Ivory markets are set to shut down following the banning of the trade in the world’s biggest market, China, which is good news for the African elephant. Wildlife activists will be closely watching other Asian markets, led by Vietnam and Hong Kong, that have also provided the market for ivory. Last week, China’s State Council announced a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities in the country by the end of this year. This signals the implementation of President Xi Jinping’s joint commitment with US President Barack Obama, in 2015, to end the legal and illegal trade in ivory.The ban by China — with an estimated 70 per cent of the global consumption — will be done in stages; the processing and sale of ivory will stop by March 31, followed by all registered traders being phased out, bringing an end to the trade in the country by the end of the year. “There will be a stop in the ivory fixed-point processing unit or point-of-sale processing and sales of ivory and products activities by the end of the year,” the statement from the State Council, released last Friday, says. The news comes barely six months after Beijing announced it would push for the total ban on the ivory trade within its territory by the end of the year.Yan Xun, deputy general director of the country’s Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management, had said that by the end of 2016 China would set a timetable to phase...

The New Year pressure from importers seeking to firm up their dollar positions in a bid to meet their requirements has seen all the regional currencies come under pressure, losing to the dollar. The Kenyan shilling recorded the biggest loss, touching a 15-month low of 103.60/80 against the dollar on Thursday, mainly due to a surge in demand by im-porters. The shilling last hit such lows in August 2015, when it traded at 103.90. The Central Bank of Kenya has recently been under pressure, spending $337 million in December alone to prop up the currency. Analysts from Cytonn Invest-ments say that despite the Kenya shilling remaining stable despite the 25 bps hike in the Federal Funds Rate last month, there has been a reduction in the country’s reserves, an indication the CBK has been using the funds to keep the currency stable.“On a year-to-date basis, the shilling is flat against the dol-lar. However, in recent weeks, we have seen the forex reserves reduce to $7 billion in December, from $7.8 in October 2016, which has led to the decline in the months of import cover below the one-year average of 4.9 months, and is currently at 4.60 months. This is worrying as the rate of de-crease in the reserves could be an indication that the CBK is using a lot of reserves to support the shil-ling, and may continue to do so in the near-term given the global strengthening of the dollar,” the Cytonn analysts said.Currently, the reserves stand at...

BURUNDI’S TAX revenues rose 8 per cent last year, exceeding the government’s target, the revenue board said on Wednesday. The semi-autonomous revenue authority (OBR) said it had collected 637.4 billion francs ($382.64 million) in tax, beating the govern-ment’s target of 596.2 billion francs and the 590.6 billion francs collected a year before. It did not give a reason for the increase. Government officials have in the past said tax revenues were boosted during the third and fourth quarters by improved security across the country.Burundi is relying on domestic taxes and revenues from coffee and tea exports after major donors like the European Union and Bel-gium suspended aid over accusations of seri-ous human rights abuses. The rift with donors was sparked by Presi-dent Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term of office and the subsequent vio-lence and protests.The government said in December it would increase 2017 public spending by 5.3 per cent from last year’s budget. The budget, estimated at 1.326 trillion francs ($796.49 million), will be 70.7 per cent funded by domestic resources and 29.9 per cent by external resources.Economic analysts predict 2017 will be very hard for Burundians, whose poor purchas-ing power is already weakened by almost two years of political turmoil since President Nku-runziza’s decision to run again in April 2015. Meanwhile, Burundi will increase public spending by 5.3 per cent this year, according to a budget passed in parliament last week.Last week, the budget passed by parliament showed state spending will increase to 1.326 trillion...

Nairobi is well established as a destination for international conferences and in 2016, it hosted both the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. It is also well placed geographically for businesses serving the region, a long list to which we can now add Volkswagen. Even so, the new year is a good time to evaluate whether more can be done to improve the ease of doing business—and not just in Nairobi, but in the counties where growth is on the upswing. In November, the World Bank released its annual Doing Business guide to the world’s economies. The survey matters because it shows Kenya’s position relative to other economies and indicates areas that would enhance the ease of doing business. In 2015, the government stated its aim to reach the top 50 of the rankings by 2020. Quantitative research released in 2012 by the World Bank suggested that a one per cent increase in the Doing Business score would translate into an increase of foreign direct investment of between $250 million and $500 million. For Kenya, this one per cent increase in score would only require a further rise of five places up the rankings; given that it has risen over 40 places in the past two years, such a rise seems eminently manageable. In a few months’ time, the national government will share its plans for budget allocation for the coming year. These plans will help demonstrate the government’s commitment to spurring...

Five East African countries have joined forces with the aim of forming a single currency area by 2024. Since the project’s inception in 2000, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda have been laying the groundwork for greater economic integration. Measures such as establishing a Customs Union has helped streamline border clearances, simplify work permit issuance, and ensure the recognition of professional agreements by member countries. As a result, regional trade has increased by over 40 percent in the last five years. Speaking at a conference on regional integration in Arusha, Tanzania, Abebe Aemro Selassie, head of the IMF’s African department, said while GDP growth in the East African Community is well above average for sub-Saharan Africa, the challenge will be how to sustain this strong growth over the medium-term, how to ensure that scaled-up public investment and borrowing translates into durable growth and not unserviceable debt, and how to make the growth felt by a wider segment of the population. “Faster economic integration within the East African Community is a potential game changer, as it holds the promise of improved productivity, competitiveness, and welfare gains,” Selassie said. Monetary unions and common currency areas are not new to Africa. The West African Economic and Monetary Union, for one, was formed in 1994 and shares the CFA franc among eight West African countries, while Namibia, Swaziland, and Lesotho have been linking their currencies to the South African rand under a Common Monetary Area established in 1986. Roger Nord, IMF deputy director of...

The European Union could cut development aid to East African countries that have refused to enter its trade agreement. Refusal by the other countries to sign up to the Economic Partnership Agreement has subjected exports from Kenya to the EU to fresh taxation. Tanzania and the other East African nations could be the target of the threat after declining to ratify the EPA. Patrick Gomes, the Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of states (ACP), said foreign aid to the poor countries must be tied to trade agreements. “Truth is Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi, which are sluggish in signing the deal, could end up losing important development aid from the EU,” Gomes said during a regional trade meeting in Nairobi yesterday. Withdrawal of foreign aid could be an attempt to arm-twist the countries into accepting the trade pact. “EPAs comes not only with trade opportunities with Europe, but development aid as well,” he added. Gomes spoke after the EU opened a new avenue for Kenya to walk it alone to the trade pact, which had initially been discussed by the five countries of the East African Community. ACP is composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement, also known as the “ACP-EC Partnership Agreement” which binds them to the European Union. President of the European Parliament, Louis Michel, said Kenya could sign a bilateral trade agreement with the EU, pointing out that a similar deal had been struck with South...

IN SUMMARY The report says through digitisation and the leveraging of innovation, technology, data and the Internet-of-things to shift established modes of production and consumption offer new opportunities. Developing countries should leverage on technology to grow the shipping industry, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has said. The UN, in the 2016 Review of Maritime Transport report, urged countries such as Kenya to invest in new advanced technologies to improve data collection efficiency to aid decision making, integrate various services to speed-up processes and grow e-commerce industry. “Technology innovation, the data revolution and e-commerce can significantly transform and disrupt the shipping industry, including with regard to efficiency gains, new business models, use of the Internet, digitisation, efficient logistics effective asset management and the greater integration of small and medium sized enterprises,” the report said. “Developing countries may leverage related trends to cut costs, raise productivity, develop capacity-including skills and knowledge and enable access to new business opportunities.” The report says through digitisation and the leveraging of innovation, technology, data and the Internet-of-things to shift established modes of production and consumption offer new opportunities. “Innovation, technology and big data may help increase efficiency and productivity, reduce transport costs, enhance the performance of supply chains and shorten travel distances.” Kenya Trade Network Agency, a State agency mandated to digitise and automate trade transactions to improve competitive edge, has already integrated service portals of State agencies including Kenya Ports Authority, Port Health Services and Kenya Revenue Authority speeding up cargo clearance...

Kampala — The secretary general of the East African Community (EAC), Liberat Mfumukeko's stringent reforms which were instituted to eliminate wastage on travel expenditures, have helped the Secretariat to save more than $2.75m (Shs10 billion). The reforms instituted in the Organs and Institutions aimed at cost reduction in the EAC projects and programmes early this year are already showing positive developments. In his message last Friday to the staff of the Organs and Institutions for their dedication during the year, Mr Mfumukeko, who took over from Mr Richard Sezibera at the end of April, said: "As a result of your strong commitment, passion and dedication to the regional integration agenda, we have witnessed a lot of developments and achievements at individual and corporate levels." He said EAC has reduced its travel expenditures by 28 per cent between May and November 2016, compared to 23 per cent in the same period in 2015. The travel expenditure during May-November 2015 was $9. 9m (Shs36 billion) and the same expenditure during May-November 2016 was $7.1m (Shs26 billion) making a saving of approximately $2.75m (Shs10 billion). The Secretariat was experiencing financial strain due to delayed contributions by partner states and donors. The reforms come after Tanzanian president John Magufuli cautioned the Secretariat during the heads of State summit in March this year that "it will not be business as usual under my chairmanship". President Magufuli openly put the Secretariat on notice that the days of wanton spending were gone, questioning the rationale of holding...

Arusha — A draft EAC Sanitary and Phytosanitary Bill is being finalised and will be tabled before the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) soon. The Bill is aimed to ensure agricultural products traded conformed with the international standards through application of the required health and safety measures. "Sanitary and phytosanitary measures have become an important topic of debate in international trade as well as regional integration," said the Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC) Christophe Bazivamo during a regional consultative meeting in Nairobi last week to finalise the draft document. He acknowledged that agricultural trade continues to represent a notable portion of intra-EAC total trade flows and urged the EAC partner states to adequately enforce issues around SPS measures and standards. Following the adoption of the SPS Protocol in 2013, he explained, a strong foundation for supporting its implementation has been laid and that includes finalisation of SPS measures and setting in motion the process of developing the SPS Bill, which will facilitate effective implementation and enforcement of the protocol. Source: All Africa

Kenya and Tanzania are among African countries likely to face a drop in foreign aid as the new US administration cuts spending to create room for increased infrastructure expenditure, according to a new report. The report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) says the Trump presidency raises the risk of the US rolling back development aid, thus affecting dependent countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The accountancy and finance body said that signs of an expansionary fiscal stance under the Trump administration, coupled with spending cuts to build dollar reserves for infrastructure development, are likely to lead to a decrease in aid to African countries. “Aid is probably the main channel through which a change in US policy under a new president could impact Africa,” states the fourth quarter (2016) report commissioned by ICAEW and produced by partner and forecaster Oxford Economics. “Policymakers and businesses across the continent will be keen to see President-elect Trump’s plans for development policies once he takes office,” the report adds. Donald Trump is expected to be formally inaugurated as the country’s 45th president on January 20, 2017. According to the report, and drawing on insights from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US is sub-Saharan Africa’s major donor in bilateral official aid, with over $9 billion distributed to the region to date. It is followed by the United Kingdom, with just under $4 billion distributed, and France with just over...