Kampala. The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat is set to introduce 5,000 new standards to ease the movement of goods and services. Some of the new standards include seeds standards on maize, soya beans, sunflower, sorghum and groundnuts. Such standards will help address challenges of fake seeds in the market when implemented by producers and government. Other standards will be on sugar and sugar products such as chewing gum, liquid glucose used in industry, molasses, sugarcane and sweets. These will help facilitate trade in the region. Experts say the new standards could be an answer to the puzzled private sector whose products have been traded for more than 10 years but have no national standards. EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Ssezibera, said: “Currently, EAC has 1,500 standards and we are bringing on board 5,000 more. We urge member states to domesticate them at the national level.” Missing national standards However, absence of national standards has hindered highly demanded products from enjoying the regional market. The products mostly affected are ladies’ beauty products and the companies which have gone through this trial are Movit and Samona. Mr Emmy Musasirane, the Movit director, in his submission, said: “We want the authorities to come up with provisions within the law to address the issue where a standard is not harmonised but a product has been in trade the country of origin for more than 15 years.” He called for a special consideration which is acceptable by the other partner states, “We have written...

Kenya has for the first time bought more goods from the United States in one year than it did from the whole of Africa, underlining growing commercial ties that are expected to deepen with the recent thawing of relations and President Barack Obama’s visit in July. US exports to East Africa’s largest economy rose to Sh168 billion last year compared to the Sh146 billion worth of goods and services that came from Africa, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). At Sh146 billion, the value of imports from Africa dropped marginally even as the value of goods and services from the world’s largest economy tripled. The exponential growth of US exports to Kenya happened despite the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta standing out as a leading advocate of intra-Africa trade who has made a series of trade promotion trips across the continent since coming to office in 2013. “The value of imports from South Africa contracted from Sh70 billion to Sh63 billion in 2014. The value of imports from Mozambique and Nigeria also dropped by 60 per cent and 56 per cent respectively,” said the KNBS in this year’s economic survey report. Kenyan exports to Africa rose by four per cent to Sh241 billion, supported largely by increased purchases by Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The KNBS data shows export volumes to Kenya’s largest market, Uganda, dropped by seven per cent while trade with Somalia also contracted by Sh3.7 billion. “The biggest reason...

THE East African Community is facing pressure to relax restrictions that make it difficult for the European Union to export manufactured and agricultural goods into Kenya, it emerged yesterday. The Kenyan-led EAC Economic Partnership Agreements negotiating team however maintained it will not yield to pressure, saying relaxing the restrictions on EU's exports would kill the two struggling sectors which are the backbone of EAC's economy. “The EU's move to seek elimination of export taxes will kill agriculture and industrialisation in the EAC,” said Joseah Rotich of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade during a roundtable meeting organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs. He said the exclusion of some products from liberalisation under the EPAs is aimed at safeguarding agriculture, industry and Kenya's market interest in the five-member trade bloc. The EU wants EAC to relax export taxes for its agricultural products, wines and spirits, chemicals, plastics, wood-based paper, textiles and clothing, footwear, ceramics, glassware and base metal and vehicles. “I fail to understand why EAC is protesting about a possible inflow of goods from the EU yet they are not talking about the huge amount of manufactured goods imported from India and China which have continued to hurt the local manufacturers,” EU trade and communications counselor to Kenya Christophe De Vroey said at the forum. He said the EPAs negotiations that were concluded in October 14 last year offer the liberalisation of 82.6 per cent of the EAC market for the EU imports within a period of...

South Africa Reserve Bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago lauded the continent for its abundant resources while making his opening remarks at the SWIFT African Regional Conference in Cape Town. With the world’s 60 per cent of arable land and mineral resources, the governor said Africa was blessed with an abundance of resources critical for regional growth. Kganyago urged the region to promote more regional trade and improve transacting systems so as to curb the easy flow of ‘dirty’ money and mechanism that fund terror activities. “If you do not avail efficient and affordable cross border remittance system people will rely on the alternative which will not help in abating dirty money and terrorism,” Kganyago said. Kganyago however said several regions have enacted a number of initiatives to making transacting easier which he said was positive for the continent. “Boosting trade within the continent should take centre stage,” said the South African Reserve Bank governor. “The challenges the continent is facing are far outweighed by the opportunities,” said Kganyago adding that the ongoing regional integration taking place was a move in the positive direction. He also urged the region to make collaborative efforts in ensuring that system are synchronised as there was so much duplication of roles by many bodies. At least 410 participants are part of the annual SWIFT conference with 38 speakers expected to address the conference. This year’s conference is being held under the theme; Africa- seizing the opportunity. Source: CNBCAFRICA.com

Many African countries are growing at a very positive pace though there are still challenges with inclusiveness, this is according to Mina Baliamoune, Professor of Economics at the University of Florida. The comments were made at SWIFT's African Regional Conference in Cape Town. Baliamoune also warned that transformation was a long road but said the right ingredients within the region were there. “Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia are also making inroads,” said Baliamoune. “The right policies are in place in most of the countries especially in macro-economic policies. There are a lot of improvements in the continent especially if one looks at the World Bank’s Doing Business Index.” Foreign Direct Investment Baliamoune said infrastructure remained one of the challenges in most countries which discourage not only foreign direct investments but even local investments. “Education with a focus on skills should be one area where most governments should invest and this should be coupled with inclusiveness of groups should be at the centre of the African story,” added Baliamoune. Baliamoune said post-2015; the world will focus on sustainability of the MDGs. “If we transform Agriculture, for me that will be a huge step towards real transformation in the continent. Skills transfer is critical to ensuring real transformation in the continent.” Baliamoune said Africa does not lack ideas, the challenge that remains is capital. 2015, a watershed year for Africa Lyal White from the Gordon Institute of Business Science said structural challenges need to be addressed in the continent. The Gordon Institute of...

That’s because, according to government statistics, Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam accounts for over 60 per cent of Rwanda’s external trade with the balance coming through the Kenyan port of Mombasa. You probably also wonder why your supplies are relatively expensive; that’s because as a landlocked country (LLC), the final price of an imported commodity, to a fair extent, depends on the cost of transporting goods from the port to their stores. Recent international trade studies have found that transport related costs account for about 30 to 40 per cent of the prices of goods in landlocked countries such as Rwanda, a factor that negatively, affects such countries’ competitiveness. As a country with a low local manufacturing base, Rwanda heavily relies on imports to keep its citizens supplied and, according to statistics from National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), total imports in 2014 rose by 6.8 per cent to US$2,399.3 million. It currently costs over US$4000 to transport a container from the port of Dar es Saam to Kigali, according to traders and this cost impacts on the final price that the consumer pays for a commodity. Rwanda has to continuously engage countries like Kenya and Tanzania to ensure its traders are well facilitated to clear their goods from the ports to Kigali. Integration helps However, the fortunes of East Africa’s landlocked countries have started taking a positive turn as the story of the region’s integration process adds more chapters; the benefits are envisaged to be felt, first by traders,...

The Northern Transport Corridor in East Africa, extending from the port of Mombasa in Kenya and serving the hinterland countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, is the busiest trade and transport corridor in East Africa handling the bulk of the region's regional and international trade. While there have been major improvements in transport infrastructure for the corridor, it still faces challenges of road accidents due to long driving distances. Being a busy transit corridor, it is also prone to externalities and risks such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and other illicit activities. The other major transit corridor in East Africa, the Central Corridor, faces similar challenges. To address these challenges, among others, the countries of the region have adopted the Japanese Michi-no-Eki (Road Side Stations) concept. The Road Side Stations (RSS) will provide four clusters of services: rest space for drivers and passengers alike (hotels, restaurants, recreation); information space (ICT services, banking, money transfer, etc.); specialized services (medical, wellness, counselling, training, safety education, etc.); and linkages into local economies (to support small business development). The study carried out by the Spanish Consulting firm, TYPSA, identified 144 potential RSS sites along the Northern Corridor out of which 67 are deemed viable. The key Northern Corridor road route covers a distance of about 2,000 kilometres from Kenya through Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. But the Corridor also has extensions to Eastern DRC and South Sudan. Of the 67 RSS's, 22 are in Kenya, 27 in...

East Africa bloc sends delegation to Burundi, seeks to resolve crisis DAR ES SALAAM, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The East African Community (EAC) on Monday sent a delegation of four foreign ministers to Burundi in hope of helping resolve the ongoing political crisis triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term, a statement has said. The political crisis in Burundi should be resolved by respecting the country's constitution and electoral laws, the statement quoted Tanzanian President Jayaka Kikwete, who is also chairman of EAC, as saying. "I am also appealing to the international community to save Burundi from degenerating into chaos," he was quoted as saying. Kikwete has sent foreign ministers from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to Burundi on a fact finding mission, adding that after the mission completes its task, he will convene an emergency summit of heads of EAS member states to discuss Burundi's political situation. EAC includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Mindi Kasiga, spokesperson for Tanzania's foreign ministry, said the mission would hold talks with a wide range of political parties in Burundi. Protests have escalated since April 26 -- one day after Nkurunziza was nominated by the ruling CNDD-FDD as its candidate for the June presidential election. The opposition says his re-election bid violates the constitution which only allow the president to be elected to two terms in office. However, the president's supporters say his first term doesn't count as he was appointed by parliament in 2005 after the civil war...

“Trade is the best cure for prejudice. It is an almost general rule that, wherever there is good citizenship, there is trade, and that, wherever there is trade, there is good citizenship.” – French philosopher Montesquieu. VENTURES AFRICA – Philosophically, it could be argued that nations are endowed with different sets of natural resources for the sole purpose of facilitating trade and exchange – if every nation had the exact same resource profile, there’d be no need for any form of exchange. Beyond philosophy, however, the case for boosting global trading has never been louder with the recent growth slowdown in the global economy. A series of analyses from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has a long history of advocating for more criss-crossing of goods and services, suggest that trading does more than just provide money for nations, it triggers a virtuous cycle that spikes growth and innovation, while reducing poverty. “If you care about growth and innovation; if you care about jobs and the real incomes of the middle-class; if you care about poverty reduction and greater economic fairness; if you do care about all these things, you need to be serious about fostering global trade,” advocates Christine Largarde, the IMF’s Managing Director. Africa has witnessed impressive economic growth in the last decade—fuelled by increased foreign investment inflow and better commodities trading—but a slowdown in the transfer of goods poses a number of setbacks. Africa is expected to suffer a shrunken portfolio of investment inflows should the slowdown...

THE government, through Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), has planned to strengthen the revenue collection management on the Airtime Monitoring System and to keep insisting on the use of Electronic Fiscal Devises (EFDs) among business people, as a way of expanding the revenue base for the financial year 2015/16. Other strategies are to improve the voluntary tax payment by international companies, expansion of the tax base for the informal sector as well as to reduce tax exemptions. The Finance Minister, Ms SAADA Mkuya Salum, told the Parliamentary Budget Committee in Dar es Salaam that the strategies seek to increase the domestic revenues from sources. She said in the financial year 2014/15 TRA was required to collect 11,318,221.9m/- which was a 20.6 per cent addition to the total revenue collected in 2013/2014. About 203,821m/- was expected to be collected as a result of the amended tax system through the Finance Act of 2014, and the tax collected was also expected to contribute for 93 per cent of the domestic revenue. And the remaining seven per cent is expected to come from Local government collection. According to the report that she presented to the committee, the government has also planned to improve revenues especially in customs taxes by using the Tanzania Customs Integrated System (TANCIS). The system is built on hitech principles with a view to increasing effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and reliability in the Customs administration. “Among the strategies, TRA also included close monitoring of cargo that has also been estimated, improve the...