Kenya’s second largest city, Mombasa occupies a special place in the national economy. As the host to the country’s leading seaport, the city plays the critical role of being the gateway, not just to Kenya but the hinterland that includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and parts of northern Tanzania and eastern DR Congo. A huge proportion of the imports into the region and the exports that go out of it transit through the Port of Mombasa, making it a key player in the overall performance of the regional economies. Increasingly, the city is also on ascendancy as a tourist hub. This is due to a number of factors, the key one being the fact that it hosts or is in close proximity to some of the best tourist facilities on the eastern seaboard of Africa. Mombasa has thus evolved into a tourism hub, with most visitors including the Kenyan coast as part of their itineraries. We saw this trend with the many cruise ships and air charters that the city has played host to recently. It is for this reason that the Jubilee Government, under the leadership of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, has fast-tracked an impressive portfolio of infrastructure projects throughout the country aimed at improving the overall quality of the road network in the region. Central to this strategy is the Mombasa Port Area Development Project (MPARD). As the name suggests, the project, which is already well under way, will substantially ease traffic congestion...

Arusha — Cargo transfer time from the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa to Burundi and Rwanda has been reduced by 12 per cent, thanks to technical support from TradeMark Africa (TMA), a donor-supported organisation formed to facilitate cross-border business in the region. This was revealed on Monday during discussions, which took place at the East African Community (EAC) headquarters between the EAC secretary-general, Dr Richard Sezibera, and TMEO chief executive officer Frank Matsaert. The meeting was convened to lay ground for the next phase of implementation of the organisation's support to EAC from this year to 2022. Ministerial representatives from the five partner states: Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda attended it. It emerged through the talks that the EAC, through TMA, had implemented a number of projects to improve the quality of life of East Africans through competitiveness, value-added production, trade and investments, which include improvement of Mombasa Port infrastructure and construction of a road network between Ntungamo to Mirama Hill in Uganda and another from Port Reitz also in Mombasa to Kipevu West in Kenya. Source: All Africa

Africa is set to become the second fastest growing continent by 2025, with GDP set to touch US$4.5 trillion Rapid urbanisation could lead to several Africans living and working in large cities. (Image source: PaulSaad/Flickr) A Frost and Sullivan report, in the form of a video titled Mega Trends in Africa, states that urbanisation, mobility, infrastructure, natural resources, telecom and inter-regional trade could make Africa the last growth frontier. According to the analysts at Frost & Sullivan, Africa is the only continent poised to achieve double-digit economic growth within the next decade and close to half the population will live in large cities. The report also said that 58 per cent of the working population will thrive in 2025 and will be mostly within the ages of 15-64. If this trend spills over into the next two decades, Africa could have a working population higher than India and China combined.Frost & Sullivan Africa operations director Hendrik Malan said, “The growth rates promised by Africa are second to that of Southeast Asia at the moment. The big advantage that Africa does have is the lack of infrastructure and the lack of legacy systems because our ability to leapfrog technologies and get access to that growth much sooner than Southeast Asia.” The analysis has also singled out certain sectors that are poised to register maximum growth and are already showing potential to ring in big numbers. Firms operating in the digital currency space, for one, are among the big gainers. By the...

The one-stop border posts at Malaba and Busia are set to open this month, paving the way for speedy clearances of goods moving within the main trade corridor between Uganda and Kenya. Richard Kamajugo, a senior managing director, Trade Mark East Africa (TMA), the institution that facilitated the construction of the border post, said a lot of work had been done, and that by the middle of February, the two posts should be ready. “I am committing that by around February 15, both countries will be connected and this will increase efficiency. The post will have officials from both countries that will clear the goods at one centre,” he said during a guided tour at the two posts in Busia and Malaba. Currently, traders in the region are hampered by a tedious clearance procedure at the two customs points, which require inspection at both sides of the border. This process creates a lot of delays and congestion at the border posts. Initially, it took two weeks for goods to move from the Kenyan coast of Mombasa into Uganda, with much of the delays taking place at the clearing posts. It will take roughly two days with one clearing post. Dickson Kateshumbwa, the commissioner for customs at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), said the initiative was long overdue, and that it was a waste of time and resources to have separate offices in one location. “Why should we have two offices? Our offices are complete and the space for officials from Kenya...

Although there have challenges since the re-establishment of the EAC, there is no doubt that partner states have made considerable progress in their efforts to integrate. Integration has played a key role in growing East Africa (EA) as a region even more rapidly after the re-establishment of the East African Community (EAC). Such development in the region has been made possible through support from Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) which has particularly helped EAC reduce the transport transfer time of containers from Dar es Salaam-Mombasa port to Bujumbura, Kigali by 12%. To further discuss the way forward between the two organizations, EAC Secretary General, Amb Richard Sezibera, held discussions with TMA CEO, Mr Frank Matsaert to plan for TMA’s support for the next phase, 2016-2022. Noting the role played by TMA in developing the region, Dr Sezibera said in appreciation: “I wish to express my gratitude to TMA for supporting the Integration Agenda.” He added: “As we move more towards monetary and fiscal integration, we need to strengthen institutional capacities, nurture vibrant trade and enhance financial markets within the region.” With the aim of improving the quality of life of East Africans through competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments, the EAC, through TMA support, has improved the infrastructure at Mombasa Port; constructed road network between Ntungamo to Mirama Hill in Uganda and Port Reitz to Kipevu West in Kenya; improved on the customs clearance time along the borders and carried out several sensitization campaigns to small cross border traders...

Newly appointed Permanent Secretary Chris Kiptoo says he will deliver a trade policy to address the imbalance in Kenya exports against imports. Mr Kiptoo said he will come up with a new set of rules on taxes, subsidies, import and exports in the next four months to boost Kenyan trade. The huge difference between what the country exports to what it imports has narrowed significantly last year over the drop in oil prices. According to the National Treasury, the current account deficit went down from 10.7 per cent in November 2014 to 7.2 per cent. “Our current account has been huge because we have not been doing well in exports, we need to fix that,” Mr Kiptoo said. The former TradeMark Africa (TMA) Kenya Country Director said he will also spearhead the development of an export strategy to boost Kenya’s capacity to produce for the global market. Exports services Kenya largely exports services in the financial and tourism sector which suffered last year in the wake of several attacks by the Somali militants Al Shabab. Kenya will find itself in a tight spot having signed free trade area deals that prohibit protectionism to keep away imports and offering subsidies to boost exports. The country has up to the first quarter of 2017 to open its markets to sugar imports from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Last year the World Trade Organisation (WTO), of which Kenya is party to, agreed to eliminate agricultural export subsidies. Kenya which...

Last December, amid two days of fanfare, a new long-haul 787 passenger route was launched from Durban, South Africa. The four-times-per-week service was hailed by local provincial officials as a triumph for the region and would begin “opening up new markets for our goods around the world,” as well as delivering tourists and tourist money, to the continent. And which carrier is now facilitating this foreign trade boom? Qatar Airways, based not in Africa, but in the Middle Eastern city of Doha. It says much about the state of the African airfreight industry that a new Doha-Durban route, with ample bellyfreight capacity, is owned by a foreign carrier – especially one from the Middle East. Qatar now has 21 flights a week to South Africa from its Doha hub. Nowthat’s an open market. For most of the last decade, the surge in cargo traffic that has made Africa one of the world’s fastest-growing airfreight markets has been dominated by carriers based in the Gulf Region, China and Europe. One of the few exceptions is Ethiopian Airlines, a rare African carrier that has a substantial cargo division modeled on the global airfreight networks of its foreign rivals. “Foreign carriers account for 85 percent of the traffic moved to and from the continent and have far significant advantages compared to African carriers,” said Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO of Kenyan all-cargo carrier Astral Aviation. The reason, Gadhia said, is a lack of liberalization in the aviation policies of most African nations. While foreign-operated international...

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s first state visit to Kenya last week sparked the interest Africa’s business community Speculation was rife as to what the outcome of trade and political talks with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta would be. This is the fourth time in under three years that presidents of the two countries have held bilateral talks, whose ideal goal is the integration of the East and West African trading blocs. The plan would create a 450 million-strong consumer base expected to propel the two countries to new economic heights. The political and economic weight Kenya and Nigeria hold in their respective regions further means that the benefits of a free-trade zone between the two would go a long way toward boosting intra-African trade, which has consistently been dismally low. According to the 2014 edition of the Africa Integration Index, conducted by payments company Visa, trade across the three sub-Saharan Africa clusters (South, West and East) — both between themselves and with the rest of the world — is very low. This has hindered the continent’s socio-economic progress. The key sub-Saharan Africa economies barely managed to score half of the global median of 100 points, with South Africa, Kenya and Ghana leading the continent in global trade networks, scoring 63, 53 and 52 points, respectively. Nigeria scored 40 points. Urgent needs Economic developments in both economies, and the rest of the global economy, have prompted Kenya and Nigeria to take another stab at bringing East and West Africa together. In...

The African Union’s Commissioner for Trade and Industry Fatima Acyl has called for structural transformation to create jobs that will improve the wellbeing of the African people. Ms Acyl, who was speaking at a meeting in Addis last week, before the African Union summit, said the backbone of the AU’s industrial transformation plan is the African Mining Vision, and the creation of a Continental Free Trade Area. The mining vision, adopted by the Heads of State Summit in 2009, aims to make the mining sector more responsive to African economic and social development needs. “If you don’t transform, there will be a lot of importing of products that you have,’’ Ms Acyl said. She gave the example of her own country, Chad, which imports juices yet is a top grower of mangoes. The goal is to set up a free trade area by 2017. The AU has already approved the creation of an African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) to provide strategic operational and co-ordination support to member states. The goal of the AMDC is to address price volatility, and to ensure stable incomes to African producers. Ms Acyl noted that many of the AU’s 54 member countries have populations lower than 20 million and economies of less than $10 million. The national markets of such economies are therefore too small to justify heavy investments. The establishment of a continental Free Trade Area will create a single market for goods and services in Africa with a total population of over a...

A key road linking the Port of Mombasa and Moi International Airport in Kenya is to be expanded to improve the movement of freight. The 6.4km road provides the only access to the airport and it links a container terminal at the port to the rest of East and Central Africa. It will be expanded into a dual carriageway and traffic lights and junctions will be installed to improve traffic flow at intersections. The $31m project is jointly funded by the Kenyan government and the UK Department of International Development, which is providing a grant of $11m through TradeMark Africa. The road aims to reduce traffic congestion in the Port Reitz area, which is a major artery for the movement of cargo to and from the port. Traffic congestion in the area has been identified as one of the key non-tariff trade barriers affecting businesses in East Africa. The road between Mombasa and Nairobi (pictured) is notorious for traffic jams. The improved road is also expected to reduce truck operating costs and halve the time it takes to enter and exit the port gates. Turnaround time for vehicles at the gates is currently four hours. James Macharia, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for transport and infrastructure, said: “Specifically, the link will serve as a key catalyst to improving the cargo handling capacity of the Port of Mombasa, in order to adequately serve Kenya’s growing economy, as well as retaining the Port of Mombasa as the preferred port of use by the neighboring economies....