The government of Kenya and Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) have signed a KSh1.31 billion grant agreement to support infrastructure projects in Mombasa, Busia, and Malaba. The move is aimed at facilitating trade and unlocking the economic growth of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The grant will facilitate construction of the following: Dualling of the Magongo Road (KSh200 million) Dualling of the 2 kilometres carriageway to Busia One Stop Border Post (KSh300 million) Construction of the Busia Cross Border ‘Jumuiya Market’ (KSh485 million) Completion of outstanding and additional construction works on the Malaba One Stop Border Post, including completion of road works, bridge approaches, improvement of the administrative building, and provision of utilities and services (KSh325 million) The envisioned Busia Jumuiya Cross Border Market will occupy 40 acres of land, with its full completion costing KSh2 billion for 3 phases, i.e., a retail section, a wholesale section, and a business hub. Out of this, TMA in partnership with the Ministry of East Africa Affairs will start phase 1 (the retail section), estimated to cost approximately KSh559.3 million. TMA will contribute KSh485.3 million, with funding from the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and DANIDA and GoK contributing an additional KSh74.3 million. In the long run, these projects will create efficient borders that will facilitate international trade, investment, economic growth, promotion of economic competitiveness, and improved relations between countries. Read original source

SUMMARY The earnings were boosted by high demand of fruits as Europe, Kenya’s major market for fresh produce, saw most of the countries open up following the easing of restrictions that had been occasioned by Covid-19. However, the second wave of the Covid-19 in Europe is creating uncertainty in the coming days with the current high season, which started in October, witnessing an average demand. Fruits export earnings rose to Sh17 billion from Sh11 billion while flowers, which normally account for the largest portion of the income from horticulture exports, raked in Sh89.6 billion — an improvement from Sh83.7 previously. Earnings from horticulture in the first 10 months of the year have defied the Covid-19 economic fallout to rise 8.6 percent to Sh126 billion compared to a similar period year earlier. The earnings were boosted by high demand of fruits as Europe, Kenya’s major market for fresh produce, saw most of the countries open up following the easing of restrictions that had been occasioned by Covid-19. However, the second wave of the Covid-19 in Europe is creating uncertainty in the coming days with the current high season, which started in October, witnessing an average demand. Fruits export earnings rose to Sh17 billion from Sh11 billion while flowers, which normally account for the largest portion of the income from horticulture exports, raked in Sh89.6 billion — an improvement from Sh83.7 previously. Horticulture is a major foreign exchange earner alongside tea, remittances from Kenyans living abroad and tourism. Avocado boosted fruit sales...

Digital economy Africa, A report jointly produced by Google and the International Finance Corporation titled e-Conomy Africa 2020  projects that Africa’s internet economy is expected to grow into a $180 billion industry by 2025. This would put the contribution of e-based economic activity on the African continent to 5.2% of GDP by the quarter-turn of the century. The report predicts that Africa’s internet economy will be able to withstand the effects of coronavirus and emerge as a resilient force to drive economic growth on the continent. It notes that opportunities are rife, even with the covid-19 pandemic having affected most economies. This resilience will be based on the rich human resource base in Africa which boasts of polished developers. It anticipates that with the digital revolution in play, governments will catch up and introduce policies to support and foster the growth of internet-based businesses across the continent.   Further, investment in infrastructure that supports technological advancement is expected to be at the fore of African leadership initiatives. The report also envisions an increase in public and private investment into the sector to drive the growth of internet-based products and services in African economies. Several entrepreneurs jumped onto the internet bandwagon thereby unleashing opportunities to fully realize growth in economies, with the effect of creating employment and contributing to providing solutions to the challenges that affect Africa. Digital penetration in SSA growing Source IMF The report acknowledges the rising interest in technology-based startups which increased considerably in 2019 with investments amounting to...

Summary Time is running out for countries to conclude and submit their tariff offers as well as rules of origin, which will govern trade from January 1, 2021. Less than six weeks to the start of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, time is running out for countries to conclude and submit their tariff offers as well as rules of origin, which will govern trade from January 1, 2021. Only 18 out of the continent’s 55 countries have submitted their tariff offers and rules of origin. The EastAfrican has learnt that a number of countries missed the October 30 deadline to submit their tariff concessions, and have until the December 5 African Union summit to do so, officials said. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sao Tome and Principe have submitted their tariff concessions as they are not part of any Customs Unions or single customs territory. Although Nigeria ratified its membership of AfCFTA on Wednesday, it still has to lodge its tariff concessions and rules of origin before the December 5 deadline. The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the states under the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) have tabled their offers, according to Prudence Sebahizi, the head of AfCFTA Negotiations Support Unit at the African Union. The East African Community, whose members can’t submit offers individually since they apply a Common External Tariff, is yet to respond with a tariff offer. Although we could not immediately establish...

Summary Flowers constitute a major foreign exchange earner for Kenya, raking in $1.31 billion in 2019 and accounting for 20.6 per cent of the total exports according to the Kenya Economic Survey 2020. The earnings represented a 5.9 per cent decline compared with $1.39 recorded in 2018. Kenya’s flower industry stands to lose $7.3 million in sales in a second wave of massive losses that could trigger another round of job cuts as orders from key European Union markets slump due to a Covid-19 resurgence, according to the Kenya Flower Council (KFC). After incurring $300,000 losses a day during the first wave of Covid-19 between April and July — flower firms laid off about 80 percent of their employees and airlines too felt the impact of low or lost cargo business. The industry is bracing for another tough period as countries go into lockdown. The KFC said traders in the EU who import about 70 percent of Kenya’s flowers have cut down on orders while prices are down by 20 percent as key markets including the United Kingdom and France institute lockdown measures to stop rising Covid-19 infections. NON-ESSENTIAL GOODS France has ordered supermarkets to stop the sale of ‘’non-essential’’ items like flowers while florists cannot operate during the lockdown expected to last until at least December 1. French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on November 1 that shops that sell clothes, toys, jewellery and, all florists, which are deemed as “non-essential” will no longer have sales in supermarkets from...

TRADERS from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi will benefit from training on trade facilitation that seeks to boost knowledge, skills on the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Tanzania was picked to be the first country in the bloc to benefit from the training that is undertaken by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in partnership with the East African Business Council (EABC) and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF). The workshops that kicked off at Kilimanjaro, Tanzania have been organized as part of the European Union-East African Community Market Access Programme (MARKUP). The East African local business-support associations and traders are being equipped with a comprehensive knowledge of the TFA with a view to identifying obstacles on cross-border and advocate for their removal. The initiative comes in a wake of trade and movement of people's restrictions in some East African Community (EAC) member-states due to Covid-19 pandemic. It saw some countries, excluding Tanzania, undergoing strict lockdowns, closure of businesses that led to paralysis of intra-EAC trade. This initiative has been developed in response to persistent delays and red tape hampering the movement of goods across borders in East Africa. Among the members of the community, inefficient trade procedures and non-tariff barriers represent obstacles to expanding intra-regional trade and deepened regional integration. Trade facilitation - the simplification, modernization and harmonization of export and import processes - has thus become a key issue for the global trade system and regional economic communities, such as the EAC, to create new opportunities...

The government has received Sh1.3 billion from TradeMark Africa (TMA) to fund infrastructure projects in two counties. Busia County will receive the largest chunk of the cash for three infrastructure projects, including completion of the Jumuiya Cross Border Market (Sh485.3 million), while Mombasa County will get Sh200 million for the Magongo Road project. The Malaba One-stop Border, which serves as the artery to the rest of East Africa, will receive Sh403 million, with the road leading to the border post receiving Sh372 million. Speaking during the signing ceremony in Nairobi yesterday, the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said completion of the projects would help stimulate the regional economy. “This support will go a long way in facilitating trade and unlock economic growth of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and by extension the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the completion of the Malaba One-stop Border Post,” said Yatani. Completion of the Magongo Road leading to the Mombasa port is set to be a major boost in easing traffic in the coastal town. TMA Chief Operating Officer David Stanton said they are committed to improving the country’s infrastructure projects. Read original article

Summary The new deal, which includes clauses from the old Economic Partnership Agreements under the European Union, will now be made formal upon signing of the agreed texts by the two sides. Kenya and the UK on Tuesday reached a decisive consensus on a new trade agreement, nearly 55 days before expiry of existing privileges as London formally exits the European Union protocols. The new deal, which includes clauses from the old Economic Partnership Agreements under the European Union, will now be made formal upon signing of the agreed texts by the two sides. "The agreement will provide continuity for businesses, investors and supply chains besides setting foundations for further economic development," Kenya’s Trade Cabinet Secretary (CS) Betty Maina said on Tuesday. In the virtual meeting between senior government officials of the two countries, the two government agreed to work on modalities before the end of this year to protect products from the two countries from the eight per cent duty which will be charged once the UK fully leaves the European Union in January. Kenya’s Trade CS Betty Maina and Interior's Fred Matiang'i led talks with UK Minister for Africa James Duddridge, International Trade Minister Ranil Jayawardena and the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Kenya Theo Clarke. The officials signed the draft documents, which indicates that negotiations on the agreement have been completed and will await the formal signing ceremony. The sixth bilateral trade deal will allow British and Kenyan companies to expand on trade already worth £1.4 billion...

In another article for nasdaq.com, IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener explained how Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) will revolutionize the industry and especially the supply chain. As Schiener describes, the supply chain is a constantly moving part of the corporate infrastructure, the pursuit of which is “traditionally a challenge” and “generally known for reactive rather than proactive analysis”. “That will soon change,” says Schiener. DLT can be applied to the traditional supply chain infrastructure to reverse the market logic and create demand chains. Instead of waiting for the market to respond to a product, a demand chain would ideally respond directly and in real time to consumer behavior and link the data back to the actual supply side. In effect, market demand could be met automatically as soon as it exists, rather than waiting for total supply to run out. This would empower businesses to not only have a wealth of supply chain data, but reform their supply chain processes to become more efficient and create a more sustainable future. However, as the IOTA co-founder also emphasizes, this requires consumers to trust the network. Ultimately, consumer transparency can only be implemented in a trustworthy ledger. In return, however, a demand chain would be created, which would mean a “relocation of actual production”. Contrary to the current system, in which supply is produced on the basis of past history, production would be based on demand. Ultimately, a highly effective system of rapid response to demand could be created that can be changed in the middle of...

Modernizing Kenya’s ports and decongesting the Northern transport corridor will be a game changer in establishing the country as the regional gateway for trade. Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ukur Yatani speaking at the treasury Tuesday, while signing financing agreements with Trademark East Africa (TMA) said that reducing the time it takes to enter and exit our borders will make us the transit partner of choice for our regional neighbours. Yatani said that TMA has given Kenya financial assistance amounting to Sh1.3 billion which has been complemented with technical assistance for the economic development of the country and facilitating regional trade and integration in East Africa. “The four grant agreements worth Sh1.31 billion signed will facilitate trade and unlock the economic growth of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) given that this investment is in critical infrastructure,” said Yatani. He explained that the projects include the dualling of Magongo road in Mombasa where Sh200 million has been spent so far and it will form an important link for cargo leaving the Mombasa port and joining the Northern transport corridor and this will improve efficiency by reducing congestion and increasing road capacity. “Likewise the dualling of the two kilometer carriage way to Busia One Stop Border Post at Sh300 million will ease movement in and out of Kenya and into the region. The construction of the Busia cross border Jumuiya market at Sh485 million as earlier directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta will accommodate approximately 10, 000 traders and...