The East African Community could follow in the footsteps of African Union in its quest to find an alternative financing mechanism, a regional lawmaker has said. During last year’s African Union Summit in Kigali, the Heads of State adopted a self-financing mechanism, proposed by former African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka. The African Union (AU) model aims to raise $1.2 billion (about Rwf898 billion) annually to reduce heavy dependence on external partners to finance Africa’s development projects. Rwandan members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) say regional ministers of finance are set to meet in Arusha, Tanzania to consider the various proposals on the table and finalise the matter of alternative financing for the bloc. “I believe the proposals are similar to those put forward by the African Union. We’ve had proposals for a number of years, but the Council requested for more clarification as there were more issues to be considered,” MP Patricia Hajabakiga, the chairperson of Rwandan EALA chapter, told a news conference in Kigali yesterday. Finance ministers from the bloc start meeting today until May 8 to consider various matters connected with the region’s financial muscles. During their latest country tour, the lawmakers met and held discussions with heads of key government departments with a direct bearing on the regions integration agenda. MP Martin Ngoga (Rwanda) said the matter of an alternative financing mechanism for the Community was among the issues they discussed with Finance and Economic Planning minister Claver Gatete recently. Ngoga said: “The minister...

Kenya’s private sector players have sought help from their Tanzanian counterparts to lobby their government to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe. Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Tanzanian Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) are working on a plan they hope will convince Tanzanian authorities to endorse the deal during the East African Community (EAC) Summit. “The EAC Summit that was to happen in Nairobi in February was postponed to early this month. The summit has been postponed again to a date that is yet to be confirmed. Only Tanzania and Uganda have not ratified the EPA deal and we hope by lobbying with our private sector counterparts, we can have Tanzania sign the deal,” said KEPSA Chief Executive Carole Kariuki in an interview with The Standard. The agreement guarantees EAC member States quota and duty-free access to the European market. Speculation has been rife that the EPA deal is dead in the water, with Tanzania maintaining a hardline stance, arguing that the agreement in its current state would kill off its industries. Ms Kariuki said the two lobbies would be represented at the next EAC summit. Source: Standard Digital

In her 2010/11 Financial Year budget speech, Finance Minister Syda Bbumba said she envisages that the East African Community (EAC) Common Market which comes into force on July 1 will “stimulate greater productive efficiency, higher levels of domestic and foreign investment, increased employment, and growth of intra-regional trade and of extra-regional trade.” Kenya’s Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, also spoke about how the Common Market would allow freedom of movement of goods, services, capital, business enterprises and skilled labour within the EAC. While most EAC budgets did not show plans on how their economies are positioning to survive and thrive under the Common Market, Kenyatta unveiled a robust plan. The Kenyan economy is far bigger than the combined economies of the other EAC states. Its budget shows that it is positioning itself to gain even more from the free flow of goods and services in the EAC. Kenyatta announced a duo-pronged strategy that looked inwards with the “build Kenya, buy Kenya” theme and an outward looking strategy that ensures competitiveness abroad. He proposed seven bills to support business expansion by cutting-down regulation and easing access to financing. Kenyatta showed he was aware of the apprehension among other states. He said: “Kenya is prepared to fully implement the provisions of the Common Market protocol from 1st July, 2010. I also call upon our brothers on the community to do likewise”. The Kenya budget was similar to the regional budgets in emphasising improving ease of doing business and investing in priority areas like...

Negotiations between the European Union (EU) and African countries for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) have consumed vast energies from both sides this century - yet with not a great deal to show for it. The EPAs were agreed to in principle in 2000, when the Cotonou Agreement replaced the 1975 Lomé Convention. In essence that fundamentally changed commercial relations between the EU and the developing African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries - from preferential, non-reciprocal, to normal, reciprocal trade. But if African countries accepted that change in principle, realising it has been extremely fraught. Taking the plunge into the icy waters of mutual free trade has evidently been too frightening for developing countries used to one-way traffic into the huge 510 million-person EU market. Magufuli warned that the EPA could wreck Tanzania's own still-fledgling industries And so, even after more than a decade of often tortured negotiations, the results are not impressive. Only 30 of the 76 ACP countries are implementing EPAs. In 2008, the Cariforum EPA was signed with 15 Caribbean countries. In the Pacific only two countries, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, signed on. In Africa, the EPA with ESA - the Eastern and Southern Africa group comprising Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles and Zimbabwe - entered into force in 2012. The Central African EPA was provisionally implemented in 2014 - but with just one African country, Cameroon. The major regional blocs, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC),...

DAR ES SALAAM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A senior official with the East African Community (EAC) said on Thursday implementation of the bloc's single customs territory (SCT) has tremendously reduced the cost of doing business in the region. Dicksons Kateshumbwa, chairman of the EAC Committee on Customs, said turnaround time has been reduced from 21 days to 3-5 days on average between the entry points to Kampala in Uganda, Kigali in Rwanda, and Bujumbura in Burundi. The six-member EAC is implementing a number of customs projects, including the SCT, transforming the way of doing business for the benefit of EAC members economies. "Capacity building and sensitization to support the SCT has been done and is ongoing," Kateshumbwa told a news conference in Dar es Salaam. The SCT started in 2014 on both the northern and central corridors where goods are assessed and declared at the first point of entry and move to the destination partner state with taxes and duties paid upfront. Kateshumbwa said integration of customs functioning was enhanced through cross-border deployment of staff in partner states, leading to better accountability, deterrence of smuggling and closer cooperation among customs authorities. "So far we have rolled out goods on the SCT on pilot basis," Kateshumbwa said. "However, the most important decision we have made today is that we have agreed on the full implementation of the SCT effective July 31, 2017." He said customs automation across the region has been enhanced in all member states -- Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda,...

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with regional trade facilitator TradeMark Africa (TMA) to improve cross border trade and enhance trade links between the country and East Africa Community (EAC) member states. The government of the Netherlands has committed $6.7 million to kick-start the projects. TMA will invest in projects involving already available resources such as water transport, simplifying trade processes through training and facilitating adoption of ICT around Eastern DRC. They will comprise dredging and rehabilitation of Kalundu Port on Lake Tanganyika; capacity building and implementation of Integrated Border Management Systems on the border crossings in Rusizi between Rwanda and Bukavu; rehalibitation of the Ports of Kasenyi on the DRC side and Ntoroko in Uganda; as well as infrastructure work at the border crossing at Goli, Uganda and Mahagi, DRC. “Trade is a way to reduce conflict and unemployment. The agreement will contribute to the training of cross border traders in trade issues, exporting and tapping into regional markets. This will especially benefit our youth,” Prof. Nehemie Wilondja, DRC Directuer du Cabinet noted. TMA Director General David Stanton said they are seeking to replicate the success of similar initiatives between EAC governments and businesses to drive down the costs of trade along the key transport corridors, which include the border with DRC, in the country. The institution has facilitated projects along the Northern Corridor from Mombasa Port, Kenya linking Uganda, Rwanda, DRC and South Sudan; and the Central Corridor connecting Dar es...

Kenya's status as an exporter of products to the East African market continues to be undermined by cheap direct imports from China, according to the latest data. This is threatening the country's industrial growth, which relies on the same market to sell its products. The World Bank, which had earlier warned of the threat due to imports from the Asian economic giant, now says Kenya's trade performance is fast declining due to an influx of goods from China into Uganda and Tanzania who are major export destination for the country. The data shows that exports contracted by an estimated 23.3 per cent in 2016 despite the region's relative resilience underlined by a growth in the East Africa Community (EAC) intraregional business. The imports now threaten Kenya's regional economic dominance where the country's competitiveness has remained highest over time. "Kenya has become less competitive in EAC due mostly to cheaper products to EAC markets from elsewhere, in particular East Asia (including China). For instance, in both Tanzania and Uganda, the share of China exports has increased from some 45 per cent to 60 per cent over the past decade. This has not only driven down market shares of Kenya's exports, but also that of other countries," the global lender said it its latest economic update. The narrowing space is said to be affecting both agricultural and manufactured products. The World Bank says that while Ugandan and Tanzanian Chinese imports grew at 12.4 and 16 per cent respectively over the 2000-2015 period,...

South Sudan has secured $106 million from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, in part to pay for food imports as millions face starvation and to fund the construction of a road to trade partner Kenya, its finance minister said. Parts of the war-ravaged country are suffering famine. A three-year civil war has forced millions from their homes, sent the oil-producing economy into a tail-spin and devastated crop harvests, just as the worst drought in year’s bites. Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau told Reuters late on Monday that the government had signed a deal with the World Bank for a $50 million grant "to meet the food gaps in South Sudan". Speaking by telephone from Washington where he had been attending meetings with lenders, the minister said those funds would be disbursed soon and finance food imports from Tanzania and Uganda. Dau said a further $8 million agreed with the World Bank was earmarked for the construction of a road connecting the capital Juba to Kenya. Separately, the African Development Bank will provide loans and grants worth $48 million to help strengthen the recession-hit economy, the minister said, without giving details. South Sudan, the world's youngest country, descended into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir fired his deputy, unleashing a conflict that has spawned a patchwork of armed factions. The fighting has hit oil production and food cultivation amid soaring inflation. The IMF says the economy shrunk by almost 20 percent in the two years through...

Intra-Africa trade took 40 per cent of the exports worth Sh234.1 billion indicating a need to ease movement of goods and services. The Economic Survey 2017 shows the East African Community that brings together Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi continued to provide Kenya with a ready market that accounted for 51.9 per cent of the intra-Africa trade. The bloc, which is pursuing integration at economic and political levels, has also provided a ready market for Kenyan investments in manufacturing, banking and provision of professional services. Somalia that is slowly returning to normalcy provided Kenya with the largest gains as export volumes of fresh and processed products doubled. Exports in 2016 stood at Sh17.9 billion, an indication that a stable Mogadishu means good business for Kenya. Uganda remained the biggest market for Kenyan goods where Sh62 billion worth was sold with Rwanda receiving goods valued at Sh17.5 billion, Burundi Sh7.2 billion and Tanzania recorded Sh34.8 billion up from 2015 Sh33.7 billion. European Union came second accounting for 24 per cent of the exports worth Sh141.5 billion while the US imported goods worth Sh52.9 billion. Source: Business Daily

East African Community Secretariat; Nairobi, Kenya; 12 April 2017: The Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko paid a courtesy call on the Trademark East Africa (TMA) CEO, Mr. Frank Matsaert on Tuesday, 11th April, 2017, at the Trade Mark East Africa Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The two officials had a lengthy discussion on a number of issues including the support to the East African Community by TMA and the importance of Partnership between the two parties. The Secretary General briefed Mr. Frank Matsaert on the reforms being undertaken at the EAC and that EAC was now ISO certified. He disclosed to the TMA CEO that the impact of reforms had led to cost reduction in the way EAC does business and emphasized that the reform agenda will continue to ensure efficiency in the use of available resources. On management of different projects at the EAC Secretariat, Amb. Mfumukeko informed Mr. Matsaert that the Projects Coordination Unit will be fully functional by July 2017. On his part, Mr. Frank Matsaert emphasized that TMA takes EAC partnership seriously, and congratulated the EAC for passing the EU Fiduciary Risk Assessment, which TMA supported. Mr. Matsaert informed the Secretary General that a commitment had been made to support the initial phase of operationalization of the Projects Coordination Unit at the EAC Secretariat. 'Already a consultant had been recruited by TMA to help in the finalization of the design of the unit'. The report will be finalized by end of...