East African banks are bracing themselves for yet another period of reduced earnings as governments move to set up treasury single accounts to mop up public funds from commercial banks. The policy shift, which has been approved by the East African Community partner states, is expected to reduce cashflow within the banking sector and subsequently stifle economic activity by reducing lending to the productive sectors of the economy. The regional bloc has resolved that each partner state implements a Treasury Single Account (TSA) to ensure complete oversight over the government’s cash flows and to reduce the cost of keeping public money in several commercial banks. Tanzania’s Finance Minister Phillip Mpango said the move would reduce the number of government accounts operated in commercial banks and the Central Bank and reduce costs related to services offered by commercial banks to the government. The implementation of this policy comes as regional banks continue reporting mixed results attributed to a number of factors, including high levels of non-performing loans, high operating costs, slowdown in economic activity and controlled interest rates in some countries such as Kenya. The regional banks that have released their half-year financial performance for this year are Bank of Kigali, KCB, Equity Bank, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Barclays Bank Kenya and Stanbic Bank Uganda. Related Content EA states opt for one bank account to curb misuse Kenya to launch Treasury Single Accounts in fight against graft In Kenya, KCB Group and Equity Bank announced profit after tax of $121 million...

ARUSHA - The East African Community (EAC) Gender Policy has been launched, with a call to member states leaders and stakeholders to use it to deliver gender equity and equality to all East Africans. Monday's launch of the policy in Arusha, Tanzania followed its adoption by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in Kampala earlier this year. Its aim is to mainstream gender in all aspects of the EAC integration process by promoting the different and complementary roles of men and women in all regional activities. “As the EAC secretariat, we appreciate that despite these challenges, partner states have made tremendous advances in addressing the ensuring gender equality as a key principle of the EAC integration," said Christophe Bazivamo, the EAC deputy secretary general of productive and social sectors, whose speech was delivered by Mary Makoffu. Makoffu is EAC's director of social sector. "The policy will further strengthen the mainstreaming of gender concerns in the planning and budgetary processes of all sectors in the EAC organs, institutions and partner states,” she said on behalf of Bazivamo. Ahead of the launch, Sheila Kawamara Mishambi, a former EALA member spoke passionately about gender matters. "People do not realise how easy it is to ignore gender equality issues. I cannot count the number of times I have been invited to a programme where we had to reword entire programme documents last minute because gender equality issues were not considered,” she said. Mishambi said an active gender policy would ensure that such scenarios are reduced,...

The story of Africa’s trade with itself is grim. According to COMTRADE 2016, intra-European trade stands at an estimated 60 per cent, intra- Asian trade at just over 40 per cent while intra-Africa trade stands at a low of about 20 per cent. Historically, the freedom of movement of goods and people has always been a natural attribute of growing societies. Presently, this movement is paramount to building Africa’s regional economic integration, facilitating trade and fostering economic growth. When we look at Intra-European trade comparatively, the establishment of the European Union’s (EU) single market in 1993 revitalised the EU economy significantly. Businesses especially those in the manufacturing sector enjoyed the fruits of economies of scale because they were able to operate across borders. With access to a greater diversity of products and markets the competitiveness of the region rose remarkably. This vibrant single market was made possible through the elimination of barriers (tariff and non-tariff) such that citizens and industries could benefit from direct access to 28 countries and over 500 million people. This resulted to higher GDP, increased employment opportunities, increased trade, and better investments into the EU economy. Our regional integration has constantly been hampered by among others political instability, poor infrastructure, inadequate power supply, inadequate market intelligence, high cost of doing business and corruption. In turn trading with each other has become a costly affair. A report by the African Development Bank states that only 75 per cent of countries in the Top 20 most visa-open countries...

The conversation about logistics cannot be discussed without trade. Trade opens up borders and allows for the free movement of goods. The most recent development on the African continent was the signing of an African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by 44 African countries in March 2018. The ambition of the agreement is to boost intra-African trade with the eventual aim being creating one single trading bloc for African countries. It seemed like a mountain to climb prior to the signing of the agreement considering that negotiations started in 2015. These negotiations are being led by the African Union with support from entities like UNECA. The signing alone marked a significant milestone on the continent especially since Africa as a trading bloc has lagged behind markets like the European Union. Total trade among African countries is still below 11%, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). If the intra-African trade improves as a result of this agreement, then it would present an opportunity for logistics companies because all the available goods will need to be moved around the continent. The economies in Africa are growing and countries continue to invest in infrastructure projects that would boost industrialization. As countries do this, they will need to access markets. Some of those markets are available in Africa. Often it is noted that Africa’s trade imbalance with countries like China remains large. The opportunity as a result of the emerging trade agreements on the continent would be that Uganda gets to...

SYPELGAZ, a trade union for energy, water and sanitation, says that despite the delays in resolving the case involving former employees of the energy and utility agency, EWSA, something constructive could happen after a meeting was held last week to resolve issues. The union petitioned court after 600 employee of EWSA, which has since been split into two companies – the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) and Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) – were dismissed from work in 2015. In May this year, the parties discussed a proposal by the Ministry of Infrastructure to settle the matter amicably. What was agreed included suspending filed lawsuits during the negotiation period to focus on reaching an amicable solution. The trade union accuses the Ministry of Infrastructure and its affiliated agencies for dragging their feet and lacking of commitment to resolve the issue as agreed during the May meeting in which parties resolved to conclude negotiations within two months. After last week’s (Wednesday) meeting, which was chaired by Ron Weiss, the CEO of REG, Jordi-Michel Musoni, the president of SYPELGAZ, said they are “hopeful”. “We are happy that there is at least this historic step but the commitment of two months is long overdue because of some complications that should not be. Workers are not used to seeing, in Rwanda, a public figure promising something publicly and fail to honour,” he said. Last year, SYPELGAZ petitioned court over the alleged illegal dismissal of more than 600 former employees having exhausted other avenues to settle...

The current world trade system is not perfect and China supports reforms to it, including to the World Trade Organisation, to make it fairer and more effective, china’s top officials say. China is locked in a bitter trade war with the United States and has vowed repeatedly to uphold the multilateral trading system and free trade, with the WTO at its center. But speaking late on Thursday to reporters after meeting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said some reforms could be good. While certain doubts have been raised about the current international trading system, China has always supported the protection of free trade and believes that multilateralism with the WTO at its core should be strengthened, Wang added. “At the same time, we do not believe that the current system is perfect and without flaws,” he said. “China supports necessary reforms and perfection of the current system, including to the WTO, to make it fairer, more effective and more rational,” Wang added. The basic tenets of the WTO, in opposing protectionism and supporting free trade should not change, but the rights of developing nations should also not be overlooked, he said. “The aim of reform should be to allow countries to enjoy the development fruits of globalization more fairly, not to further widen the differences between south and north,” Wang said. WTO reforms need to include listening to voices from all parties and broad consultation, and should especially listen to a respect the opinions of...

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania and Kenya have downplayed claims that a trade war between the two East African Community founding states is brewing, but admitted that there were indeed some unresolved issues between the two. Officials from the two countries also blamed the media from the two states of blowing things out of proportion. Briefing the media on Thursday, Tanzania’s permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Prof Adolf Mkenda, and Kenya’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Dan Kazungu, expressed their optimism that solutions would be found to the unresolved issues affecting smooth conduct of business between the two countries. They said they were hopeful that the ongoing talks would help resolve the misunderstandings surrounding trade between the two countries. According to Prof Mkenda , called upon traders from the two countries to be patient as the two countries strive to resolve the challenges that business persons from both countries encounter in cross-border trade. “It is normal for countries to have disputes in their trade relations; most importantly we should all make sure that we respect agreements that we entered during the regional integration protocols,” said Prof Mkenda. The EAC has the Customs Union and Common Market protocols in place to guide trade. The Foreign Affairs PS also revealed that the government of Tanzania was aware of reports that consignments of beer from Tanzania have been confiscated in Kenya. “We have seen on social media platforms that consignments of beer have been confiscated in Kenya but...

Kenya is Japan’s biggest development partner in Sub-Saharan Africa, having received a cumulative of Sh622 billion in form of technical assistance, grants and loans since independence. Japanese Ambassador Toshitsugu Uesawa said Kenya was the first African country to host a Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). “It was not a coincidence that this landmark conference, the first to be held outside Japan, was hosted by Kenya. Nor is it by accident that Kenya is the biggest development partner of Japan in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the largest amount of assistance received,” said Toshitsugu during the TICAD mini consultative conference held in Nairobi. He said development projects arising from the TICAD pillars are very closely aligned to the Kenyan government’s own top priorities, which are encapsulated as the Big Four Agenda. Japan has supported the Mombasa Port Development Project, the Mombasa Special Economic Zone Development Project, the Dongo Kundu bypass, among others. Source Standard Media

Dar es Salaam. The government revealed on Saturday that Kenya has stopped importation of rice from Tanzania in yet another sign of unending trade wars between the two largest economies in East Africa. The permanent secretary in the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Prof Adolph Mkenda, told The Citizen that the Kenyan government stopped the importation of rice from Tanzania over claims of standards and packaging. “We are seeking an explanation [on the ban],” said Prof Mkenda. “We are sure that these are negotiable issues and it is our best belief that they are resolvable.” Apart from rice, there are also other issues that the government of Tanzania is trying to sort out with its Kenyan counterpart. One is that which involves the 15 lorries carrying wheat flour, which are stranded at the Namanga border post. The trucks were stopped to pass through the border following the decision by Kenyan authorities to ask the owner to clear each lorry afresh. This is despite the fact that the owner had already cleared 85 lorries, including those stuck at the border, which were bound various cities of Kenya. The other issue, according to Prof Mkenda, is that involving Bakhresa’s energy drinks product, which the Kenyan authorities overvalue them in contrast to the exact value indicated by the producer. This has made the product to be unfairly taxed by the Kenyan taxman and cause unnecessary inconvenience to the producer. The PS also revealed that the government of Tanzania was aware of...

The question of whether the Nairobi-Naivasha-Kisumu Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) section is viable or not came to the fore when the China Exim Bank cut its funding for the Naivasha route by Sh32 billion. Supplementary budget documents tabled in Parliament in April also showed allocations to the SGR project dropped by Sh42 billion, including the Sh32 billion held back by the bank. The 120-kilometre Nairobi-Naivasha line that cuts through the Nairobi National Park, traversing several town centres and agricultural areas, will cost Sh150 billion. The concerns on the fate of the line were heightened when President Uhuru Kenyatta failed to secure funds as had been highly expected during his China visit two weeks ago. Kenya and the China Communications Construction Company had already reached a deal for construction of the Naivasha-Kisumu stretch. The remaining bits of the agreement were to be finalised during the President’s Beijing visit. However, this did not happen, raising eyebrows of what is in store for the multibillion project. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia had also said the signing of the funding would be done in Beijing during the China-Africa Forum (Focac). “All documents are ready. However, when we engaged the Chinese government, it was agreed that they do support it, but we need to complete the feasibility study, not just for Naivasha to Kisumu but also all the way from Mombasa to Kisumu so that we can establish its commercial viability,” CS Macharia told a press briefing in Beijing. Analysts are now questioning why the...