Regional revenue bodies have been urged to embrace technology to solve some of the challenges facing the implementation of the single customs territory initiatives. Raphael Tugirumuremyi, the commissioner of customs at Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), said technology is essential in solving problems in revenue collection on the continent and facilitating trade. Tugirumuremyi was speaking at the Eastern Africa Regional Technical Assistance  (Afritac East) regional workshop on the implementation of single customs initiative in Kigali last week. The workshop brought together different revenue authority officers from eight countries - Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Burundi, and hosts Rwanda. Tugirumuremyi was hopeful that the training would enable regional customs officers to use the knowledge acquired to adopt ICTs in their operations, saying these are important to improve customs operations and help drive regional development agenda. Patrick Chisasa from the Malawi Revenue Authority said the knowledge acquired would help them devise mechanisms to reduce the previous multiple transactions by businesses in customs clearance. “Different customs procedures are being implemented under multiple transactions which is costly, but we expect that costs will be reduced as long as we are looking forward to join the regional single customs,” Chisasa said during the workshop. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) AFRITAC East Centre sponsored the workshop. The single customs territory initiative was launched by East African Community countries in September 2013. The bloc’s neighbours, including Zambia, Ethiopia and Malawi, are looking to learn its operation as they seek to join the initiative. Source:  New Times

Enligt FN:s världshandelsorganisation WTO finns det en stark koppling mellan ökad internationell handel, fler kvinnor i exportverksamheter och högre löner. Analyser av länderna i Östafrika pekar på att varje lands ekonomiska utveckling är direkt kopplat till kvinnornas företagande och till ökad handel med omvärlden.   Med stöd av den holländska regeringen och Kenyas utrikesminister Amina Mohammed, lanserade organisationen TMA nyligen "Women and Trade Programme" på 4,5 miljoner dollar fram till december 2016. Organisationen TMA eller Trade Mark East Africa arbetar för ett ökat välstånd i Östafrika genom ökad handel. Programmet riktar sig inledningsvis till 25 000 kvinnor och målet är att öka inkomsterna och förbättra försörjningen för kvinnor verksamma i handel samt i kvinnoägda företag. Arbetet fokuseras på att undanröja alla de formella och praktiska hinder som finns i samband med företagande och exportverksamhet vilket i sin tur kommer att ge Östafrikas kvinnor en tyngd och en mycket starkare röst i samhället.  I många afrikanska länder är kvinnor ofta småbönder som producerar till exempel majs, kassava, bomull och ris. Dessa kvinnor har en enorm potential för att bidra till ökad handel mellan de afrikanska länderna och med den globala marknaden. Under 2010 utgjorde kvinnor i utvecklingsländer 43 procent av arbetskraften inom jordbruket. Undersökningar visar att informell gränsöverskridande handel, som till stor del utförs av kvinnor, utgör en betydande del av den regionala gränsöverskridande handeln söder om Sahara. I Uganda står den informella exporten till de fem grannländerna för 231 700 000 dollar under 2006, vilket motsvarar 86 procent av Ugandas...

Recently, you reported that the latest World Bank Africa Pulse report placed Rwanda and Tanzania as rapidly growing economies at above 7%. This maybe source, but it still cannot explain why jobs are so hard to find, even for graduates. If growth is measured on jobs created then probably we may not be doing so well and something is wrong. Source: East African Business Week

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - The Sub-Saharan Africa economies continue to implement reforms to improve the business climate for domestic entrepreneurs, with members of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) particularly active during the past year, says the World Bank Group’s annual ease of doing business measurement.  The ‘Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency’ report, released last week, records a total of 69 reforms in 35 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, 14 of OHADA’s 17 member countries implemented 29 reforms. The report said reforms implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for about 30% of the 231 reforms implemented worldwide during the past year.  The report which was released by the World Bank last week said the region also boasted half of the world’s top 10 improvers, i.e. countries that implemented at least three reforms and moved up on the global rankings scale, with Uganda, Kenya, Mauritania, Benin and Senegal. “The region stood out in implementing reforms under the Getting Credit indicator. Of the 32 reforms made globally, 14 were carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Kenya and Uganda making significant progress,” it stated. “Despite great improvements, governments in Sub-Saharan Africa will need to continue working on closing the gap in many key areas that impact the ease of doing business, especially increasing access to reliable electricity and providing effective commercial dispute resolution – two areas where the region scores the lowest globally,” said Rita Ramalho, Manager of the Doing Business project. On Getting Electricity,...

Kenya, as well as the other East African Community (EAC) countries, is fast emerging as an investment destination for multinational companies, following the establishment of a common market in 2010. The common market is attractive to investors because it currently has more than 153 million consumers. The European Union has been negotiating a bilateral agreement with the EAC — the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that could greatly impact the EAC market structure. Local firms stand to lose to foreign companies with greater capacity under the agreement in sectors such as agriculture, retail, horticulture, fisheries, textile and clothing, dairy, and meat if adequate safeguards are not established under the agreement. This brings to light the need to enhance a competitive economy within the EAC though the implementation of a regional competition law regime to protect consumers and small enterprises from unfair business practices. A competitive market would mean more choice, better quality and lower priced products for consumers, and easier market access for new firms. Moreover, it would mean that measures would be put in place to curb abuse of dominance, market sharing, and concentrated mergers and acquisitions by firms with substantial market share. The most effective way to achieve this would be for the EAC member states to enforce regional competition legislation and encourage the enactment of national competition laws and establishment of independent competition agencies. The EAC Competition Act, 2006 has already been ratified by member states, and national competition legislation enacted in all member countries except Burundi and...

Kampala. Organisations should invest more in mentoring women for top leadership position, says a senior United Nations official in Uganda.
Speaking at the fourth annual women leadership conference last week in Kampala, the United Nations Development Programme resident representative in Uganda, Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa-Onochie, said women are good at reforming and transforming organisations. She said investing in women is not just good for corporate businesses, but also good for growing economies around the world. 
“Invest in gender equity at work place. Institutions/companies that embrace gender diversity on their boards and in management often experience improved performance and profitability as a result,” she said. Source: Daily Monitor

On behalf of the British Government, I congratulate the Kenyan Government on the progress it has made this year to qualify as one of the global top ten reformers on the ease of doing business. The progress that Kenya is making against the Ease of Doing Business indicators may seem very remote from the lives of ordinary Kenyan businesses and households, but is actually very significant for three reasons. Firstly, it can result in increased domestic investment and jobs. Lets take the progressKenya has made in cutting all the red tape around starting a business, which is one of the reforms that the World Bank has recognised. In Mombasa this has brought the time down to get a Business License from 7 days to less than 1 hour, using an online platform. Evidence suggests that this can have a number of benefits: It increases the number of firms entering a market, which increases competition and productivity; it can also incentivize businesses to formalize, since the high costs of doing so are a major reason why Kenya has so many informal firms. This can then give them better access to finance and the opportunity to grow and create more jobs; and as more firms register for businesses, county governments also benefit from increased revenue. The Business permit is already the third most important source for revenue for Mombasa County. So one survey of the global evidence found that a reduction in the time to start a business by a similar amount...

The WTO released online on 29 October 2015 new editions of its key statistical publications: International Trade Statistics, Trade Profiles, World Tariff Profiles and Services Profiles. The four publications provide detailed breakdowns of the latest data on world trade. To mark the 20th anniversary of the WTO, International Trade Statistics 2015looks back at world trade from 1995 to the end of 2014. The publication features a variety of charts to highlight the most noteworthy trends in world trade over the past 20 years. Numerous tables provide more detailed data while a chapter on methodology explains how the data are compiled. The publication is available first in electronic format, with a print version to follow in mid-November. Data can be downloaded from the WTO web site in Excel and PDF formats and from a searchable database as well as from the WTO's International Trade and Market Access Data online application. French and Spanish versions of the publication will be available online shortly. We invite you to provide your feedback on the publication by filling in the ITS 2015 Survey. World Tariff Profiles 2015 provides a unique collection of data on tariffs imposed by WTO members and other economies. It is jointly published by the WTO, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The first part of the publication provides summary tables showing the average tariffs imposed by individual economies. The second part provides a more detailed table for each economy, listing the tariffs it...

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Spintelligent, a major business consultancy in sub-Saharan Africa, is helping to organise the next AgriBusiness Congress East Africa set for next January in Dar es Salaam. The consultancy has said agriculture is the newest addition to Spintelligent’s portfolio of conferences and exhibitions. Shanaaz Adams, Agribusiness Congress East Africa event director said last week, “The enthusiasm with which the agricultural industry and regional authorities have embraced Agribusiness Congress East Africa right from the launch of this event, shows that we are addressing a real need in the sector for a meeting place for private and public sector stakeholders throughout the East African region, key decision makers, industry suppliers and farmers of all scales, to discuss critical issues facing the sector, learn from case studies and network.” In a statement in run-up to the two-day event at Dar’s Mlimani Conference Centre Spintelligent saud: ‘The agriculture sector is regarded as one of the most critical industries for the African continent due to its economic potential, projected as a $1 trillion industry in Sub-Saharan Africa alone by 2030.  Adams said: “Growth corridors have been identified across several regions in many East African countries. With advantageous policies, ample arable land, a stable economy and government, and a renewed focus on agriculture, Tanzania is a model East African country.” ‘Spintelligent’s agriculture events connect agricultural professionals – from small farmers to commercial farming enterprises – to industry experts, leading global equipment and machinery suppliers, seed and agrochemical producers, irrigation and water management...

ARUSHA, TANZANIA - The East African Community (EAC), is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the United States to eliminate the fear of unilateral withdrawal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the Federal government. Trade  between the EAC and the US reached $2.8 billion in 2014. The US exported $2 billion worth of goods ,but only imported $743 million in items. EAC believes the limitation of AGOA is that it is unilateral and can be withdrawn anytime. This year the US extended the AGOA up to September 30, 2025, but the EAC thinks that this span of 10 years is insufficient for increasing trade volume by leaps and bounds. Hence, the EAC recently submitted its plea to Michael Froman, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modus operandi and the time to begin negotiations on the pact. According to sources, the Community is looking for a trade partnership similar to the one it shares with EU. This provides protection against undue competition. The EAC also believes it has not been able to utilise the US quota-free market under AGOA since the agreement does not match the World Trade Organization’s structure for free trade agreements due to its 10-years duration of operations. Source: East African Business Week