Tanzanian traders are accusing the Nairobi administration of selectively applying regulations such as the Rules of Origin, thus hindering free trade between the two countries as envisioned by the East Africa Common Market Protocol. Tanzania Private Sector Federation chair, (TPSF) Dr Reginald Mengi, said; “As neighbours, we should be creating success stories in Kenya and Tanzania, instead of competing among ourselves.” He was speaking at a traders’ forum in Dar es Salaam attended by Kenyan and Tanzanian stakeholders. Given that the East African Community countries have agreed on specific thresholds on the Rules of Origin which could be creating challenges in respect to specific products, the meeting recommended the Community to review and revisit their application to respond to the specific business needs of the two countries. It emerged that Kenya was still placing hurdles on Tanzanian milk companies looking to enter its market. “When the two governments agreed to remove restrictions recently, we assumed everything had been resolved. But we have since been informed that Kenya has back tracked on some of these issues, with access to the Kenyan dairy market being the key one,” reads a submission by Tanzanian businessmen. “Certificates of Rules of Origin issued by any EAC country should be recognised. The Milk Processors Association in Tanzania should initiate consultations with their Kenyan counterparts with a view to accessing the Kenyan market and growing trade between the two countries,” reads the meeting’s joint communique. Roadblocks Jennifer Bash, chief executive officer of Alaska Tanzania Industries Ltd said...

Tanzania more than tripled the number of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) it imposed on its regional partners last year, according to the East African Community Common Market Scorecard 2016. Kenya more than doubled the number of barriers, and Uganda recorded the highest compliance rate. According to the scorecard, Tanzania’s NTBs rose from seven to 24 and Kenya’s increased from 10 to 23, putting into doubt the two countries’ commitment to easing intra-EAC trade. In Uganda, at least 18 of the 20 capital transactions were restriction-free. The scorecard, which analyses the movement of capital, services and goods, shows that the EAC member states are enacting laws and enforcing regulations that go against the spirit of the Common Market Protocol. In the past year, member countries have either passed new laws, amended regulations or are in the process of doing both, which will have a negative impact on some of the provisions of the EAC Common Market Protocol. Trade relations At a meeting in Dar es Salaam earlier this month, Kenyan and Tanzania businessmen under the Tanzania Private Sector Federation (TPSF) and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) deliberated on trade relations between the two countries, highlighting some of the barriers that are against the spirit of integration. “The local content shareholding requirements by countries within the region restricts investment from other EAC countries because they are treated as foreigners. It is inconsistent with the provisions of the Common Market Protocol,” TPSF chief executive officer Godfrey Simbeye said. On the movement of capital,...

The East African Community countries in conjunction with public and private production companies in the countries have considered a ban on import of new shoes and second hand shoes after signing of memoranda awaiting Head of States signatures in bid to conserve, utilize, improve local production, supplies and sales among the member countries. “The challenge we have had previously that has been in the center to undermine local production is fear for competition between public and private leather production companies. It is good that we realised that we can do much better if we work together hence the move to have the memoranda signed,” acknowledged Mr.Robert Njoka, Director REDDAMAC Leather Centre. This emerged during a press briefing by stakeholders in the industry after Kenya Prison Service Officers were awarded for excellence after successfully completing 3 months special training within the sector. The move is aimed at seeing public and private companies in the industry work together to improve and increase production locally to boost the members countries economy. Three months ago, the Kenyan government partnered with one of the leather manufacturing pioneer company locally that saw selected prison officers go through extensive training in Management, Manufacturing and Equipment service and maintenance. The officers from Athi River and Kamiti Maximum Prisons are now tasked with training as many prisoners as possible to boost production in the Kenyan leather industry. Source: Citizen Digital

East Africa’s two leading economies, Kenya and Tanzania, recorded a drop in growth in the first quarter of this year, due to a slowdown in manufacturing, agriculture and construction sectors. Tanzania The Tanzanian economy slowed down to 5.7 per cent between January and April, compared with 6.8 per cent over the same period last year. Kenya recorded 4.7 per cent growth in Quarter 1, down from 5.9 per cent in the same period of 2016. Data from the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics shows that the country’s construction sector slowed down to 8.4 per cent from 8.9 per cent a year ago, while growth in the transport sector almost halved — to 4.1 per cent from 7.9 per cent. “During the period under review, mining and quarrying registered the highest growth rates of 35.3 per cent, followed by information and communications at 13.8 per cent. The surge in growth of the mining sector was as a result of increased production of gold, tanzanite, copper and coal,” the statistics agency said last week. Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer and also has vast deposits of coal, uranium and gemstones. But in recent months, it has clamped down on what it termed as exploitation of its minerals by mining firms, which saw the country’s largest gold miner Acacia slapped with a $190 billion tax bill. The country also saw its agriculture sector slow down to 2.6 per cent, a 0.1 per cent drop from last year’s figures, due to poor weather. Tanzania...

Some eyebrows were raised when South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma announced last weekend that Comoros had been admitted as the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) 16th member. The announcement came after the 37th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the organisation in Pretoria. Officials disclosed that Burundi had also applied but had been declined, for now. They said Burundi first needed to resolve the internal political instability that President Pierre Nkurunziza provoked in 2015 when he took an apparently unconstitutional third term in office. But they seemed confident that Burundi would eventually be admitted. Why the interest in joining? SADC doesn’t, on the face of it, seem a very alluring organisation. Vera Songwe, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) executive secretary, painted a rather bleak picture of the region’s economy in her speech to the summit. She said overall growth in the region had declined to 1.4% in 2016, from 2.3% in 2015. The share of manufacturing in the region’s overall GDP had also declined, from 14.1% in 2005 to only 11.1% in 2015. SADC countries continued to rely heavily, for over 60% of total exports, on raw commodities, in particular minerals – with minimal value added. In 2016 the region also registered a deficit of $17 billion in goods and services, while lower revenues from diminished global commodity prices and depreciating currencies inflated fiscal deficits and public debts. SADC’s overall government debt rose from 42% of GDP in 2014 to 46.8% of GDP in 2015....

AS part of its continued support to Tanzania, the UK government has pledged US 450 million dollars (about 1.026trl/-) support, to improve roads and port infrastructure, education and industrialisation. According to a statement issued by the Directorate of Presidential Communications, the announcement to that end was made by the United Kingdom's Minister of State at the Department for International Development, responsible for Africa affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mr Rory Stewart. The visiting minister announced the funding after meeting with President John Magufuli at the State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Mr Stewart said the aid would be channeled into projects for improving the quality of education and enrolment of pupils, as well as strengthening road and port infrastructure. In addition, the funding would help boost commercial farming and improve meat and cotton processing factories. Speaking at the occasion, Mr Stewart praised President Magufuli for his staunch moves to curb corruption and opening up access to education for many young Tanzanians. "I visited one school in Dar es Salaam yesterday (Tuesday) and I was impressed how the free education policy in Tanzania has played a significant role in increasing enrolment of pupils. "During the visit I had an opportunity to speak to parents and teachers; enrolment of pupils has increased two times within a short period and has brought major reforms; education is everything," Mr Stewart remarked. 1.026trl/- a big booster He pledged his country's continued support for cementing bilateral relations, expressing optimism that the just announced...

Tanzania and Kenya have ended a two-month diplomatic row that led to import bans of some products and resulted in heavy financial losses for businesses from either side. The cessation of hostilities came after President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania's John Magufuli stepped in to end what was fast degenerating into a full-blown diplomatic crisis between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Following the deal, Tanzania has re-opened its borders to Kenyan products, including unprocessed foods, milk products and cigarettes, ending a standoff that saw exporters from both countries suffer financial setbacks. In reciprocation, Kenya has allowed Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) from Tanzania back into the country, a month after imposing a ban citing safety and security risks. Kenya has also lifted the ban on Tanzanian wheat. The ban has been lifted. We no longer have a problem at all,” Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau told Standard Business yesterday. Trade PS Chris Kiptoo confirmed the lifting of the import ban by both countries. “To my knowledge, the borders have been reopened for business, but we have a bilateral meeting set for September 6 to 8 in Tanzania,” he said of the new developments. Tanzania has, however, retained the duty it imposed on Kenyan products pending the outcome of the high-level meeting to iron out some sticky issues. Meeting aborted The meeting was supposed to be held on Wednesday last week but it aborted at the last minute when Tanzanian officials failed to show up. Previous attempts to resolve the impasse have not...

Electricity trade among East African states will soon begin as Ethiopia and Kenya race to finish the stringing of cross-border high-voltage transmission lines. Work has started on the 2,000 km Kenya-Tanzania-Zambia interconnector link to the South Africa Power Pool to provide opportunities for trade between the eastern and southern part of the continent. North China Power Engineering Company is doing the line from Isinya on the outskirts of Nairobi to Namanga town on the border with Tanzania. “Survey has started and foundation work on a 93 km, 400 kilovolt (kV) line starts in September 2017. Completion is expected by December 2018,” said Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) managing director Fernandes Barasa. The $309 million line from Isinya substation in Kenya to Singida in southern Tanzania is expected to transfer 2,400MW. Ketraco and Tanzania Electric Supply Company will oversee the project. The Tanzanian line is 414 km from Namanga to Singida. There will be a substation in Arusha and expansion works expected on the Singida substation to link the two countries’ national grids. Ketraco said a new line running from Suswa substation near Naivasha town to Lessos in western Kenya and on to Tororo in eastern Uganda will be built, with an arm from Lessos near Kapsabet to Kisumu. Suswa is the distribution point of power from Olkaria, Olkaria 1 and Olkaria 4 geothermal plants, with an output of about 500MW. Thermal plants The Ethiopia-Kenya line and Loiyangalani in northern Kenya are linked to the Lake Turkana Wind Farm. The 220...

African countries will incur at least $4.3 trillion, or $174 billion a year, in financing infrastructure projects to support economic growth over the next 23 years, according to a recent report by G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub). The Global Infrastructure Outlook calls upon African countries to raise the continent’s infrastructural investments to $240 billion per year ($6 trillion by 2040) in order to match their peers. According to the study covering infrastructure investment needs globally, Africa’s infrastructure segment remains small, accounting for just six per cent of the global tally. The continent’s needs are 39 per cent more than the forecast investment under current trends. “Total infrastructure investment in Africa was equivalent to 4.3 per cent of GDP between 2007 and 2015. The continent will need to maintain investment at around this proportion of GDP to accommodate economic and population growth to 2040,” the report says. In East Africa, the three countries included in the report; Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania will cumulatively spend $837 billion on infrastructure projects by 2040. But the three will require at least $308 billion more to meet their infrastructure spending needs over the period. Striking differences Kenya must spend at least Ksh969 billion ($9.3 billion) every year on infrastructure to meet its infrastructure spending needs of $223 billion. Ethiopia has the highest forecast spending against current spending trends gap of $154 billion, followed by Tanzania at $115 billion followed. To bridge the gaps, the two countries will need to raise their infrastructural spending to...

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) began Monday a consultative process within member states which is expected to lead to a pact that will enable free movement of people in the region. According to the IGAD secretary general, Amb. Mahboub Maalim, when the body was established on January 16, 1986, one of its core objectives was to enable free movement of people among member states. "One of the core ambitions of IGAD was to enable migration. Unfortunately we have been dogged by many challenges such as internal conflicts in member states. We were thus forced to focus on priority areas such as peace, security and disaster management," he said. He added that regional co-operation has been vital in solving conflicts in Somalia and South Sudan, citing Uganda's contribution as key in stabilising both nations. "Migration is not about to stop anywhere. People cross borders every minute. It is unfortunate that many of the migrants dying in the Mediterranean Sea are from the IGAD region, yet we could have worked out a mechanism to help them by easing intra-migration. And that is why the entire world is concerned about migration," said Maalim. The three-day consultative meeting (August 21-23) dubbed The Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in the IGAD Region, brings together key players in the migration sector, including civil society, academia, private sector, the media, the Police, the military, and the ministries of health, internal affairs and foreign affairs. The stakeholders are expected to give their views on free movement...