China is set to be a key player in the financing of key Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIP), going by a recent resolution by East African Community member states. There are 14 projects under the NCIP, including the standard gauge railway. Other aspects include ICT, oil refinery development and fast-tracking the political federation. The 9th northern corridor summit held in Rwanda last week chose China to finance the projects. Ministers of Finance and Infrastructure were also directed to take the necessary steps to start the arrangements. They were told to consolidate the financial requirement, structure and mainstream projects, appropriations in the financial year 2015/ 2016 and subsequent national budgets. “The ministers are also directed to expedite the joint mission to China to source financing as per the directive for the NCIP,” read the summit’s joint communiqué. Finance ministries in partner states are expected to coordinate funding of the projects. The initiatives, if implemented, will have a significant impact on the lives of East Africans. South Sudan and lately Burundi will ultimately benefit from this renewed commitment to the EAC integration. In attendance were Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and South Sudan’s Salva Kiir. EAC chairman and Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete, Burundi’s 2nd Vice-President Gervais Rufyikiri and Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tedros Adhanom attended as observers. President Kenyatta pointed out that greater inter-connectivity of the East African region would increase the ability of member states to trade with each other. Source: Daily Nation

Kenya: The Single Customs Territory (SCT) regime introduced by East African countries a year ago has reduced the cost of doing business by about 50 per cent in the East Africa region, according to Kenya Revenue Authority ( KRA). The system has reduced the time taken to move cargo across the region from 18 days to three between Mombasa and Kampala and 21 days to six between Mombasa and Kigali. Addressing Mombasa port users at a Mombasa hotel, KRA Chief Manager Customs Service Department, Ebby Khaghuli said it has taken political goodwill to achieve the high performance in cargo delivery in the East African Community (EAC). In a presentation on the SCT status, Ms Khaghuli said the new system was achieved through great sacrifice by the states because no consultants or donors were involved in the process. She said the human and financial resources were met by each customs administration. The system is being implemented by revenue authorities in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi amid protests from Kenyan clearing and forwarding agents who claimed it has cost them jobs and business opportunities. "An analysis in EAC region has shown that the SCT has reduced the cost of doing business by about 50 per cent since implementation and the time taken to move cargo across the region from 18 days to three from Mombasa to Kampala, and 21 days to six days from Mombasa to Kigali. It takes political goodwill to achieve what has been achieved in the EAC region," Khaghuli...

East African ministers and secretariat members hold 800 meetings each year. That is an average of three meetings each day, all aimed at navigating the complex nature of the East African Community’s integration process. For 11 years now, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and more recently, Rwanda and Burundi, have been on a journey towards achieving regional political and economic harmony. Over this time, the value of the region’s combined product output has risen to Sh6.8 trillion ($75 billion), according EAC’s Secretary General Richard Sezibera. But behind the relative success of the process lie many missteps and criticisms. The most recent is the diplomatic tussle between Kenya and Tanzania on tour van access to airports and tourist sites. TradeMark Africa (TMA) is one of the institutions in a caucus of government ministries, development partners, civil society watchdogs and non-governmental organisations forming a support system for the EAC’s delicate walk towards regional integration. Business Beat sat with TMA’s Chris Kiptoo (country director) to discuss the integration process and the opportunities and challenges that exist. How far, in your opinion, would you say we are from achieving our regional integration goals. Considering the complexity and scope of the integration agenda, and the fact that integration requires ceding some degree of national sovereignty, the EAC partner states have made substantive progress in achieving regional integration goals. Indeed, EAC is often seen as one of the economic blocks that has made the greatest progress across the continent. The EAC region is now a common market, ushering...

East African member states have been advised to make critical assessment of single income tax rates. A law expert, Anatoly Nahayo said recently in Dar es Salaam after launching his book titled “East African Community Tax Harmonisation.” He said the move will ease allocation of capital shares within EAC member states especially mobile capital. “Member states should find ways to agree in this matter. Otherwise, it will be difficult to shift to a common market effectively,” he said. Elaborating, he said, currently, ministers of finance in the member states have been given power to exempt tax and no one has to judge. He also said the EAC member states should debate on tax harmonisation and put in place laws that will govern it. He said there are many challenges that need to be addressed so as to create fairness particularly in employment around the bloc whereby workers move from one country to another in search of a job. There are double charges recorded to the workers moving from one country to the other especially rates charged on pensions and charged in general. Nahaya explained that if checked, all workers moving to another country within the bloc will be charged the same tax rates. Nahana further said there is no democracy to protest the decision of finance ministers to exempt individual businessmen or company. “It’s high time our local experts addressed national issues in the EAC. Currently, there is no tax harmonisation in the regional bloc,” he said. On April 9,...

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said on Sunday 8/3/2015 that Egypt would host in 2015 the Tripartite Summit of the East Africa Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). This came during a meeting held between Sisi and African ambassadors accredited to Egypt, Presidential Spokesman Alaa Yousef said. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Presidential Adviser for National Security Affairs Fayza Abul Naga, he added. At the beginning of the meeting, Sisi welcomed African ambassadors and informed them of Egypt's keenness on strengthening ties with all African countries, Yousef noticed. Sisi shed light on the importance of boosting cooperation and dealing with joint issues especially the terrorism issue. All African countries should promote solidarity to handle economic and social problems faced by their peoples, Sisi underlined. Egypt is looking forward to strongly fostering relations with the Nile Basin countries to serve as a model for all African states, Sisi emphasized. Egypt's call for all African countries to attend the Economic Development Conference (EEDC), which will be held in Sharm el Sheikh during the period March 13-15,2015 comes in tandem with its keenness to increase economic cooperation among African countries and expand the role of investment and the private sector in promoting development process in the African continent, Sisi stressed. Source: AllAfrica.com

NAIROBI, Kenya – Sitting in truck laden with parts of an oil rig, driver Opira Robinson, 45, rests his head on the steering wheel patiently waiting for customs clearing at Lungalunga, a Kenya-Tanzania border post in Kwale, about 101 kilometres south of Mombasa on the East African coast. He is moving the big rig from Pakwach in Northern Uganda heading for Tanzania’s coast. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” Opira says. “It took me a few hours to cross Malaba, but now I have been here two days already and it might take me two more weeks,” Opira said. At least 50 trucks cross through daily, according to Patrick Omare, the Kenya Customs station officer. The main commodities are Kenyan fruits and wheat exports – timber and maize imports from Tanzania. There is also Malawian tea headed for the Mombasa Tea Auction and some Zambian copper also going through the crossing. It is among 35 One-Stop-Border- Posts (OSBPs) that are under construction across the East African Community. The intention is to reduce delays and ensure faster cargo movement across the region. Money is being provided by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Japan International Co-operation Agency. According to trade facilitation agency, Trademark East Africa (TMA) which is overseeing the posts. “They are aimed at reducing delays by allowing struck carrying goods to stop once, not twice,” said Frank Matsaert, the TMA Chief Executive Officer in an e-mail response to questions said. “Officials will share facilities on...

East Africa is providing lucrative opportunities for investment bankers, this is according to Paul Mwai of AIB Capital. Investment bankers are financial institutions that assist individuals, corporations, and governments in raising capital by underwriting issuance. Mwai told CNBC Africa that there was need for investment bankers to also start exploring for opportunities in the small to medium enterprise (SME) space. “SMEs are going to be the engine of growth in Africa with some having the potential to become multinationals,” he said. According to Mwai, there were various opportunities for investment bankers such as in debt funding, growth in private equity and advisory across sectors. He also said SMEs were already part of the Africa growth story warning that the big challenge they were facing was access to capital. “They can see the opportunities and they have accesses to these opportunities but access to capital remains as one of their big challenges,” he said. “There is also a knowledge gap and lack of advisory services as it seems they are concentrated on bigger transactions instead of SMEs.” Mwai said with the right capital injection it will only take certain SMEs a few years to become big business conglomerates. “We could look at companies that are growth companies and make investments in those spaces,” he urged investment bankers. Mwai said the stock market was still alien to SMEs as most players in this space think it is preserved for big players only. He added that SME players should explore for opportunities on...

Africa needs foreign investment, and it’s not only up to governments to encourage this. While there is a lot that governments can do, particularly in providing policy and regulatory certainty, the private sector has an important role to play in unlocking Africa’s opportunities. Africa has huge advantages, not least a potential return on investment higher than most other regions. The downside is that it attracts less investment than it should because countries and institutions are often nervous about the risks they see in Africa. This is where the private sector comes in. I call it “demystifying Africa” - demystifying Africa’s economies, demystifying Africa’s markets and demystifying Africa’s risks. Foreign investors don’t have enough visibility about what is happening in Africa. The onus is on African-based companies to deliver that knowledge and vision to the rest of the world. Companies operating successfully in Africa know local conditions and understand local risks. They are in the best position to explain the realities of working here. Financial institutions with international reach and strong African networks are able to bring African clients and institutions closer to international capital. This can be a big enabler of local growth. Demystifying Africa is not so much about correcting misconceptions as it is about using a depth of local experience to bridge the knowledge gap with international clients. African companies in turn need to provide investors with accessibility and transparency on their financials, operations and risks. The role of African governments in promoting the continent to investors is...

Trade patterns in Africa are changing, with new products, new trading partners and new technologies all influencing the way African countries trade with each other and the world. As a result, African trade is growing as it has never grown before. This is benefiting African companies and economies, lifting living standards and providing opportunities for trade to and from the continent and between African countries. Africa is rich in opportunities - now while it is in the midst of transformative change, and in the future when expanding populations will increase the market size and a better educated middle class will increase consumer demand. By 2020 Africa will have a population of 2.1 billion people and a collective GDP of US$2.6 trillion. The continent is a minerals treasure house, has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land when world food demand is rising, and offshore gas finds are transforming economies, particularly down Africa’s east coast. Barclays has been involved in Africa for more than a century. Leveraging that experience, we have identified 10 factors which are influencing the rising trend of African trade in a combination that bodes well for the continent playing a larger role in world trade. Rapid and sustained economic growth. Africa’s GDP growth averaged 5% from 2002 to 2012, and is expected to climb above 5.5% from 2012 to 2017. This is higher than any region except Asia and puts Africa above Europe and America. Healthier economies. Together with economic growth has come improved governance, lower inflation,...

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Though the coastal cities of Senegal are situated on the fierce Atlantic Ocean, it is floods from heavy rains they struggle with, rather than rising tides. A common solution is to pump floodwaters into the ocean. But one innovative project is trying to capture the water instead, for use in gardening during water-short periods of the year. In Pikine, a suburb of Senegal's capital Dakar, the "Live with Water" project captures floodwater in large sandy basins, around which cash crop gardens of mint and basil provide an income for local residents. Using the basins, floods that once wiped out houses, strained the local economy and heightened the risk of disease have been converted into a new stock of fresh water for a West African community that is dusty and dry much of the year. "Before, one had to accept that houses here flood. But this project opened our eyes to see there is a solution," said Emilie Faye, a local leader who has been instrumental in the project. Faye points to the seat of her couch, indicating the flood level in years past. The wall and ceiling of her home are discolored and peeling due to secondary damage from humidity. CATCHING RAINWATER The redirected flood waters serve a multitude of purposes. The surface drainage system leads water into an underground canal which empties into a natural filtration system. Water then flows through a series of basins, creating a reservoir and a green space in the...