Africa lags behind in the international trade of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) goods earning just a small percentage from the lucrative sector. The continent’s share of the USD 2.1 trillion in 2017 remained negligible despite the demand for electronic components used in Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices driving the value of trade in international ICT goods in 2017. According to figures released by UNCTAD, trade in ICT goods grew slightly faster than merchandise trade representing 13.4 per cent of the total in 2017. The Global ICT Trade Indicators. Africa still lags behind importing more than it exports.Global ICT goods imports rebound The global market however shrunk from the 16.1 per cent high during the dot-com boom in 2000 but it remained the highest in two years. By comparison, in 2017 machinery and transport equipment accounted for 37 per cent and food for 8 per cent of merchandise imports. “This is the first time that global ICT goods imports have rebounded since 2014, showing a good 6 per cent annual growth and bringing a reprieve to the past two years of decline,” Shamika Sirimanne, Director of the Technology and Logistics Division at UNCTAD, said. Demand for electronic circuits and semiconductors Among ICT products, trade in electronic components continued to expand with an annual growth rate of 8 per cent – just below that of computers and consumer electronics (9 per cent) – and it shows long-term, steady growth. “The expansion of electronic components, which are the basic building blocks of electronic circuits...

The revitalized peace agreement in South Sudan has not only restored calm in the country but also boosted trade along the border with Uganda, traders said. Civilians from both Uganda and South Sudan are relishing the return of normalcy since they are able to move freely and conduct business at the border town of Nimule. Tombe Abdullamid, a South Sudanese businessman, told Xinhua at the custom office in Nimule town that his life has been transformed thanks to the brisk business that followed the signing of a peace deal. "My business at the border is very flexible and the verification of the goods at both the Ugandan site of Elegu and Nimule is very encouraging," Abdullamid told Xinhua in a recent interview, adding that the current peace agreement is yielding huge dividends for him. He revealed that he has operated the same line of business for the last three years, but couldn't see the margin of profit he made in about six months after the signing of the revitalized peace agreement. John Makuei, a money changer at the border since 2007, said that business had flourished at the border amid parties' commitment to restoring peace along Juba-Nimule highway. Makuei said that life was shattered following the renewed crashes in July 2016 which later spiked targeted killing along the country's major routes particularly 185 km Juba-Nimule road linking South Sudan to Uganda. He revealed that since July 8, 2016, many commuters shunned the country's only tarmacked highway, resulting into a drastic...

Coffee exporters are now realising the benefits of the Electronic Single Window system that was unveiled across the region four years ago. The Electronic Single Window is a computer aided system that enables companies to clear goods at customs online without necessarily moving around to do manual paperwork clearance. Joseph Nkandu, the Executive Director at the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises said prior to inclusion of coffee on the system in July 2018, NUCAFE was spending Shs350, 000 on moving around government agencies like Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to clear their coffee for export. That cost has since reduced to Shs100, 000 with the implementation of single window, he said. “If digitization is handled very well it is the way to go,” he said at the Single Window Evaluation Workshop held at Uganda Manufacturers Association on March 06. Nkandu said the system has also led to reduced time spent on processing documents for exports from 14 to two days. It has also improved farmers’ turnover at export level with reduced payback time from 45 to 10 days after export for farmers’ final payment. It has also increased farmers’ value addition and direct marketing in addition to enhanced use of the farmer ownership model and increase in NUCAFE membership by 25% The system has increased women and youth entrepreneurial leadership in marketing by 65%. It has also increased farmer incomes from 250% in 2017 to 900% today. Another coffee exporting company, UGACOF Limited, a...

South Sudan began witnessing a significant recovery in trade along the border with Uganda after securing a peace deal that brought security. Deliberate movements and businesses at Nimule, a border town, are an indication for stability that satisfies both South Sudanese and Ugandans. Accelerated business that was enjoyed after the peace agreement was signed was a considerably positive change in the twon, stated South Sudanese businessman Tombe Abdullamid. "My business at the border is very flexible and the verification of the goods at both the Ugandan site of Elegu and Nimule is very encouraging," Abdullamid added. Source: MENAFN

In a week that marks the anniversary of the treaty for an African continental free trade area, signed in Kigali on 18 March 2018, this column asks whether it is a turning point on the road towards economic integration. There are signs of progress: the inclusion of negotiations on trade in services; progress-tracking on removing barriers to trade in goods; easing the movement of persons; and improving hard and soft infrastructure to lower trade costs. But starting off with a small membership that does not include all the big players and the possibility of backsliding under the guise of indiscriminate promotion of regional value chains pose serious threats. Source: the Forum

I think so little of the squabble between Uganda and Rwanda, which blew up when Kigali decided to close the Katuna border (in Rwanda Gatuna) to build a one-stop border point, that I won’t dwell much on it. There’s, however, a telling and interesting story behind the Gatuna/Katuna name. Until 1926, Katuna was part of Rwanda. It became part of Uganda when the Belgians and British cut a deal over the two countries’ border. Which brings up a question that many puzzled non-Ugandans have asked me – are Banyarwanda one of the “tribes” of Uganda? Under President Yoweri Museveni’s rule, who is or is not a Rwandan is as emotive an issue as who is or isn’t a Kenyan Somali. Thus, while in the 2009 Kenya census there was an uproar after it reported “too many Somalis,” leading to that specific statistic being quashed, the 1991 census in Uganda also found “too many Banyarwanda,” and their numbers were fudged when it became a hot political potato. The reality is that, as the wonderful Ramkrishna Mukherjee observed in his book Uganda, an historical accident?, first published before Independence, already by that time Ugandans of Rwandan ancestry (a result of migration, political phenomena, and intermarriage dating back to the 14th century, were probably one of the largest nationalities in the country. Today, that hasn’t changed. At the end of last year, I asked Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani (author of When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda) where he saw the...

Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to demilitarize the disputed common borders between the two countries within one month, the defense ministries of the two countries said on Monday, says Anadolu Agency. Lt. Gen. Kamal Abdul Maroof, chief of staff of the Sudanese national army, told a press conference in the capital Khartoum that the two sides would implement the previous recommendations of a deal for forming a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries. “After we listened to a report from the United Nations Interim Security Forces For Abyei [UNISFA], we agreed that within one month that all the forces within the demilitarized buffer zone would be pulled out from this area,” he confirmed. “We will also send a joint technical team from the two sides and with experts from the UNISFA in one month to the border areas to make sure that all the forces will be redeployed out of these areas,” he stressed. Kuol Manyang Juuk, South Sudan’s defense minister, told reporters that border crossings between the two nations would also be opened within one month, adding that the defense ministers would also meet on April 17 to follow up implementation of the deal. “Now we have taken measures to evacuate the buffer zone and make sure that there are no soldiers within that area and that would be verified by UNISFA, and we have also created crossing points, and along these crossing points migration and other offices would be opened,” he explained. Sudan has led the mediation...

When the Africa Continental Free Trade Area is implemented this year, it will create a single market for goods and services for the first time in the continent’s history. The agreement will cover a geographic area with a combined GDP of $3.2 trillion and a population of 1.2 billion people. It has the potential to drastically accelerate economic growth and exceed the African Development Bank’s current estimates for GDP growth from $1.7 trillion in 2010 to more than $15 trillion by 2060. This has the potential to shift Africa from being an aid-dependent continent to becoming an investment-dependent continent. According to the Brookings Institute, African foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows accounted for only 2.9 percent of total global FDI inflows in 2017, compared to the 49.8 percent share for developed economies, and 10.6 percent for Latin America and the Caribbean. A continental super bloc has the potential of creating an attractive value proposition for investors who are dealing with the fallout from Brexit, a U.S.-China tariff war and a global economy that is falling short of projected growth targets. For African governments, businesses and citizens, the prospect of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area has prompted widespread excitement and optimism, especially among some of Africa’s leading business and political figures. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said: “Speaking with one voice as a continent will emerge as perhaps the most important provision of all for the success of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.” South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly stated: “This...

The National Revenue Authority (NRA) is set to secure an electronic integrated cargo tracking system for its officials to monitor South Sudan’s cargo on transit from Mombasa to Juba. The move came following the promise by Trade Mark East Africa regional director to support electronic integrated cargo tracking system for the NRA. Speaking to journalists at Juba International Airport yesterday upon arrival from a Kenya where he attended a meeting with his Kenyan counterpart, the NRA Commissioner-General Dr. Olympio Attipoe said in the next two to three weeks, NRA will sign a memorandum of understanding with Trade Mark East Africa and in the next two to three weeks, the project will start. “The electronic integrated tracking system is to make sure that we monitor our cargos from Mombasa port to South Sudan. The significance of this is that at time when the cargos have been dispatched for South Sudan,they end up not coming , both Kenya and South Sudan losing the revenue because of the collaboration between people to divert cargo from the government,” said Olympio. He said the system will provide transparency in the cargo system from Mombasa to South Sudan and will boost revenue generation. In another development, Dr. Olympio said that Trade Mark East Africa has agreed to pay some commitments and obligations that the NRA has not paid to international community such as World Custom Organization to allow South Sudan enter into World custom activities. “South Sudan over the past three to four years has not...

President Emmanuel Macron embarked on a four-day trip to the Horn of Africa nations last week, with the visit largely seen as part of attempts by France to cement new ties in a region where China's influence has been growing fast. Macron’s trip to Africa was meant to boost trade with Ethiopia and Kenya, two countries that were never a French colony. Djibouti, the third country he visited, was formerly under colonial rule and hosts foreign military bases for both Paris and Beijing. In the first visit by a French president to Kenya since its independence in 1963, Macron concluded his trip with the announcement of an estimated $3.4 billion worth of deals with the East African powerhouse. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta confirmed in a statement on Thursday that an agreement with a "French consortium" had been reached on a series of major works to boost the African country’s transport network.   Macron described his country as a “credible economic partner,” and hailed the agreement with Kenya as a “new partnership in economy." The visit, however, was denounced by some Kenyans as “real stumbling blocks to the development in Africa.” At a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the French president announced a military agreement in which Paris would lend $96 million to Addis Ababa to support the establishment of a navy for the landlocked country. Ethiopia has access to the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea ports as a result of deals with neighbors Djibouti and Sudan. Upon...