via the Dar es Salaam port; competing ports don’t charge VAT on ancillary services. “Introduction of 18 per cent VAT on tourism services such as game driving, water safaris, animal or bird watching, park fees and ground transport services will be unfavourable for business,” said Mr Teri. The measures to broaden the tax base have started to bite, with some hotels in Dare es Salaam turning their facilities into hostels. Kassim Omar, the chairman of the EABC Uganda Chapter and national chairman of the Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association, told the meeting that businesspeople require 10 documents to import or export to Tanzania, which attract costs estimated to be double the cost incurred in other sub-Saharan countries. “Having discriminatory taxes between domestic and imported products from EAC partner states is against Article 15 on National Treatment of EAC Customs Union Protocol, which prohibits EAC partner states from enacting legislation or applying administrative measures that directly or indirectly discriminate against the same or like products of other partner states,” Mr Omar said. He further claimed that unlike other EAC...

The political crisis in South Sudan is expected to impact on the East African economies as the crisis disrupts businesses and trade, undermining the region’s prospects for growth. The crisis is happening at a time when the region has yet to find a concrete solution to the Burundian political crisis, which not only raises the bloc’s risk profile but also dents investor confidence. While South Sudan’s admission into the EAC earlier this year raised optimism about the potential economic gains from its integration — expanding the EAC Common Market to 162 million people — the recent violence has analysts warning that it could wipe out recent economic gains. While definite figures are not readily available, Uganda and Kenya’s annual exports to South Sudan are valued at some $200 million and $180 million respectively. However, political instability and the adverse impact of external shocks over the past two and a half years are expected to have a significant impact on South Sudan’s economy and the region. Regional businesses, mainly from Kenya and Uganda, that have opened outlets in South Sudan are already feeling the pinch due to political instability, forcing them to rethink their business strategy. “Due to the recent disruptions in South Sudan, we scaled down our operations and we have been reviewing this stance as the situation improves,” said KCB Group chief operating officer Samuel Makome. KCB was among the first regional banks to enter the South Sudan market. “South Sudan is a key market for us and we...

Rwanda has banned the sale of minerals to middlemen in a bid to protect local factories that process them for export. The Rwanda Geology and Mines Authority said that the ban, backed by a ministerial order, will help to streamline the domestic mineral trade by removing price distortions and curbing hoarding. The move is part of measures the government is putting in place to position the sector as a key foreign exchange earner from the sale of value added products. It will also increase volumes of raw material available to processors and also create jobs. Rwanda exports the 3Ts (tin mined as cassiterite, tantalum as coltan and tungsten mined as wolframite) in raw form, because the sector has failed to attract investors for value addition. The government believes that increasing the output of minerals will help offset the impact of falling commodity prices. Data from the National Bank of Rwanda shows that export earnings from minerals slowed by 42.1 per cent last year from $203 million in 2014, while the volume fell by 30.5 per cent to 7.28 tonnes. This acted as a drag on the Rwandan economy, with the International Monetary Fund projecting that GDP growth will slow to 6 per cent this year from almost 7 per cent in 2015. It is, however, expected that mineral prices will gain 5 per cent in value in 2017. Dr Michael Biryabarema, the director of Rwanda Geology and Mines Authority said that only licensed exporters and processors will buy the minerals....