The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 100,000 African lives and nearly 4 million cases have been recorded so far. Africa’s COVID-19 story is one of nuances. Only 10 countries account for over 80% of all cases, island nations suffer peculiar impacts, rural-urban differentiation is evident, socioeconomic implications reveal gender biases, and trade patterns matter. There is no single Africa COVID-19 story. Addressing COVID-19 in Africa and designing appropriate remedial strategies requires a thorough understanding of Africa’s diverse contexts and an appreciation of the role of regional integration in defining solutions. UNDP Africa’s new report: “Analysing long-term socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 across diverse African contexts” examines the effect COVID-19 will have on macro-economic development in 10 African countries by 2030 and 2050. The study highlights the multifaceted economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic across Africa, including on human development indicators, economic interdependence, and growth and resilience patterns. Changes in mortality, economic growth and international financial flows in Angola, Cabo Verde, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa are analysed in the document. The report also assesses the longer-term impacts on trade, economic growth and health indicators and proposes actionable solutions. Read original article

African logistics startups are positioning themselves to play a key role in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), the largest free-trade area in the world by the number of participating countries, which launched on Jan. 1. As businesses that tend to think about being in multiple markets from the onset, startups can help tackle some of the biggest goals of the agreement, such as common payment systems and common user experiences, says Onyekachi Izukanne, co-founder and CEO of TradeDepot, a Lagos-based startup that distributes consumer goods from manufacturers to retailers in three countries. “We are big supporters of this increased access to market that the agreement promotes, even if we recognize that there is still quite a bit of work to be done,” says Izukanne. “I look at the agreement as a promise of integration.” Tech can help tackle some of the biggest issues that have prevented trade from growing in Africa, including cutting down on red tape and easing supply-chain bottlenecks. But startups can’t do it alone. Governments will need to cooperate by creating infrastructure and ensuring that regulations don’t drag things down. Low intra-African trade AfCTA covers a market of 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP of $3 trillion. The agreement underpinning the trade area was signed by 54 out of the 55 African Union countries, with 36 countries ratifying it as at Feb. 5. The main goal of the agreement is to create a single market for goods and services in Africa and deepen the...

A financial agreement worth €10.5 million between the Government of Finland and TradeMark Africa (TMA) has been signed. The Government of Finland, represented by its Ambassador to Kenya H.E. Erik Lundberg, reiterated its commitment to supporting regional trade and the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the East African region. The event was officiated by Kenya’s Ministry of East Africa and Regional Development Principal Secretary Dr. Kevit Desai and witnessed by TMA Board Chair Amb. Erastus Mwencha, TMA CEO Mr. Frank Matsaert and TMA Country Director Mr. Ahmed Farah. Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies that contribute to the successful implementation of National Single Windows. TMA has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which not only reduce costs associated with trade, but also reduce the carbon footprint of transport. Lake and rail transport produce much less emission per tonne of cargo moved as compared to road transport. Efforts will go towards supporting digital trade corridors, safe sanitary and phytosanitary trade corridors, bolster trade remedies structures at national, regional and continental levels, investments in standards quality infrastructure centres of excellence, scale up of regional authorised economic operator schemes and authorised supply chains frameworks. This infrastructure will be critical in reducing barriers to trade and supporting smooth implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The new funding will build up on results that have been achieved in previous programmes funded by...

In Summary Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies. TMA has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which reduce costs associated with trade. TradeMark Africa (TMA) and Finland have signed a financial agreement worth €10.5 million(Sh1.38billion) that will help in supporting regional trade and the fight against Covid-19. Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies that contribute to the successful implementation of National Single Window. TMA is focussed on reducing non- tariff barriers that hinder trade within the East Africa region. It has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which not only reduce costs associated with trade, but also reduce the carbon footprint of transport. Ministry of East Africa and Regional Development PS Kevit Desai appreciated Finland’s continued support to promoting efficient and increased trade in the region and the continued fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. “The TMA Kenya Country Programme has facilitated interventions to reduce transport time and increase import and export volumes in Kenya. This has directly contributed to Kenya’s consistent improvement in the trading across borders,” said Desai. Efforts will go towards supporting digital trade corridors, safe sanitary and phytosanitary trade corridors and bolster trade remedies structures at national, regional and continental levels. Support will also be channelled towards investments in standards quality, setting up infrastructure centres of excellence,...

In Summary If AGRA has evidence to refute our findings, it should share those results so participating governments, donors, and farmers can assess their investments in the project If, on the other hand, AGRA has not gathered the data to monitor its expensive interventions, that could be even worse When are African governments, donors, and African farmers going to demand some accountability from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa? Fourteen years into this billion-dollar donor initiative to revolutionise African farming, and now past the 2020 endpoint for its goals of doubling yields and incomes for 30 million smallholder farmers, AGRA finally published internal country monitoring and evaluation reports from early last year. I reviewed all 1,365 pages of those documents, unearthed in Freedom of Information Act requests to the US Agency for International Development after AGRA refused to provide them. They show no progress toward AGRA’s top-line goals. The absence of impact data in AGRA’s 11 recent country Outcome Monitoring reports, with no reference to results from its first 10 years of Green Revolution promotion, suggests either that those results are so poor the organisation does not want to reveal them or that it has never bothered to track progress toward its main goals. It is hard to know which is worse. If AGRA is concealing evidence that its well-funded interventions, backed by massive African government subsidies for farmers to purchase commercial seeds and fertilisers, are failing to produce the intended results, it is defrauding donors, participating governments,...

One of the unsung highlights of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Budget 2021 speech was his announcement that the border posts at South Africa’s six busiest land borders were to be upgraded and expanded. It was also heartening to hear that these one-stop border posts will be developed using a public-private partnership model, as fresh ideas, capital, skills and system innovation are sorely required. It was even more encouraging to learn that Beitbridge, which was built in 1929 and last upgraded in 1995, will be the first to receive an overhaul so as to “eliminate the dreadful scenes we witnessed recently”. Although there is some dispute as to whether the congestion at the Zimbabwe-South Africa border could be blamed directly for several deaths during the recent peak crossing period in December/January, the blockages were nevertheless deeply dehumanising and economically debilitating. Holiday travellers in taxis and private vehicles lacked food, water and basic ablution facilities as some of them waited days, rather than hours, to cross. The gridlock also came at a high cost to those freight companies that hoped to use the crossing to shorten their trips to the Zimbabwe market. From a pure economic perspective, however, the sooner more streamlined infrastructure and systems are introduced to facilitate freight movement at all these land borders, the better. Absent such an overhaul, it will not be possible for South African firms to fully begin tapping the trade opportunities opening up to them as a result of the implementation earlier this year of...

The introduction of the multi-agency concept of operation at all Ports of entry into Kenya has led to reforms that are bearing fruit in terms of efficient logistics, revenue growth and promoting regional integration. The rollout has ushered in a new era in the border management regime, and further builds on Kenya’s efforts to modernise its ports’ operations by setting up of One-Stop Border Posts (OSBP) at the points of entry; a move intended to minimise obstacles to facilitate free movement of goods and services. This approach was set in motion in August 2020, when President Uhuru Kenyatta signed an Executive Order merging operations at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC). The order provided the guideline for the management of the agencies under the umbrella of Kenya Transport and Logistics Network, and to be coordinated by the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation. This merger is among the reforms initiated by the current administration to ease inter-agency collaboration. Since the implementation of the changes at KPA, there has been a rise in revenue collection has been manifesting. For instance, in the financial year 2020/2021, profit is expected to go up. KPA has so far realized increased profit by more than KShs3 billion. Statistics show that the total capital and reserves have almost doubled in the past year. KShs8.402 billion These changes have in addition positively impacted Customs revenue for December 2020 which was the highest ever monthly revenue collection in KRA’s history, amounting to...

The distinctive campaign named ‘30 days of women in business’ will run on radio and social media channels over the next one month, and aims to promote the platform in Member States where COMESA is implementing the 50 Million African Women Speak Project The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has launched a regional campaign to popularise a platform for women in a business known as 50 Million African Women Speak (50MAWSP). The platform is an information and networking hub for women which provides a one-stop-shop for them to start, grow and scale up their businesses and to access financial and non-financial services. The distinctive campaign named ‘30 days of women in business’ will run on radio and social media channels over the next one month, and aims to promote the platform in Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sudan, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—the Member States where COMESA is implementing the 50 Million African Women Speak Project. The campaign invites women in the region to log onto the platform at www.womenconnect.org or to download the 50MAWSP app from the Google or Apple stores. To participate, women will be required to register on the platform and to then submit short stories about their most admired businesswomen giving the reasons why, and what they would tell them if they had a chance to meet them in person. The most compelling of these submissions will be published on the platform and those who submitted them...

Just days after taking office, President Biden signaled to African leaders that they should expect renewed engagement from the United States. In remarks at the 2021 African Union Summit – his first speech to an international forum as President Biden highlighted a shared vision for a better future that includes “growing trade and investment that advances the prosperity” of the United States and African nations, and emphasized that the U.S. was ready to be a “partner in solidarity, support and mutual respect.” While President Biden’s remarks were a positive sign, Africa was missing from his first cornerstone speech on America’s Place in the World. That may not be a surprise – the new administration is certainly not lacking global challenges to tackle. Still, early engagement with Africa's political and business leadership is critical and should be included in the administration’s vision for how we invest in economic development, create new markets for U.S. products, and address shared challenges. An action-plan centered on pro-growth trade, investment, and regulatory policies is an important first step. Here’s why: THE U.S. CHAMBER RECENTLY SHARED A SLATE OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRESS ON AFRICA. Two-way trade between the United States and Africa exceeded $45 billion in 2020, with the global pandemic causing a decline in an otherwise vibrant commercial partnership. But the opportunities for partnership go well beyond the trade numbers. Cooperation with African countries, which will be home to over 2.5 billion people by 2050, is critical as the United States...

Digital platforms in Africa should scale up to take advantage of the continent’s surging demand for creative content, said Africa Investment Forum Senior Director Chinelo Anohu. Anohu was speaking at a virtual “fireside chat” on Tuesday with Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah and Dean Garfield, Netflix’s Vice President of Public Policy. The Africa Soft Power Project organized the event, titled The New Face of African Collaboration. Omar Ben Yedder, Group Publisher & MD of IC Publications, moderated. The dialogue was held against the backdrop of the recent coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). 2021 is also the African Union’s year of arts, culture and heritage. Discussions focused on the role of infrastructure and connectivity in advancing Africa’s creative industries, including film, textiles and design. Oramah said that Afreximbank set up a $500 million fund in January 2020 to support Africa’s creative industries. The continent faces a challenge to effectively monetize its creative output. Once it does so, he said, innovation would follow. The Africa Investment Forum, Anohu said, was working to promote content deals as well as digital infrastructure projects to advance creative industries, including support to smaller players. “At AIF 2019, we had a very interesting entrepreneur scheme which saw those that were not as big get the kind of funding they needed to get beyond getting a feasibility study done,” she said. Support for intellectual property rights and equipping investors with the data they need to tackle negative perceptions about investing in Africa are...