First international digital road freight platform to be launched in the continent; Provides shippers and carriers a one-stop platform for road freight connections for domestic shipments within South Africa and international movements to several neighbouring countries; Further expansion to connect shippers and carriers within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is planned for early 2020. Digital freight forwarder Saloodo! a subsidiary of DHL Global Forwarding, the leading international provider of air, sea and road freight services, today launched its digital logistics platform for shippers and transport providers in South Africa, bringing the first digital road freight solution to the region. An efficient road freight network is a key conduit of trade within a geographically wide-spread country such as South Africa but also with 16 landlocked countries within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, much of the region’s road freight operations remain fragmented and highly traditional, missing out on the visibility, efficiency and security that logistics technology offers. “Digital transformation is a top priority for the industry and given the demographics, we expect demand for digital transformation to be driven by emerging markets globally,” said Tobias Maier, CEO of Saloodo! Middle East and Africa. “Africa is the world’s youngest continent with 60% of the continent below 25. This is a dynamic generation of digitally-minded young adults, demanding smart, digital solutions both on the business and home front.” With South Africa as its launch pad into Sub-Saharan Africa, Saloodo! is the first digital logistics platform available in the region that offers a single, simple and reliable interface...

Growing momentum behind regional integration, economic reforms, technological advances and infrastructure development are among the key factors fuelling business growth in sub-Sahara Africa, said a new whitepaper released by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The report, entitled “Promise and Perils: Scaling up businesses in sub-Sahara Africa”, was issued ahead of GBF Africa 2019 in Dubai. The findings shed light on the current business climate in sub-Sahara Africa and examined attractive business prospects offering the most potential for investors in the UAE and wider GCC region. Key growth drivers The report highlighted the importance of regional integration initiatives such as the East Africa Economic Community, Single African Air Transport Market and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in removing trade barriers and driving business exchange. The AfCFTA is expected to liberalising trade and investment policies and ease easing operational challenges related to international money transfers and payments. Combined, these allow African SMEs to expand operations across markets, creating attractive opportunities for investors too. Expanding telecommunications networks are facilitating the growth of internet connectivity, mobile money and new digital services that build on it. Mobile money, which facilitates money transfers and payments, is also a growth enabler as it moves into business lending. Improved internet connectivity is expected to drive the next wave of technological innovation, enabling companies to develop new, digital services for consumers on the continent. By 2025, 3G mobile network coverage is expected to account for 60% of the mobile...

The value of intra-trade among East African Community partner states increased to $5.98 billion in 2018 from $5.46 billion in 2017, accounting for a 9.4 per cent growth. This comes as member countries opted to trade with each other in the wake of falling demand for the region’s agricultural products in the US and the rest of the world. The East African Community Trade and Investment Report (2018) shows that all EAC member states save for Burundi recorded growth in trade with their regional counterparts. The report prepared by the EAC Secretariat shows that Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Kenya’s combined exports to the EAC and Southern African Development Community regions amounted to $3.1 billion and $1.9 billion in 2018 respectively. This shows, however, the growth in intra-EAC trade slowed down to 9.4 per cent last year compared with 24.8 per cent in 2017. The positive trend signals the importance of intra-EAC trade that has been stifled by persistent trade disputes on rules of origin, non-tariff barriers, inadequate value addition to the agricultural sector and competition from other producers and regional blocs that benefit from export subsidies. In 2015 and 2016, intra-EAC trade was in the negative territory. Burundi’s total trade with other EAC partner states fell by 11 per cent to $150.9 million in 2018, from $162.6 million in 2017. Kenya’s total trade with EAC partner states increased by 4.7 per cent to $1.95 billion in 2018 from $1.86 billion in 2017, mainly on account of increased total trade...

African countries have been urged to carefully analyze global lessons and think beyond short-termism so as to effectively tap into the benefits offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement. The latest call was made by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), an African non-profit organization, as it stressed that "global lessons show that for AfCFTA to work, the continent's leaders must think beyond short-term election cycles." The ISS, in its latest publication on Thursday entitled "Can African leaders put free trade above nationalism?" also noted that the signing of the continental free trade pact "couldn't have come at a better time for the continent," emphasizing some of the latest developments in the global trade relations. According to the institute, the collective effort required to get 54 of the 55 African Union (AU) member countries to sign the AfCFTA, "particularly on a continent divided by disparate political agendas, short-termism and sporadic diplomatic standoffs, shouldn't be underestimated." "While the agreement is lauded as an African solution to African problems, it is worth remembering the pitfalls of those who've traveled a similar journey to avoid the same mistakes. This is even more important as trade agreements worldwide show signs of unraveling," the ISS said. Noting that trade relations in Europe were forged over decades following World War II to counteract the factors that caused the war, and collaborate for sustained economic growth and prosperity. Reaching agreement was an arduous process, the ISS stressed that "Africa seeks the same outcome in...

Arusha. The secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be operationalised in March, next year. The agreement came into force on May 30, this year, after it was ratified by the required 22 African Union (AU) countries. This was revealed here on Monday at the start of a symposium on the trade agreement which attracted scholars and experts from across the continent. The secretariat of the intra-African trade body will be established in Accra, Ghana as appointment of the secretary general is underway. “Structure and budget of the secretariat has been approved”, said Dr. David Luke, the coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre based in Addis Ababa. He said it has been proposed that AfCFTA establish office in each state party; countries which have signed and ratified the agreement. Source: The Citizen

Despite a steady increase in coffee consumption around the world, trade prices have fallen dramatically in the past three years, hitting producers. At the same time, the cost of an espresso or latte remains as full-fat as ever. What's going on? Futures on arabica and robusta, the most widespread varieties of coffee, have fallen 40 percent since the beginning of 2017 and are now at historically low levels. This is largely because of bumper harvests in Brazil, the world's main coffee producer. But at the same time, consumption has grown by an average of 2.1 percent a year for the past decade, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO). Two billion cups of coffee are drunk every day, according to Fairtrade International, which works to improve the lot of farmers through better pricing and conditions. The crisis in prices is beginning to create "real structural problems" for producers, said Valeria Rodriguez, a manager at fairtrade organisation Max Havelaar France. "The consequences are terrible - they can no longer support themselves, invest in production or prepare for the challenges of climate change," she said. Supplier woes In Central and South America, many smaller producers in Africa and Latin America are giving up in particular those who grow arabica, which is more difficult to produce than the robusta variety favoured in Asia, according to Jack Scoville, a futures markets analyst with Price Group. A similar trend is observable in Africa for reasons ranging from high production costs in Kenya to insecurity in...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will use its newly ramped-up capital base to help boost private sector investment on the continent and invest in infrastructure projects that support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). These are some of the plans the bank has for the additional $115bn (R1.7-trillion) recently approved by its shareholders, according to the bank’s vice-president for finance and CFO, Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala. At the end of October, the bank’s shareholders agreed to more than double its capital base, the largest increase in the bank’s history, taking the total to $208bn. “We are looking to do more private sector activities and investments in support of the African continental free trade agreement because you need companies to actually trade with each other,” she said. The bank will also ramp up efforts to support African entrepreneurs, particularly women and young people. Tshabalala was speaking on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum, which closed in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The forum is designed as a deal-making platform and marketed 56 transactions from across the continent to international and regional investors. Investment interest was secured for deals worth $40.1bn, up from the previous year’s $38.7bn. The capital boost will provide the bank with “additional risk capacity” to support and crowd in investment by the private sector, particularly in low-income and fragile countries that have been neglected in the past, she said. This will include the use of instruments that help mitigate risks for private investors, including the bank’s co-guarantee platform. The...

Damali Ssali. There are several factors that influence the value and volume of trade. However, tariffs on tradeable goods and services are one of the most significant factors. International trade grew dramatically in the second half of the 20th century. As an example, total global trade in 2000 was 22 times greater than it had been 1950. This increase in multilateral international trade occurred when trade barriers, especially tariffs, were significantly reduced or in some cases eliminated across large trade blocks in Asia, America and Europe. Tariffs are taxes levied on imports and exports between states with the aim of generating government revenues and protecting domestic industries. Sometimes, depending on the tax policy of the country, a tariff could be set as high as 60%. This is usually to protect a young industry that is considered as very important to that state. Other times tariffs are imposed by states, against products and services of another state, to settle scores. The current trade war currently going on between the United States and China is one such tariff war waged between states. In 2017, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reported that tariffs, on tradeable goods and services, between the developed states averaged at 1.2%. This is low compared to the average tariffs, on tradeable goods and services, between African countries, which stand at 8%.  Moreover, tariffs remain relatively high in important sectors, including agriculture, apparel, textiles and leather products. Unfortunately, these high tariffs make it easier for African countries to...

That’s the main conclusion from a new report Africa’s Development Dynamics  Achieving Productive Transformation, published by the African Union (AU) and the OECD on November 5. As it stands, productive transformation is not taking off, especially in the employment-intensive sectors where it is most needed, the report finds. Far from catching up, Africa is falling further behind emerging markets in Asia. The Africa-to-Asia labour productivity ratio has decreased from 67% in 2000 to 50% today, the report finds. African exports of consumption goods to African markets decreased between 2009 and 2016, both in dollar terms and relative to the continent’s GDP. “Without a strong and co-ordinated policy push,” the report says, “African firms risk losing out to new global competitors.” About 42% of Africa’s working youth live on less than $1.90 a day and only 12% of Africa’s working-age women were in waged employment in 2016, according to the report. The number of people on that income level increased by 31 million between 1999 and 2015 to 407 million. In some countries, almost 91% of the non-agricultural labour force remain in informal employment. The annual total of 29 million new entrants to Africa’s labour markets risks becoming a cumulative addition to the jobless total. If jobs for them are not found in one year, they will need to be created the next year. Clusters key Many entrepreneurs lack basic capabilities, the report finds. Most youth entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire and Madagascar lack skills in areas such as bookkeeping, multi-year planning and human resources. The AU and...

A STANDARD gauge railway (SGR) project that will link Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo with the Dar es Salaam port is one among major projects that will feature in the Africa Investment Forum that begun in Johannesburg yesterday. The President of African Development Bank, the organiser of the forum, Dr Akinwumi Adesina said the SGR project currently being undertaken by the Tanzania’s government using local resources would be on the table in the forum that has brought together global multilateral development and finance institutions and investors to tackle the continent’s infrastructure investment challenges and advance Africa’s economic transformation agenda. The three-day Africa Investment Forum billed a game-changer to tilt capital flow into the continent has been organised by the African Development Bank and partners in Sandton Convention Centre to advance projects, raise capital and close financial deals. Around 2000 delegates were expected to attend the innovative investment marketplace which has brought together heads of state, project sponsors, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors in 60 boardroom sessions to move projects from commitment to action. And the organisers of the forum are adamant that it will not be a talk shop but a unique platform to close financial deals for major projects that will boost economic growth and development in the continent. Africa Investment Forum is not a talk show. We deliver,” said Dr Adesina at the opening ceremony. “We promised (during the inaugural forum last year) and we delivered. We’re changing the investment narrative of Africa.” “When we laid...