BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (IDN) — The long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—set to be the world’s biggest free trade zone by size—which entered into force on January 1, 2021, promises a new era for African trade. An Africa-wide free-trade pact could bolster the region’s income by $450 billion and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, if accompanied by significant policy reforms and trade-facilitation measures, according to the World Bank. When fully operational, the Free Trade area will create a market of 1.2 billion and drive a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion. Dr Wim Naudé, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics with the Cork University Business School in Ireland, explains: Trade is one of the great engines of economic growth and prosperity as it allows countries to specialize in production and diversify in consumption. Specialization in production allows for learning, innovation and higher productivity. Exchanging this for goods from elsewhere leads to higher consumption and welfare than what a country would be able to achieve in economic independence. “The free trade area will strengthen all of these effects as there will be fewer barriers to access markets, larger markets, more choice for consumers, more competition to pressurize firms to be more productive,” Naudé tells IDN in an interview. Here important excerpts: Question: Given the differences in economies across Africa, not to mention different trade policies, and in many cases barriers that exist in Africa, how do you see this free trade area harmonizing trade in...

NAIROBI, March 31 – Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to post economic growth of 2.3%-3.4% this year, the World Bank said in a new report on Wednesday, bouncing back from a pandemic-induced 2.0% contraction last year. Like other economies around the world, the region was forced to adopt strict lockdown measures in the first quarter of last year to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus, hitting key economic activities like tourism and trade. “For most countries in the region, activity will remain well below the pre-COVID-19 projections at the end of 2021, increasing the risk of long-lasting damage from the pandemic on people’s living standards,” the bank said. The recovery, which will also be aided by ongoing efforts to vaccinate people against the disease, is expected to vary among individual nations, the World Bank said. Diversified economies like Kenya and Ivory Coast, as well as mining-dependent ones like Botswana and Guinea, will grow robustly as rising confidence attracts investments, it said. Significant risks, however, still remain, the bank warned. “The resurgence of the pandemic in late 2020 and limited additional fiscal support will pose an uphill battle for policy makers,” the bank said. During the second and third waves of the pandemic, some nations have seen their daily COVID-19 infections surge by 40% compared with the first wave of the pandemic, the World Bank said, weighing on recovery prospects. Last week, Kenya imposed new, partial restrictions on the capital Nairobi and four adjacent counties to curb the spread of...

THE Council of Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has urged member states that have not yet signed and ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa-East African Community-Sadc (Comesa-EAC-Sadc) Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) to do so to allow for the implementation of the agreements. The call follows a recent virtual SADC Council meeting, which was chaired by Mozambican Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister, Verónica Nataniel Macamo Dlhovo, in her capacity as the chairperson of the council. While noting progress on the signature of the Comesa-EAC-Sadc TFTA, the regional leaders stressed that its signing and ratification was critical as it will pave the way for the successful implementation of the AfCFTA. AfCFTA entered into force on 1 January this year with the aim of eliminating over 90 percent of tariffs on goods and also to progressively liberalise trade in services in order to promote production of all goods. However, the volume of trade covered by the agreement’s rules of origin reported so far is lower than expected. Regional ministers have since called for urgent action by member states towards finalisation of negotiations on rules of origin on some sensitive tariff lines and agreement on some customs documentations, and accession to AfCFTA by Sadc member states, including those participating in the customs unions. Services sectors that have been prioritised under phase one of negotiations are communication services, tourism services, professional services, computer services, financial services and transport services. The...

On 1 January 2021, trade began within the African Continental Free Trade Area (‘AfCFTA’). After years of preparation, and being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AfCFTA becomes the largest free trade area in the world based on the number of participating countries since the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) was formed and connects some 1.3 billion people across the African continent. Among many other key developments under the AfCFTA, member states have agreed to remove 90 per cent of tariff lines on non–sensitive products within five years for developing countries and within ten years for least developed countries. The AfCFTA seeks to provide member states a comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement that aims to boost intra-African trade. As noted by the World Bank, “[a]s the global economy is in turmoil due to the COVID-19 pandemic, creation of the vast AfCFTA regional market serves as a major opportunity to help African countries diversify their exports, accelerate growth, and attract foreign direct investment.” However, the AfCFTA is also expected to stimulate trade and investment with parties outside the continent as well. Mr Wamkele Mene, the AfCFTA secretary-general, has described the AfCFTA as sending “a strong signal to the international investor community that Africa is open for business, based on a single rule-book for trade and investment.” Foreign investors thus will be able to do business on a single set of trade and investment rules across Africa, and the AfCFTA will help create larger, more integrated markets on the continent, which should...

Mudassir Amray, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Titan Trust Bank Limited, has said that the lender’s groundbreaking successes in just 17 months of its commercial operations despite the COVID-19 pandemic, was tied to its unmatched digital technology which has delivered superior customer-centric experience. In a chat with selected journalists in Lagos at the weekend, Mudassir Amray said as a financial service provider that is passionate about the future, Titan Trust Bank positioned itself for delivering seamless banking services to its teeming customers during the pandemic by continued investment in its alternative banking channels which include: the Titan Mobile Application, Titan Internet Banking platform and the Titan *922# Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) solution. According to him: “At the inception of the bank’s operations in October 2019, we drew up a holistic and integrated approach to business modernization which has formed the foundation for the bank’s superior customer-centric experience. The impact of this strategic decision led to a positive impact in our performance and it has also given us recognition on the global stage where we recently emerged the ‘Best Trade Finance Provider in Nigeria for the year 2021’, an award previously given by New York-based Global Finance Magazine to only the first-tier banks in Nigeria. “In a demonstration of our commitment to deliver superior, convenient and innovative banking solutions to our customers, we have invested substantially in technology and developed fully integrated service models that enable our customers to enjoy banking services through a wide range of...

Mon Mar 29 2021Africa is set to recover from its worst recession in half a century. Real GDP is projected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2021 after contracting by an estimated 2.1 per cent in 2020, mainly due to COVID-19 related disruptions, according to the African Development Bank’s recently released African Economic Outlook (AEO). The pandemic also caused deep scars in the financing and debt landscape of the continent that may linger on if not quickly addressed.FG warns against encroaching on national monumentsAt the launch of the AEO, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz rightly explained how the COVID-19 pandemic caused both demand- and supply-side shocks in the continent. “It affected the demand for exports of African countries…but it also affected the willingness of people to work in some of the more exposed sectors and its effects were very disparate across different sectors.” Following Stiglitz’s train of thought, Africa’s projected recovery will be subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty and risks, as is also pointed out in the analyses of the AEO.The most obvious risk to the recovery is the disease itself. The emergence of more contagious strains of the COVID-19 virus could derail the recovery process. Furthermore, if progress in deploying safe and effective treatment is slower than expected, governments would have to reinstate restrictions. headtopics.com On the upside, if COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines become accessible in the continent earlier than anticipated, the growth projection for 2021 could be exceeded, leading to a more robust recovery.Another risk...

Summary Canada invested $100 million to support indigenous women and children experiencing violence and financed women’s shelters, sexual assault centres and other organisations providing SGBV services. Women put people first and that seems to be the approach that delivered better Covid-19 outcomes in female-led countries. In Canada, half of the ambassadors are women, that’s change. Kenya and Canada share an identity when it comes to gender equality. They are among the few countries that adopted gender responsive measures in the fight against Covid-19. On one hand, Kenya invested in investigating the cause of rise in teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and established a multi-agency team to tackle the problem. Canada on its part, invested $100 million to support indigenous women and children experiencing violence and financed women’s shelters, sexual assault centres and other organisations providing SGBV services. As the world shifts focus to redeeming the lost gains and building stronger economies of economically, politically, culturally and socially stable women and girls, we speak with Canadian High Commission to Kenya, Ms Lisa Stadelbauer to pick her mind on the way forward. Studies have shown women-led countries outperformed men’s in Covid-19 response, what does this mean? That is interesting and it is a moment in time we need to sit down and think why it is the case. One theory that has been put forward is that men are risk enthusiasts. And so countries that took a more cautious approach tend to have come out of the pandemic a...

A trade support organisation has called for the revision of the Simplified Trading Regime to enable cross-border women traders participate more. In a report released last week, Ms Sheila Kawamara Mishambi, the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) executive director, said the impact of Covid-19 on cross-border women traders across East Africa had mostly been immense forcing closure of at least 64.2 per cent of women-owned businesses. The Simplified Trading Regime supports small-scale traders to benefit from simplified customs document and simplified certificate of origin, under which goods that originate from member countries and whose value does not exceed $2,000 (Shs7.3m) per consignment, qualify for duty-free entry in the respective markets. Ms Kawamara said stakeholders and government must find ways through which they encourage cross-border women traders to form cooperatives that will enable them conduct structured trade. This, she said, will enhance resilience, growth and sustainability of cross-border women traders. Through cooperatives, Ms Kawamara noted, women will benefit from economies of scale by buying cheaply, paying less on logistics, accessing better markets as well as getting support to adopt electronic commerce. She also noted that cross-border women traders are unable to individually adopt e-commerce but can ably do so if they work in groups, adding that e-commerce is going to be the new normal. The report, which was produced by EASSI in collaboration with TradeMark Africa, found that Covid-19 and the resultant closure of borders, had dented cross-border women businesses with trade falling by at...

Kenya and Canada share an identity when it comes to gender equality. They are among the few countries that adopted gender responsive measures in the fight against Covid-19. On one hand, Kenya invested in investigating the cause of rise in teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and established a multi-agency team to tackle the problem. Canada on its part, invested $100 million to support indigenous women and children experiencing violence and financed women's shelters, sexual assault centres and other organisations providing SGBV services. As the world shifts focus to redeeming the lost gains and building stronger economies of economically, politically, culturally and socially stable women and girls, we speak with Canadian High Commission to Kenya, Ms Lisa Stadelbauer to pick her mind on the way forward. Studies have shown women-led countries outperformed men's in Covid-19 response, what does this mean? That is interesting and it is a moment in time we need to sit down and think why it is the case. One theory that has been put forward is that men are risk enthusiasts. And so countries that took a more cautious approach tend to have come out of the pandemic a little better. Women also tend to lead from a place of empathy and compassion. They put people first and that seems to be the approach that delivered better outcomes. The other thing about women is "what does it mean for women and girls?" In my own country, we have 10 provinces and three territories, and each has...

One of the worst things that can happen to a cryptocurrency is a wallet hack. That, and a few more mishaps, is what happened to IOTA since 2017. As a result, IOTA lost momentum and market cap: from 4th overall, with a market cap of $13,2 billion in 2017, to 25th, with a market cap of $4 billion today. background pattern: IOTA is reinventing itself, with what it calls "A new dawn" for the project © ZDNet IOTA is reinventing itself, with what it calls "A new dawn" for the project Today IOTA is rolling out the beta version of its new wallet. But that really is just the tip of the iceberg in a massive new technology rollout that will get things right this time, IOTA Foundation Co-founder and CEO Dominik Schiener told ZDNet. Blockchain for nothing and transactions for free? Lots of water has flowed under the bridge since 2017. Crypto was just entering the mainstream then, and ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) were all the rage. Fast-forwarding to today, and the world at large is still trying to figure out crypto, most ICOs have gone awry, and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are all the rage. The real question, however, is how much the technology and the people behind and into it have matured. For the IOTA Foundation, a lot of things have changed, including the core team. As Schiener put it: "The IOTA project in 2021 is a completely new project compared to 2017 because as you can probably...