TRAVEL receipts rose by over 450bn/- to reach 5.14tri/- last year up from 4.68tri/- in 2016 due to an increase in the number of tourist arrivals as an outcome of promotion by the government and private sector. The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for January this year shows that the balance in services account was a surplus of 1,909.7 million US dollars in 2017, representing an increase of 38.8 per cent over the preceding year. Services receipts grew by 8.9 per cent to 3,927.6 million US dollars on account of increase in travel and transport receipts. The positive performance resulted from a decline in services payments coupled with an increase in services receipts. Receipts from transport services shoot to 1,147.9 million US dollars in 2017 from 1,061.8 million US dollars recorded in the preceding year due to an increase in transit goods to and from neighbouring countries amid improved efficiency at Dar es Salaam port. Services payment fell by 9.6 per cent to 2,017.9 million US dollars mostly due to decline in foreign payments related with travel and transportation, particularly freight. In line with a decline in goods import, payments for transportation services which accounted for the largest share in services payment decreased by 18.0 per cent to 778.3 million US dollars. During the period under review, the overall balance of payments significantly improved to a surplus of 1,649.5 million US dollars from a surplus of 305.5 million US dollars in 2016. The outturn was a result of...

‘America first does not mean America alone,” President Trump declared last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This sudden burst of pragmatism from an avowed nationalist showed what a difference a year can make. Denouncing the “false song of globalism” during his presidential campaign, Trump, on his third full day in office, canceled the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a regional trade deal with Japan and 10 other countries. He then denounced Canada, Germany and South Korea for exporting more to the United States than they import. He promised to renegotiate trade pacts with Europe, Canada and Mexico and get a better deal for American workers. In Davos, however, he reached out with conciliatory words to the very free-trading and globalizing elites he has consistently maligned. Clearly, Trump’s views on trade and globalization have evolved since his insurgent campaign. This may well be because of the rapid gains in the past year of a country he did not mention by name. In fact, Trump chose in Davos to affirm that “America is open for business” because it was in these same Alpine heights, three days before Trump was inaugurated as president, that China seized the opportunity to claim leadership of the global economy. With the United States seemingly in a protectionist crouch, China had become, despite all its problems, indispensable. “In a world marked by great uncertainty and volatility, the international community is looking to China,” Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, said last year while introducing...

East Africa remains the fastest-growing sub-region in Africa, with estimated growth of 5.6 percent in 2017, up from 4.9 percent in 2016. This is according to the recently launched 2018 African Economic Outlook. The report notes that Africa’s growth is expected to remain buoyant, reaching 5.9 percent in 2018 and 6.1 percent in 2019. Strong growth is widespread in East Africa, with many countries including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda growing 5% or more. The report also attributes the accelerated growth particularly in Kenya and Comoros toprivate consumption while also pointing out that public investment in infrastructure has been instrumental in Djibouti and Ethiopia. It also indicates that construction activity will remain strong. In a few countries, continued expansion of services, including information and communications technology, will be imperative. Manufacturing activity may increase the share of industry, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania. From here at Optiven, we believe that this positive outlook, especially on construction activity in Africa, and in Kenya by extension, is a positive thing for the real estate industry. “We are extremely excited to be part of the key drivers who will help accelerate Kenya and Africa towards more economic prosperity. We envisage an Africa that will have addressed housing conditions for the millions of Africans who still have no place to call home,” says Mr. George Wachiuri, CEO, Optiven Group. African economies have been resilient and gaining momentum. Real output growth is estimated to have increased 3.6 percent in 2017 and to accelerate to...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to urgently address the infrastructure challenges airlines face to secure the industry’s future. Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO, said there are worrying infrastructure gaps, which are increasing operational costs and, thus affecting the profitability of the sector. The official also advised governments against privatisation of airport infrastructure, saying such a move would “eat into” the sector’s profitability. “We have not found the correct regulatory framework to balance the interests of investors to get profits with the public interest for the airport to be a catalyst for economic growth,” he said. In a statement, De Juniac highlighted the need to build infrastructure “robust enough to meet the high standards of airline operations and passenger convenience”. This comes at a time when government of Rwanda is seeking to establish new regulations governing civil aviation in the country to help make it more efficient. Minister of State for Transport Eng Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye told Parliament on Monday that the new regulations will improve the way Rwanda investigates aircraft incidents and accidents. Uwihanganye said the proposed regulations will also enable the national carrier, RwandAir, to enter new markets in Europe and America “with ease because the new aviation rules are in line with standards requirements in Europe and the US. The draft law empowers the Minister for Infrastructure to conduct aircraft accident investigations, among other things, and also outlines how Rwanda will work with other organisations and governments to investigate the...

Last week, Tanzania’s industry, trade and investment permanent secretary Elisante Ole Gabriel was in Kenya again for what is becoming a periodic bilateral ritual. Prof Gabriel and Kenya’s trade Principal secretary Chris Kiptoo signed a deal to eliminate non-tariff barriers (NTBs). A keen observer should by now have lost the count of how many times the two countries have signed such pacts in recent months. Perhaps the only new thing this time round was the choice of Mombasa as venue. Otherwise, they have been reached before at the levels of trade lobby groups, PSs, ministers and even between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania’s John Magufuli. A hint of the official inertia can be gleaned from the same list of pending disputes. They include multiple levies, inspection fees, failure to grant preferential treatment, slow customs procedures and slow implementation of the East African Community (EAC) directives. Trade has always been based on a country’s comparative advantage.  A country is supposed to concentrate on what it can produce efficiently for export. In East Africa where countries produce identical primary goods and rely on same manufacturing technology, it is the NTBs and not the usual competition parameters like price and quality that determine survival. Secondly, people will always buy what they cannot produce. That explains why Kenyans will always import more from South Africa with whom we share no common market. In short, NBS are here to stay. Back to list of disputes brought before Dr Kiptoo and Prof Gabriel. The failure by...

China is funding a quarter of large-scale construction projects in eastern Africa, cementing Beijing’s ascendancy in the region’s economic diplomacy at the expense of traditional allies like the United States and the European Union. The latest Deloitte Africa Construction Trends Report 2017 shows China is bankrolling 25.4 per cent of the mega projects in the region. The Asian tiger is followed by international development finance institutions like the World Bank, which comes in second at 19.7 per cent. African development finance institutions like the African Development Bank (AfDB) are ranked third at 15.5 per cent while funds from private domestic sources stand at 4.2 per cent. The EU accounts for 8.5 per cent while single countries contribute seven per cent, with the US trailing at a paltry 2.8 per cent. “China is the most prolific funder of large-scale construction projections in East Africa financing one in four projects in the region,” says the report released in Nairobi on Tuesday. Deloitte Africa infrastructure and capital projects leader Jean-Pierre Labuschagne linked the rise of Beijing in the region to a cocktail of geo-politics as more EAC nations look east and abandon their traditional partners in the search for new markets by the resource-hungry Asian behemoth. “You have a Chinese economy that is booming, possibly flattening a little bit because of the world economy and so they are looking to export those services and expertise,” Mr Labuschagne told the Business Daily. “I do think there is also an element of a political statement behind...

Tanzania’s current gas exploration and mining is billed to be at the top of agenda, as Kenya is being ranked a major oil exporter before the year 2020. The event (June 14 – 15, 2018) at the Intercontinental Hotel will also celebrate its fifth anniversary as the most prestigious oil and gas summit in East and Central African region. The Summit will significantly address onshore oil discoveries in Uganda and Kenya and offshore gas discoveries in Tanzania and Mozambique, developments that have made East Africa a subject of intense interest among the global energy industry. “The speed at which governments in East Africa are developing hydrocarbon reserves is a clear indication of their will to cement the region’s reputation as the new hotspot in hydrocarbon exploration and production,” reads a statement from the Summit organisers dispatched to Arusha last week. President John Magufuli has since ordered that exploitation of natural gas begin “as a matter of urgency” while Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta announced his government’s plans to bring forward the country’s oil production deadline by two years and ‘set a path’ that would enable the country to become a major producer and exporter by 2019. The Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) Agreement between the Joint Venture Partners and the Government of Kenya was signed on March 14, 2017, allowing all EOPS upstream contracts to be awarded. The EOPS production of 2000 barrels per day is expected to commence around the end of the year. “Africa Oil Corporation is society and...

The Uganda-Kenya railway concessionaire owned by Cairobased Qalaa Holdings, has had a fair share of problems, mostly financial and managerial, in the recent past, which prompted termination of the concession, originally set to run until 2030. Meanwhile, the Mwanza- Port Bell-Kampala remains an important link for the central corridor which now ferries between 200,000 and 300,000 metric tonnes of cargo from Tanzania to Uganda through the Dar es Salaam port. Rift Valley is also blamed for stalling improvement of Port Bell-Kampala stretch, resulting into high transportation through roads. As a result, cargo from Mwanza to Port Bell has been costly since ‘loose cargo’ packed in trucks is expensive compared to containerised cargo which is transported through wagons through Lake Victoria. With the planned facelift of the Port Bell-Kampala railway line and the cancellation of the RVR concession, industry sources are upbeat of increased cargo to and from Uganda through Tanzania. The Acting General Manager of Mwanza-based TanzaniaMarine Services (TMS), Mr Eric Hamissi, welcomed the development as a “blessing for the central corridor.” “Once the stretch from Port Bell is improved we’ll be able to ferry goods from Mwanza to Uganda using our ships such as MV Umoja,” he explained. “Uganda’s annual tonnage stands at about seven million tonnes and with such development Tanzania is best placed to increase its share of shipment from and to Kampala,” the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA)’s Corporate Communications Manager, Ms Janet Ruzangi, stated. Responding to queries by ‘Daily News’, Ms Ruzangi explained that the authority...

CONVENTIONAL passport holders still have enough time to acquire their new East African e-passport before the phasing out of the documents in January, 2020. The clarification has been made by the Immigration Department Spokesperson, Superintendent of Police (SP) Ally Mtanda. He was speaking to the 'Daily News' in an exclusive interview, against the backdrop of widespread concerns amongst members of the public, following the launch, by President John Magufuli. "The applicant will need to go to the Immigration website on the passport services, fill in forms and will be provided with a control number, after paying an initial 20,000/- fee. Thereafter, after getting print-outs, one would pop into immigration offices for subsequent procedures." recently, of a new passport. SP Mtanda asked holders of the old passports not to panic but await official notifications on when the process of replacing them would begin. "We are currently dealing with new applicants and those who submitted applications before the launching of the new passports occurred... as for those whose passports are still valid, they should continue using them," SP Mtanda said. He further explained that the services are offered at the immigration headquarters and branch offices in Zanzibar, pointing out that they would be extended to the regions in due course. SP Mtanda further explained that the e-passport was part of a broader'e-based' service, one of whose features was e-visa, which foreigners would enable foreigners acquire residents permits electronically. He added that activities at the country's borders would also be monitored and managed...

Tanzania and its northern neighbour Kenya have agreed to end their trade dispute, a move that is bound to increase intra-trade within the East African Community (EAC). The agreement bodes well for unity and development of the two countries, and we applaud both governments for realising the significance of removing trade barriers within the six-nation bloc. The dispute saw Kenya banning cooking gas and wheat imports from Tanzania, while the latter blocked Kenyan milk and tyres from entering its territory. If nothing else, the row was making a mockery of the efforts which the countries had put into enhancing regional integration. Trade between Tanzania and Kenya constitutes over 45 per cent of the entire trade within the EAC. Thus - considering the relatively huge trade volume between the two nations - it is our belief that the differences will not take long to be ironed out once and for all. This is for the good of both countries in particular and regional integration in general. Key issues discussed during the meeting ranged from how to resolve multiple levies and other charges; lack of preferential trade arrangements; the need for standardised inspection fees; delays at border checkpoints; slow customs procedures at border crossings and slow implementation of relevant EAC directives. Private sector representatives from the two countries made presentations highlighting trade and investment opportunities in aviation, mining, petroleum and transportation - among many more - which the two countries agreed to pursue as soon as the current trade barrier issues are...