COVID-19 and the African trade dynamics Just like other countries in the world, African states were not prepared for the spread of the novel coronavirus. Interestingly and as expected, two powerful African states, Egypt and Nigeria, recorded the first cases of the virus in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Of 54 countries in Africa, 53 countries have recorded cases of the virus and only Lesotho is yet to record any. This record in Lesotho has perhaps been linked to a lack of testing materials and not that the country is indeed free from the virus. Source: Wikipedia Trade in Africa has primarily been a case of a producer exporting raw materials to foreign countries for production and the original producer importing the finished products. This situation has seen Africa contribute so much to global trade than it is given credit for. Indeed, Africans have a penchant for foreign goods, without necessarily producing the same goods. Producers who have made what can be referred to as “Made in Africa” products have not reaped much profit as much as their foreign counterparts because the African market is saturated with foreign products. For instance, 75% of the world’s cocoa is sourced from Africa yet Africa imports most of its chocolates. The oil-producing states in Africa contribute significantly to global crude but almost all petroleum products in Africa are imported. Source: World Bank The Economic Development in Africa Report 2019 suggests that the total trade record from Africa to the rest of the world was about US$760 billion between 2015 and 2017 and contributed between 80-90%...

With the current fast-changing developments, policy makers need to know what is happening to the economy in real time, but they often must settle for data telling them what happened many weeks ago. And international trade, which links countries through a complex web of supply chains, is an area where timely information is especially valuable from a global perspective. Most trade takes place by sea, and – for navigational safety purposes – virtually all cargo ships report their position, speed, and other information many times a day. A new IMF methodology using these data can help better inform us how international trade is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on machine-learning techniques, we can provide better answers to simple questions such as: How big is the drop in trade activity? Should it be attributed mostly to exports or to imports? A new approach Using over one billion messages from ships over a period of five years, the newly-developed methodology closely replicates official trade statistics for many countries and for the world in aggregate. It is available at a daily frequency in real time, while official statistics are typically delayed by many weeks. At the global level, our indicators built from ships’ radio signals closely approximate monthly official trade statistics (with a correlation of nearly 0.9 in levels, and around 0.4 in quarter-on-quarter growth rates). The top panel of our Chart of the Week shows a dramatic fall in Chinese exports in the wake of initial lockdown measures to contain the spread of the...

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania yesterday reopened its airspace to both scheduled and non-scheduled international flights following its closure last month in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The decision came a day after President John Magufuli directed Works, Transport and Communication minister Isack Kamwelwe and his Tourism counterpart Hamisi Kigwangalla to allow aircraft to come into the country from outside. “As long as their body tem-peratures don’t point to anything unusual, I will allow them to proceed and view Tanzania’s wildlife without being quarantined,” said Dr Magufuli. In a swift response, Mr Kamwelwe said commercial passenger flights, diplomatic flights, aircraft in emergency and operations related to humanitarian aid, medical and relief would be allowed into Tanzania without any restrictions. “I direct the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority to inform Icao (International Civil Aviation Organisation) about the decision, and ensure that the directive is fully implemented,” he said. Mr Kamwelwe also directed the Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA) and Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company (Kadco) to ensure they were well prepared to handle flights into Tanzania. “I want you to cooperate with the Health ministry in handling all flights, including those carrying tourists,” he said. The minister also directed Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) to prepare to resume flights to countries that have opened their skies or those seeking the national carrier’s services. “The ministry is aware that the reopening of our skies will bring back business opportunities, especially in the tourism and hospitality industries,” noted Mr Kamwelwe. He urged wildlife conservation institutions, tourist...

The UN Economic Commission for Africa is helping to bring unique African products and their promoters to the platform in a practical COVID-19 response move Imagine using one second to sell three thousand (3000) bags of a coffee produce which lay fallow hitherto in storehouses in Rwanda for months due to freighting stand-stills caused by the COVID-19 global lockdown! This is what happened on 14 May 2020 during a livestream by coordinated by the Alibaba Business Group to position small-scale world brands on the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), a the six-year-old initiative which facilitates business-to-consumer (B2C) sales. The UN Economic Commission for Africa is helping to bring unique African products and their promoters to the platform in a practical COVID-19 response move. The sale was made by the Rwandan brand known as Gorilla's Coffee whose CEO, Mr. David Ngarabe, rejoiced at the feat following months of slack business as the COVID-19 lockdowns ruptured the supply chains especially to cafés and hotels. The cash-in is explained in terms of the wide reach to customers especially in China via the eWTP whose huge demand, in terms of economies of scale, would now lower overall freighting costs for the supplies. Ms. Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General of United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), who addressed participants of the livestream from Addis Ababa, said the Commission was taking action to getting many more small brands from Africa with distinct products to access the platform and make sales during and after the current health crisis....

More laboratories are to be set up at Kenya-Tanzania border posts to ramp up testing for the coronavirus and facilitate faster movement of cargo into and out of the country amid complaints by truck drivers and businesses about losses related to delayed results. Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said Monday that testing centres will be opened in Migori town or Isebania, Taita Taveta and Lunga Lunga in addition to the Namanga mobile laboratory that is to be installed soon. The Ministry of Health confirmed 25 new cases of the virus, bringing the national total to 912. At the moment, samples collected at the border points are sent to the 16 laboratories spread across the country, with most of them in Nairobi and Mombasa. Truck drivers have complained about being forced to wait for over three days for the tests results causing snarl-ups at the border points and goods to go bad. “The problem we currently have is along the Tanzanian border at Isebania, Namanga, and Taita Taveta where we do not yet have functional laboratories that can do the test and turn around the results very quickly," said Dr Aman. “Waiting for four days to get results is not an acceptable turnaround time, I think we will have to do much better in turning around the results as fast as possible.” He noted that the country has enough capacity to test truckers at the border posts with Uganda, with laboratories in Busia and Kisumu. On Monday's test results indicated...

Rwanda and Tanzania are set to reach an agreement on the way forward on the issue of cross-border trucks whose movement has been hampered by measures to curb the spread of New Coronavirus.  On Tuesday President Paul Kagame, the sitting Chairman of the East African Community (EAC), chaired a virtual Consultative Meeting with Heads of State of Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan on the regional response to COVID-19 during which the countries agreed to handle cross-border transmission together.  Though the meeting was not attended by Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli, Rwanda and Tanzania have been working to address the border stalemate that resulted from new measures imposed by Rwanda to minimise cross-border infections which are attributed to truck drivers and their assistants.  The measures would see driver’s handover the trucks to their Rwandan counterparts at border points who would then ferry the goods to their final destination. The move was met by resistance as some drivers remained adamant to handover their vehicles.  Videos of Tanzanian drivers protesting in Benaco, blocking Rwandan drivers from proceeding to Dar es Salaam until Rwanda allows them to enter circulated on social media but Rwanda maintained the measure which has since seen the decline in cross-border transmission of COVID-19. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Dr. Vincent Biruta told KT Press on Thursday that Tanzania and Rwanda would arrive on an agreement on Friday. He however said the issue on Kagitumba One Stop Border Post has been resolved and trucks from Kenya have begun...



Global trade is predicted to fall by a record 27% in the second quarter of 2020, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), an organisation that tracks trade flows. This comes after the coronavirus pandemic distorted the supply and demand for products across the world leading to a severe decline in world trade. There has also been a slump in the export of cars, machine parts, and oil, among other global exports. Almost every category of goods is expected to suffer a fall in trade over the coming months, adding to a 3% decline in the first quarter of the year. According to UNCTAD, the report revealed a huge shock to the global economy from the Covid-19 pandemic. China was the first country to report a decline in trade ahead of a lockdown put in place by the authorities in Beijing in February. The country’s economy shrunk by 6.8% percent in the first quarter of this year. However, China also reported that her trade and Africa plummeted by around 14 per cent estimated at $41 billion in the first three months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, according to official figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs. The rest of the developed world followed in March when similar lockdowns were announced. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that a previous forecast for an unprecedented decline in global GDP growth of 3% this year, the worst since the 1930s depression era, was looking optimistic. The...

The acting Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, Dorothy Tembo says the coronavirus pandemic could represent a risk for the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, but African leaders could also turn that into an opportunity for stronger collaboration if specific policies are fast-tracked. She joins CNBC Africa’s Kenneth Igbomor for more insight on this discussion.   Source: CNBC Africa

Egypt's new Ambassador to the Tanzania and the EAC, Mohammed Yasser Ala'Eldeen El Shawaf, said his country was eager to boost trade and technical cooperation EAC Secretary General Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera with the Egyptian Ambassador to Tanzania and the EAC Mohammed Shawaf after the envoy presented his credentials to the Secretary General. Egypt has committed to improve ties with the East African Community. Presenting his credentials to the EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera, at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha on Tuesday, Egypt's new Ambassador to the Tanzania and the EAC, Mohammed Yasser Ala'Eldeen El Shawaf, said his country was eager to boost trade and technical cooperation with the EAC Partner States. Welcoming the Egyptian ambassador, Dr. Sezibera described Egypt as an important trading partner for the EAC and praised its outstanding role in promoting negotiations for the Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) between the EAC, COMESA and SADC. Dr Sezibera noted that the Tripartite FTA when fully implemented would move the African Continent from the margins of Global Trade, adding that it was a good basis for the Continental Free Trade Area envisioned by the African Union. The Secretary General thanked Egypt for making a tariff offer to the EAC and went on to request Egypt to encourage the other member states to negotiate as a bloc instead of doing so as separate entities saying this would hasten the operationalization of the Tripartite FTA. Source: New Vision