Arusha. The secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be operationalised in March, next year. The agreement came into force on May 30, this year, after it was ratified by the required 22 African Union (AU) countries. This was revealed here on Monday at the start of a symposium on the trade agreement which attracted scholars and experts from across the continent. The secretariat of the intra-African trade body will be established in Accra, Ghana as appointment of the secretary general is underway. “Structure and budget of the secretariat has been approved”, said Dr. David Luke, the coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre based in Addis Ababa. He said it has been proposed that AfCFTA establish office in each state party; countries which have signed and ratified the agreement. Source: The Citizen

Despite a steady increase in coffee consumption around the world, trade prices have fallen dramatically in the past three years, hitting producers. At the same time, the cost of an espresso or latte remains as full-fat as ever. What's going on? Futures on arabica and robusta, the most widespread varieties of coffee, have fallen 40 percent since the beginning of 2017 and are now at historically low levels. This is largely because of bumper harvests in Brazil, the world's main coffee producer. But at the same time, consumption has grown by an average of 2.1 percent a year for the past decade, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO). Two billion cups of coffee are drunk every day, according to Fairtrade International, which works to improve the lot of farmers through better pricing and conditions. The crisis in prices is beginning to create "real structural problems" for producers, said Valeria Rodriguez, a manager at fairtrade organisation Max Havelaar France. "The consequences are terrible - they can no longer support themselves, invest in production or prepare for the challenges of climate change," she said. Supplier woes In Central and South America, many smaller producers in Africa and Latin America are giving up in particular those who grow arabica, which is more difficult to produce than the robusta variety favoured in Asia, according to Jack Scoville, a futures markets analyst with Price Group. A similar trend is observable in Africa for reasons ranging from high production costs in Kenya to insecurity in...

AS the East Africa Community (EAC) marks 20 year since its revival, the private sector has organised a high level business summit, which aims at elevating intra-regional import to 70 percent from the current 13.9 percent. The Chairman of the National focal point- The Tanzania private sector foundation (TPSF) Mr Godfrey Simbeye said on Wednesday that the Summit will be jointly organised by the East African Business council (EABC). “The meeting is scheduled to take place in Arusha from November 28 to 29 this year. We expect 200 business persons from Rwanda and over 500 from Tanzania, other countries are yet to confirm the number of participants,” he noted. He added: “Despite increased investment promotion at national and regional levels in the year 2017, intra regional import stood at 2.8 billion US dollars which is 13.9 percent only. In the year 2018, Foreign Direct Investment fell by 5.1 percent to 6.7 bn US dollars from 7.1 bn US dollar in the year 2017” . Mr Simbeye revealed that for the past twenty years, Intraregional trade was mainly dominated by Agricultural commodities, Pharmaceuticals, soaps and plastics and that the intraregional exports grew to 3.2bn US dollars, which is equivalent to 5.6 percent in the year 2018. He said the summit will discuss best ways of resolving challenges that face business operations in the bloc. “We want to harmonise not only tax issues but also ways of having competitive industries within EAC. Our aim is to make sure countries do not produce...

Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Eng Isack Kamwele told the National Assembly in Dodoma yesterday that talks are ongoing with various stakeholders to initiate cargo flights for the produce. He said: “We have been in talks for almost three months, we are about to initiate direct flight cargo for horticultural produce and fish. This will ensure Tanzanian products to easily reach markets”. The minister informed the lawmakers that already similar services had been done for horticultural produce in northern zone regions through Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). He explained that to begin, the government will hire a special aircraft purposely for export of fresh agricultural products in southern highland regions and fresh fish from Mwanza. He however noted that the government will in future make decisions to purchase specific cargo plane to transport the farm produce. Eng Kamwele made the explanation in response to a supplementary question from Rombo MP, Joseph Selasini who tasked the government to purchase a special cargo plane that will export the country’s farm produce including avocados. Selasini also claimed that avocado farmers in Kilimanjaro region are struggling to access internal and external markets. He added that most avocado farmers are selling their products to Kenyan traders at the lowest prices. “We could boost the income of farmers engaging in the horticultural sector by ensuring their produce are sold directly to markets abroad”, said the MP. In his basic question, Rungwe MP, Saul Amon (CCM) was concerned with lack of coordinated markets for horticultural products especially...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will use its newly ramped-up capital base to help boost private sector investment on the continent and invest in infrastructure projects that support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). These are some of the plans the bank has for the additional $115bn (R1.7-trillion) recently approved by its shareholders, according to the bank’s vice-president for finance and CFO, Bajabulile “Swazi” Tshabalala. At the end of October, the bank’s shareholders agreed to more than double its capital base, the largest increase in the bank’s history, taking the total to $208bn. “We are looking to do more private sector activities and investments in support of the African continental free trade agreement because you need companies to actually trade with each other,” she said. The bank will also ramp up efforts to support African entrepreneurs, particularly women and young people. Tshabalala was speaking on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum, which closed in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The forum is designed as a deal-making platform and marketed 56 transactions from across the continent to international and regional investors. Investment interest was secured for deals worth $40.1bn, up from the previous year’s $38.7bn. The capital boost will provide the bank with “additional risk capacity” to support and crowd in investment by the private sector, particularly in low-income and fragile countries that have been neglected in the past, she said. This will include the use of instruments that help mitigate risks for private investors, including the bank’s co-guarantee platform. The...

THE East African Community (EAC) and East Africa Development Bank (EADB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to strengthen partnership in financing of infrastructure development projects. The DBSA Group Executive for Origination & Client Coverage, Mohan Vivekanandan signed the agreement with the EAC Director General (Customs and Trade), Kenneth Bagamuhunda and the EADB Head of Finance, Benard Mono at a brief event held on the second day of the Africa Investment Forum at Sandton Convention Centre. Speaking at the signing event, Mr Vivekanandan said the agreement sought to support strong economic growth in the region by supporting key infrastructure development projects and capacity development. “We know that East Africa has significant growth. It is the fastest growing region. What we do is to support this growth momentum by supporting key infrastructure development projects and build capacity of EAC and EADB,” said Mr Vivekanandan. The MoU with EADB would lead to a new line of credit of about 100 million US dollars with a long tenure of payment, he said. “There are a number of projects identified already. The agreement will enable us do due diligence to individual projects,’ he said. The agreement would enable the bank at a later stage use financial leverage for pooling resources for financing key infrastructure projects, he said. The EAC Director General for Customs and Trade, Mr Bagamuhunda said the signing ceremony was a milestone in strengthening relations between the East African Community and the Development Bank of...

Damali Ssali. There are several factors that influence the value and volume of trade. However, tariffs on tradeable goods and services are one of the most significant factors. International trade grew dramatically in the second half of the 20th century. As an example, total global trade in 2000 was 22 times greater than it had been 1950. This increase in multilateral international trade occurred when trade barriers, especially tariffs, were significantly reduced or in some cases eliminated across large trade blocks in Asia, America and Europe. Tariffs are taxes levied on imports and exports between states with the aim of generating government revenues and protecting domestic industries. Sometimes, depending on the tax policy of the country, a tariff could be set as high as 60%. This is usually to protect a young industry that is considered as very important to that state. Other times tariffs are imposed by states, against products and services of another state, to settle scores. The current trade war currently going on between the United States and China is one such tariff war waged between states. In 2017, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reported that tariffs, on tradeable goods and services, between the developed states averaged at 1.2%. This is low compared to the average tariffs, on tradeable goods and services, between African countries, which stand at 8%.  Moreover, tariffs remain relatively high in important sectors, including agriculture, apparel, textiles and leather products. Unfortunately, these high tariffs make it easier for African countries to...

That’s the main conclusion from a new report Africa’s Development Dynamics  Achieving Productive Transformation, published by the African Union (AU) and the OECD on November 5. As it stands, productive transformation is not taking off, especially in the employment-intensive sectors where it is most needed, the report finds. Far from catching up, Africa is falling further behind emerging markets in Asia. The Africa-to-Asia labour productivity ratio has decreased from 67% in 2000 to 50% today, the report finds. African exports of consumption goods to African markets decreased between 2009 and 2016, both in dollar terms and relative to the continent’s GDP. “Without a strong and co-ordinated policy push,” the report says, “African firms risk losing out to new global competitors.” About 42% of Africa’s working youth live on less than $1.90 a day and only 12% of Africa’s working-age women were in waged employment in 2016, according to the report. The number of people on that income level increased by 31 million between 1999 and 2015 to 407 million. In some countries, almost 91% of the non-agricultural labour force remain in informal employment. The annual total of 29 million new entrants to Africa’s labour markets risks becoming a cumulative addition to the jobless total. If jobs for them are not found in one year, they will need to be created the next year. Clusters key Many entrepreneurs lack basic capabilities, the report finds. Most youth entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire and Madagascar lack skills in areas such as bookkeeping, multi-year planning and human resources. The AU and...

A STANDARD gauge railway (SGR) project that will link Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo with the Dar es Salaam port is one among major projects that will feature in the Africa Investment Forum that begun in Johannesburg yesterday. The President of African Development Bank, the organiser of the forum, Dr Akinwumi Adesina said the SGR project currently being undertaken by the Tanzania’s government using local resources would be on the table in the forum that has brought together global multilateral development and finance institutions and investors to tackle the continent’s infrastructure investment challenges and advance Africa’s economic transformation agenda. The three-day Africa Investment Forum billed a game-changer to tilt capital flow into the continent has been organised by the African Development Bank and partners in Sandton Convention Centre to advance projects, raise capital and close financial deals. Around 2000 delegates were expected to attend the innovative investment marketplace which has brought together heads of state, project sponsors, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors in 60 boardroom sessions to move projects from commitment to action. And the organisers of the forum are adamant that it will not be a talk shop but a unique platform to close financial deals for major projects that will boost economic growth and development in the continent. Africa Investment Forum is not a talk show. We deliver,” said Dr Adesina at the opening ceremony. “We promised (during the inaugural forum last year) and we delivered. We’re changing the investment narrative of Africa.” “When we laid...

Intra-regional trade within the East African Community (EAC) bloc rose by 10.3 per cent last year, courtesy of harmonisation of cross-border rules and procedures. "Reforms taken under the Customs Union has also boosted intra-regional trade," Mr Christophe Bazivamo, EAC deputy secretary general responsible for productive and social sectors, said in Arusha yesterday. He said intra-EAC trade catapulted to $3.2 billion last year from $2.7 billion in 2016 and $2.9 billion in 2017. Mr Bazivamo disclosed this here at the just concluded second meeting of the EAC Development Partners' Group (DPG). The meeting held at the EAC headquarters deliberated on key aspects of the economic integration and infrastructure development. Officials at the EAC secretariat officials say there was "no one rule or procedure" introduced but insisted generally most of the trade procedures within the region have been simplified. They cite the operationalisation of the EAC Single Customs Territory (SCT), the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and One Stop Border Post (OSBP) and their respective rules and regulations as having a multiplier effect on the ease of doing business in the region. Also Read Tanzania Government rules out intervention as food prices soar Tanzania Government scraps 36 water authorities over cost Huawei's latest technology to bring high-speed internet in Tanzania Alongside with these is enhanced customs operations inter-connectivity in the region which has seen the introduction of Electronic Cargo Tracking System to monitor the movement of traded goods across the region. Mr Bazivamo told representatives of development partners that despite a host of...