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...

Katuna, a boomtown in Kabale District at the parallels of Uganda and Rwanda, is haunted by a spectre of violence. Since Rwanda closed the border, the kindred spirit that once prevailed among these communities was shattered. Today, suspicion remains rife on both sides of the border. Any slight straying into Rwanda, even within inches, has dire consequences for nationals from either side. As the conflict between Kigali and Kampala continues to fester, residents are now governed under the barrel of the gun. The canopies of knitted tree branches dotting the hills, a spitting distance across the border, give marksmen a cover to target those who attempt to cross on either side. In the place of hope lies fear. Commerce that once thrived at the border has been disrupted. The bond that prevailed among closely-knit families that live on either side has also been tested. Rwanda initially said it had closed the Gatuna border as a result of repairs it planned to implement on sections of its border road that connects Katuna to Kigali. But in a veiled message, the Kigali establishment accused Uganda of detaining its citizens incommunicado and lending support to subversive elements bent on sowing seeds of mayhem in Rwanda, allegations Uganda has rejected. Ugandans and other nationalities are allowed to cross from either side at will. Rwandans are only allowed to enter their country but not to get out. Only Rwandan truck drivers are allowed to exit if transiting to Kenya, but not Uganda. Specifically, Ugandan goods...

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 introduction of Entebbe-Mombasa direct flight by Uganda Airlines is set to boost trade and tourism between Kenya and Uganda as the route will cut the previous flight journey time by more than a half. The 110-minutes flight trip would play a vital role to thousands of Uganda traders who depend on the Port of Mombasa to do business considering more than 85 per cent of Uganda imported cargo pass through the port. The route will add value to travellers who used to spend more than three to four hours to fly from Entebbe connecting in Nairobi to Mombasa. Mombasa is an important city for Uganda and the East African region as the port is a logistical lifeline for the greater hinterland as a much-sought -after tourism spot and the new air link would be a perfect boost for business travellers, traders and holiday makers and it will be a great opportunity for coastal tourism to link up with Uganda, the pearl of Africa. The Ugandan Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft introduced on the direct flight to Mombasa from Entebbe landed in Mombasa on Monday, making it the second Kenyan city where the airline operates following an earlier launch of operations to Nairobi on August 27 this year. Uganda Airlines manager ground operations Harvey Kalama said the flights will ease doing business considering Ugandans play a big role in port business and in Mombasa tea trade auction. “We expect our clients to enjoy promotional flights in the next three months during holiday...

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...

Our Reporter. A preliminary report on the anticipated impact of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) indicates that Uganda will reap big from the One Africa Market arrangement because Africa currently stands as Uganda’s most important trade partner. This was revealed during the Uganda National Consultative Forum on AfCFTA, organized by TradeMark EA and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). “Africa as a regional market has already overtaken the European Union (EU) to become Uganda’s most important trading partner, with trade shares increasing from around 22 percent in 1995 to more than 30 percent by 2018. In terms of export values, Uganda now exports over 50 percent of its total exports to Africa, a figure far higher than the shares of other East African countries, highlighting the importance of the AfCFTA to Uganda,” the report reads in parts, adding; “Not only will the AfCFTA increase trade volumes with other African trading partners, but it will also enhance the prospects for export diversification by increasing the demand for manufactured goods.” Speaking at this workshop, Hon Amelia Kyambadde, the minister for Trade, Industries and Cooperatives highlighted that Uganda in in good shape to reap from the bigger markets that AfCFTA will open thanks to the country’s sustained investment in trade facilitation projects over the years, coupled with the positive strides undertaken by local manufacturers to improve product quality. “We have implemented several trade facilitation measures such as Electronic Single Window; Electronic Cargo Tracking; One Stop Border Posts; Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) identification...

Uganda’s sustainable investment in trade facilitation and the positive strides undertaken by local manufactures in improving the quality of local products has contributed to Uganda’s readiness to conquer bigger markets especially the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Amelia Kyambadde, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperative, has said. Kyambadde made the remarks while officiating at the National Consultative Forum organized by TradeMark EA and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala today. Kyambadde noted that Uganda in good shape to reap from the bigger markets that AfCFTA will open. “We have implemented several trade facilitation measures such as Electronic Single Window; Electronic Cargo Tracking; One Stop Border Posts; Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) identification and removal mechanism, Yellow Card Scheme and the Border Export Zones, among others…” Kyambadde said. She added that the Vision of the National Trade Policy is to transform Uganda into a dynamic and competitive economy in which the trade sector stimulates the productive sectors and to trade the Country out of poverty, into wealth and prosperity. “Our strategy on market access for Ugandan goods and services includes capacity building for the private sector to take advantage of these market opportunities plus provision of the necessary trade infrastructure such as affordable electricity and improved road network to ease logistics,” she noted. According to a preliminary report on the anticipated results of AfCFTA, “The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will increase Uganda’s intra-African trade by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers on trade...

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 team of experts is traversing the Northern Corridor trade route, surveying the road network as they look to promote trade within the Great Lakes region. According to the traffic Boss Stephen Kasiima, while poor road construction is a factor for the many road accidents along on Uganda’s roads, the situation is made worse by the poor behaviour of road users. Source: NTV