Kenya moved up 32 places in a World Bank ranking to become the second-most efficient African country in moving goods across borders. According to the latest Logistics Performance Index (LPI), the country is in position 42, up from 74 in what is perhaps the global lender’s approval of the Government’s efforts to improve the ease of doing business. The country comes second to South Africa in the index that ranks logistics in160 countries . Kenya’s LPI score of 3.33 puts it ahead of economies like Russia, Brazil and Argentina. The report attributed this positive performance on “strong political will” and implementation of administration reforms in the region. “Relatively rapid improvements can also be achieved regionally if countries have a strong political will and align their efforts in implementing administrative reform. This is the case, for example, for the Northern Corridor that links Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda with the Port of Mombasa in Kenya, and also serves eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Tanzania,” said the World Bank in the report. Germany was ranked best overall with a score of 4.23, while war-torn Syria sits at the tail-end with a score of 1.60. However, in the World Bank’s East of Doing Business 2016, Kenya’s performance in trade across borders remained unchanged compared to its performance in 2015. Trade agency Trademark East Africa (TMA) has said the modernisation of the Port of Mombasa and creation of One Stop Border Posts at Malaba, Busia and Taveta would reduce...

Windhoek – It may be too early to calculate the potential damage to SADC, and Africa, from the unprecedented earthquake that ripped through the European Union – following the exit of the United Kingdom – and the seismic waves of political and economic uncertainty that are unfolding. Until now the EU has been widely held as the world’s best functioning political economic union model, to which even SADC and other African regional blocs had looked up, as they embark on regional integration. What is becoming clear though is the fact that just like with many US companies who found themselves with no contingency plans for an EU without the UK, the 15 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, as well as the rest of Africa, are now scrambling to assess the post-shocks and establish contingency plans. And there are serious implications for SADC and the rest of the continent. To start with, this past week Professor Ian Scoones penned an opinion paper that the European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with SADC that was inked on 10 June in Kasane, Botswana, has to be renegotiated, especially for SADC countries to eventually have free trade access to the United Kingdom, or Great Britain, that is no longer a member of the                      EU. “Now, all these arrangements have to be renegotiated bilaterally with each of the other 162 World Trade Organisation members. It will be a slow and costly readjustment,...

The hosting of global events is a  vital showcase of a country’s power, stature and influence. In particular, Kenya’s hosting of events such as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), Annual World Congress of the Africa Travel Association (ATA), World Conference on Public Relations in Emerging Economies (WCPREE), World Trade Organization (WTO) conference has reaffirmed her position as the preferred African country to visit and invest. Leveraging nation branding opportunities through mega events has become a strategy for enhancing nation brands because they attract investments, tourism and trade and Kenya is leading the way in Africa in this regard. Kenya is on course in enhancing foreign trade relations by hosting the 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), a key investment forum that will also boost tourism. This is the first time that the TICAD conference is held on the African soil.  The conference is expected to attract Presidents from numerous African countries and the global leadership of key international development organizations such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and United Nations (UN) organizations. In addition to TICAD, World leaders will converge in Nairobi for the 14th  quadrennial conference on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 14), which takes place in July 2016. The conference will provide another unique business opportunity for Kenya because it runs concurrently with the World Investment Forum and the Global Commodities Forum. Among other top events include: Water and electricity power Expo, East Africa Oil and gas summit, The 2017 IAAF World Youth...

Today’s indicator figure is 8,481,740,000  8,481,740,000 of what? 8,481,740,000 ($8.5 billion USD) is the total amount in current US dollars that is provided as Official Development Assistance to countries in the East African Community (EAC) in the most recent year reported.  What do you mean by Official Development Assistance? According to the World Bank, Official Development Assistance (ODA) consists of “disbursements of loans made on concessional terms and grants by official agencies of the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), by multilateral institutions, and by non-DAC countries to promote economic development and welfare in countries and territories in the DAC list of ODA recipients”. In other words this money is grants and low interest rate loans from donor countries and institutions (think UN, World Bank, GIZ in Germany, USAID in the US, African Development Bank, and so on) to less developed countries like those in the EAC. This figure does not include personal or religious charitable donations which would certainly increase the figure of financial support to EAC nations. How does this compare to other regions of the world? In the history of ODA tracking, the most a single country ever received was Iraq in 2005 taking in $22.0 billion USD with the next highest being Nigeria in 2006 with $11.4 billion USD in support. Beyond that, recent years show that Sub-Saharan African countries receive the most aid assistance of any region and three EAC countries, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were listed as the top ten recipients of foreign aid...

East African countries have been asked to reject the impending trade deal with the European Union. Kenya and the four other nations of the EAC are required to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) before the end of the month, gradually grating unlimited market access for exports from the EU. While Kenya reluctantly signed the accord in 2014, the agreement, which the civil society and the United Nations have cited as dangerous, is yet to be approved by Parliament. “We must critically analyse what this agreement means for the EAC, it is dangerous for our trade,” said Nathan Irumba, the executive director of the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (Seatini). He was speaking at the close of a trade conference seeking to examine the impact of the EPA on the East African countries. EAC has been negotiating with the EU as a trading bloc. Failure to sign up would mean steep taxes on commodities such as flowers produced in Kenya, which is classified as a lower-middle-income economy. Kenyan flower exports were heavily impacted when the EU slapped heavy taxes of up to 12 per cent some two years ago after the lapse of the preceding agreement, forcing President Uhuru Kenyatta to sign the agreement. Other EAC nations are classified as Least Developed Countries and would still qualify for preferential treatment in trading with the rest of the richer World. The impending exit of the United Kingdom from the EU, commonly cited as Brexit, has already reduced...

The wind of change blowing through Europe has enormous economic, political and social implications for major economies in Africa. The Brexit vote ushers in a period of anxiety and prolonged uncertainty about the future. Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000207537/which-way-for-kenya-uk-trade-ties-after-brexit-shockwave. The impact of the vote is already being felt, with immediate effects on currency fluctuations, spasms in various stock exchanges across the globe, uncertainty of central bankers and wariness of African economies with ties to the UK. With the recent strengthening of the shilling against the pound, Kenyan importers will enjoy a window of cheaper purchases from UK. However, for Kenyan exporters to the UK, the commodity value will diminish, resulting in shrinking profits. But this is likely to be short-lived as currencies are expected to stabilise once the dust settles. The real brunt of the vote is expected to be felt during the finalisation of UK’s exit terms and a notification of the same to the European Union (EU) Secretariat. Trade agreements currently in place between the EU and East Africa Community (EAC) may have to be renegotiated between the UK and EU separately. Depending on the outcome of the renegotiations, benefits accruing under the current trade protocols may be strengthened, retained or lost. Any renegotiations of the deals because of Brexit may eventually lead to export or import delays and loss of revenues. Loss of revenues An industry likely to be hard-hit by these changes in trade deals is horticulture, which dominates the European market in cut flowers and other...

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) says passenger and cargo dwell time at the Taveta border has reduced by two hours due to the success of the One-Stop Border Post (OSBP). The post, an initiative of the East African Community, has also reduced transport costs incurred by businesses, farmers and transporters while crossing borders. KRA Taveta post manager Daniel Nyambaka said the agency is anticipating increased revenue collection at the post once the tarmacking of the Mwatate-Taveta road is completed. The Taveta-Holili One-Stop Border Post came into operation in May last year and is part of the 15 such posts in East Africa built at a cost of $12 million (Sh1.2 billion) through funding from TradeMark Africa. “We hope to see increased revenue due to increased cross-border trading between Tanzania and Kenya by December when construction of the road is complete. The road will reduce the distance from Tanzania to the port of Mombasa by nearly 400 kilometres,” said Nyambaka. He said the post has boosted cross-border trade and fostered good relations between Kenya and Tanzania. “In the past, people coming to Kenya would spend up to two hours waiting for clearance. But now it takes just 30 minutes to clear and move on to your destination,” he added. Source: Mediamax

What exactly will replace it, if anything, is much, much less clear…” Reuters News Agency Columnist, Peter Apps. THE most dramatic news this time around was the vote by British people to exit from the European Union, henceforth christened by the global media as ‘Brexit vote’. For us here watching the news on television in the intervening period, what prompted the referendum to be taken on whether or not Britain should stay as member of the 28-member post Second World War European unity body was far from clear. I guess not many of us here were interested in this development given the fact that Britain belongs to the club of what Mwalimu Nyerere once described as “wakubwa” – in a collective sense meaning the powerful wealthy North - as opposed to us who belonged to the impoverished South; in the economic sense. But Britain matters. It is a former colonial power of this country and indeed the whole major states of East Africa today. Britain is, from a cultural perspective, influential because English language is one of the leading global languages that links up people across the planet. So what happens in Britain is interesting to Europeans as much as to Africans. Following the opinion of the British national, a columnist quoted at the launch of the perspective, reading his article further, the journalist says that within the UK government no one “planned for the outcome of Brexit vote”. “The results show the country savagely, bitterly divided. Essentially voters in...

IN SUMMARY Across the region, political parties are facing a torrid time, with little financing, restrictive laws on mobilising funds, especially from external sources, and dominant ruling parties that feed off the state — a situation that makes for a generally weak political party foundation. While incumbent parties look strong, are flush with cash and have countrywide networks, experts warn that that strength is hinged on their stay in power — were they to turn into an opposition party, their existence would not be guaranteed. Complaints of an uneven political playing field persist and while the EAC partner states have made attempts to provide statutory financing, critics say the funding is too little or skewed and at best cosmetic. If the functioning and welfare of political parties were a measure of a country’s democracy, how would the East African region fare? Currently, multipartyism is more or less taken as the universal standard of democracy, of course when accompanied by regular elections. Though most of Africa has adopted this standard with some nudging from the West, pockets of resistance remain on whether parties and elections equal democracy. The funding systems set up by governments in the region and freedom for the parties to mobilise their resources is a safe good measure to test the region’s commitment to functional political parties and democracy. The scorecard for East Africa turns out to be mixed. Across the region, political parties are facing a torrid time, with little financing, restrictive laws on mobilising funds, especially...

On June 13, two weeks before the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the African Union announced a new “single African passport.” The lead-up discussion was much like the original debate on the European Economic Community, the E.U.’s predecessor. African passport proponents say it will boost the continent’s socioeconomic development because it will reduce trade barriers and allow people, ideas, goods, services and capital to flow more freely across borders. But now the A.U. faces the challenge of making sure the “e-Passport” lives up to its potential – and doesn’t fulfill detractors’ fears of heightened terrorism, smuggling and illegal immigration. The African e-Passport is part of a long-term plan for the continent The e-Passport is an electronic document that permits any A.U. passport holder to enter any of the 54 A.U. member states, without requiring a visa. It will be unveiled this month during the next A.U. Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Initially, the e-Passport will only be available to A.U. heads of state, foreign ministers and permanent representatives based in the A.U.’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, . The plan is to roll it out to all A.U. citizens by 2018. The electronic passport initiative grows out of the A.U.’s Agenda 2063, a plan to mobilize Africa’s vast resources to strengthen the region’s self-reliance, global economic power and solidarity. Why is the single African passport important? The e-Passport is a step toward eliminating borders on the continent, aiming to enable deeper integration, increased trade and further development. Just as important, the passport is a powerful symbol of unity across...