British credit guarantee firm GuarantCo and risk venture fund InfraCo Africa have opened a regional office in Nairobi targeting new infrastructure deals in East and southern Africa. The two are part of the London-based multilateral Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), which has been active in the region for over 15 years. PIDG established GuarantCo in 2006 with the aim of encouraging infrastructure development in low income countries, through credit guarantees that enable infrastructure projects to raise debt finance. In April last year, the firm announced its intention to spend Sh20 billion ($200 million) to guarantee local infrastructure financiers over the next three to five years. Local contractors have found it difficult to win big infrastructure tenders for lack of financial guarantees. The 300 megawatts Lake Turkana Wind Power project, for example almost stalled after the World Bank withdrew its guarantee, but later the African Development Bank stepped in to offer a partial guarantee for the deal. The Nairobi office is PIDG’s first in Africa and is expected to boost engagement with local markets, originate new deals and mobilise private capital. “This office demonstrates GuarantCo’s commitment to the region to catalyse the delivery and roll out of infrastructure projects and help support the development of the local capital markets to deliver solutions that benefit society,’ said Janice Kotut, GuarantCo regional director, East and Southern Africa. The local team is also expected to strengthen relations with regional partners as well as respond rapidly and flexibly to needs of existing project portfolios. The...

The cornerstone of U.S. economic relations with sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 has been the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. The program offers more than three dozen participants preferential access to U.S. markets by eliminating import tariffs. Policymakers hoped that AGOA, as the primary U.S. trade policy for the region, would foster economic and political development in Africa. However, the outsized role of oil and apparel in African export growth has raised questions about whether AGOA can diversify the region’s economies and increase its competitiveness in global markets. Meanwhile, U.S. trade with AGOA’s participants has dropped since its 2008 peak almost to its pre-AGOA total, while African trade relationships with other countries, particularly China, have expanded. Why was AGOA created? AGOA is a trade preference program established in 2000 as part of broader legislation to strengthen U.S. trade ties with Africa and the Caribbean enacted by President Bill Clinton. The act is unilateral, meaning that it does not require African countries to lower their own barriers to U.S. goods, though it encourages them to do so. President Clinton saw the policy as a way to boost growth and bolster democratic ideals across the continent. He also said that it would strengthen the U.S. economy by opening markets with “hundreds of millions of potential consumers” to American producers. The act is an extension of a U.S. trade preference system introduced in 1974 that allows more than one hundred countries, mostly in the developing world, to export many of their goods to the...

  Over 1,000 maize farmers in Rusizi District incurred huge losses after they planted late leading to poor yields during Season A (early this year). The failure of the crop was blamed on delays in seed distribution. Farmers had ordered for PAN4M21 improved maize seeds that grow well in both highlands and lowlands. However, most of seeds arrived into the country late, forcing lowland farmers to plant substitute variety H629 reserved for farmers in high-altitude areas. The result was empty granaries and stores as the crop failed. However, such challenges could soon be history following a new strategy by Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) to produce seeds locally. Dr Telesphore Ndabamenye, the head of crop production and food security at RAB, said the initiative will help avoid such challenges, reduce cost of seeds and the country’s import bill. Dr Ndabamenye said at least 70 per cent of seeds will be produced in the country by 2021 under the new strategy. He said that Rwanda still imports hybrid maize seeds from Kenya, Zambia and Malawi, among others. The local seed production strategy focuses on eight crops - maize, wheat, Irish and sweet potatoes, soya and beans. “We have developed the road map and target to produce at least 70 per cent of needed seeds locally, especially hybrid varieties that are not easy to get by 2021,” he said. “We spend over Rwf3.4 billion to import hybrid cereal seeds each season. Maize and soya go for Rwf2,000 per kilogramme, while that of wheat...

Member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have been urged to expedite the completion of the current infrastructure projects to boost regional trade. The call was made during the 10th Joint Meeting of the Committees on Transport and Communications, Information Technology and Energy held in Lusaka Zambia last week. According to the COMESA secretariat officials, member states need to take decisions that will help accelerate the implementation of the bloc’s infrastructure projects. Rwanda High Commissioner to Zambia and permanent representative to COMESA, Monique Mukaruliza, said the idea is to support the completion of most pending infrastructure projects to spur the region’s development. Mathew Nkuwa, the Zambian Minister for Works, Transport and Supply, said there is need for policies, systems, institutions and resources to support infrastructure development and maintenance, adding that this move would reduce the infrastructure gap, support poverty reduction efforts, as well as “create wealth and enhance economic development in the COMESA region”. Nkuwa highlighted lack of financial and technical resources to the support infrastructure projects as one of the main causes of delays in the implementation process. “There is need to develop modern infrastructure that will make it easy for member states to trade amongst themselves,” he added. Fast tracking airspace liberalisation Meanwhile, the COMESA infrastructure ministers agreed on the need to fast-track the liberalisation of air space in the region to increase connectivity and boost trade. They say, air transport liberalisation will lead to increased air service levels and lower fares and,...

The trade row between Kenya and Tanzania cost the former Sh2.6 billion in the first seven months of this year, data shows. The latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics show that Kenya’s exports to Tanzania dropped by 17.8 per cent between January and July to Sh11.9 billion, from Sh14.5 billion in the same period last year. And with the value of exports to Dar es Salaam averaging Sh1.7 billion a month, total exports at the end of the year are likely to hover around Sh20.4 billion, a far cry from the Sh34 billion that Kenya raked in from its exports to the neighbouring country. Besides the trade row, which saw relations between the two countries hit rock bottom when Nairobi banned the importation of LPG and wheat from Tanzania a few months ago, the heightened political activity in Kenya for the better part of the year has also contributed to the plunge in exports. Experts believe that things can only get worse, aggravated by the toxic political climate following the annulment of the August 8 presidential results by the Supreme Court. A number of traders from Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi have given Kenya a wide berth in transporting their goods, fearing the possibility of ethnic skirmishes similar to the ones that erupted after the disputed presidential election in 2007. The Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) recently released a report showing that diesel consumption has gone down due to, among other factors, traders from the neighbouring landlocked...

James Ssewankambom stares blankly as cameras click away while a revenue officer fits a tracking device onto his truck. The truck driver is about to set off for his weekly journey, ferrying goods from the port of Mombasa on Kenya’s coast to Uganda’s capital Kampala — a journey of more than 900km. It is the 14th time that Mr Ssewankambom’s truck is being fitted with the tracking seal, a requirement under the regional electronic cargo tracking system (Rects) programme. The web-based system under pilot from March this year, seeks to facilitate trade on the Northern Corridor by allowing revenue authorities from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to jointly monitor goods from loading to destination. This is aimed at improving safety and promoting fair terms of trade by eliminating cargo theft. Initially Mr Ssewankambo was sceptical about the system, referring to the gadget as a mulika mwizi. Translated loosely, mulika mwizi is a Kiswahili phrase meaning to shine a spotlight on the thief. But he is now accustomed to having the little gadget on his truck. “When this device is fitted, you are under watch. Even a two-minute stop to relieve yourself is enough to earn you a call from the monitoring agents in Nairobi and Kampala,” he said. “Initially, the process was cumbersome. But I am now used to it and I feel safer.” On this day, his truck is full of used clothing which authorities say carry a high risk of diversion into the Kenyan market. Important information The electronic gadget is attached...

harmonisation of the microfinance sector policies in East African Community (EAC) will improve financial inclusion, ensure efficiency and support poverty eradication efforts across the bloc, according to the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR). Jean Pierre Uwizeye, the senior programmes manager at AMIR, said the law will also ease market entry for MFIs across the region, noting that it calls for mutual recognition by EAC sector regulators to enable MFIs to operate freely across the bloc without any restrictions. “For instance, if a Ugandan-registered MFI wants to operate in Rwanda, the National Bank of Rwanda, as regulator, will facilitate its entry because the draft policy provides for recognition of certificates and licences from member states,” he added. Uwizeye was speaking to The New Times on the sidelines of a consultative workshop on the EA microfinance draft policy last week in Kigali to get the views of local stakeholders to enrich the final draft of policy before it is presented before the regional assembly, EALA. The regional consultation exercise covered Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. The draft policy recommends interventions like liquidity gaps in the sector and policy actions whereby regional governments and the EAC secretariat will seek to institute funding mechanisms to support groups like the youth and women. “Generally, the draft law reinforces the current thinking in Rwanda and among the local microfinance stakeholders represented by AMIR. Otherwise, we are happy for the opportunity to contribute to EAC microfinance policy framework formulation and efforts that aim at...

The only flag still missing from the railway master plan of the East African region ratified in 2008 is that of Tanzania. It is not missing by mistake. Tanzania, which is East Africa’s most populous country, was not on the table when the presidents of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Southern Sudan sat to ratify the protocol for the development of a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) connecting the port of Mombasa to Kampala, Kigali and Juba. Instead, Tanzania opted to walk alone and only bring on board any of its neighbours that would buy into its vision. As Kenya rushed to build the first phase of its modern rail in record speed to the envy of its neighbours, Tanzania took a back seat, the way a second born child would do, lurking in the shadows and learning from the mistakes of his elder brother, then retreated to plot how to do a better job when his turn came. And before Kenya could finish bragging about its fete in building the best railway in the region since the last century, Tanzania signed a second contract that will see it build an electric railway line that will move nearly twice as fast as the Kenyan line but at a fraction of the cost. Last week, Dar, which has upped its silent rivalry with Kenya as it races to compete for the top spot as the economic power house in East Africa, awarded a $1.92 billion contract to a Turkish firm to build 422 kilometres...

The Port of Mombasa received a total of 37 vessels that discharged and loaded containerised and loose cargo in the week ended September 27th 2017.Alongside the busy container terminal berths went 12 vessels recording ship average working time of 1.86 days as container dwell time registered 4.11 days.. The Conventional cargo terminal berthed 25 general cargo ships and handled 261,485 metric tonnes of cargo at an average of 37,355 metric tonnes per day.An on the spot check revealed that vessels at the Container Terminals discharged 13,367 Twenty Feet Equivalent Units (TEUs), full and empty recording an increase of 3, 174 TEUs or 31.13 percent compared to the previous week. The same ships loaded 12,397 TEUs for export, registering an increase of 1,041 TEUs or 9.2 percent compared to the previous week During the week under review, the total container yard population registered a total of 16,748 TEUs. This comprised 3,808 TEUs awaiting pickup order, 4,732 TEUS ready for collection and 1,243 TEUs full exports (Nominated/Un-nominated). Others included 1,209 transhipments 4,888 TEUs empties and 868 TEUS at the Customs Warehouse. Deliveries of containers from the port by road transport registered 11,141 TEUs while the rail transport lifted 260 TEUs only. The Container Freight Stations (CFS) received 820,768 TEUs, delivered 817,270 TEUs leaving a balance of 3,498 TEUs. Import population breakdown showed that, during the week the port had 5,579 TEUs transit bound and another 3,591 TEUs for local destinations. Containers destined for Uganda which is the traditional leading port customer in...

NAIROBI. — The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) yesterday signed a $90 million deal that will boost lending to Kenya’s small to medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). AfDB Director General for the East African Regional Hub Gabriel Negatu told a media briefing in Nairobi that under the agreement, they will extend the line of credit to the Kenyan bank in two tranches. “The first portion of $50 million will be for onward lending to SMEs in the infrastructure, transport, construction and agricultural sectors, while the second portion of 40 million dollars will be reserved for trade finance,” Negatu said. AfDB will provide the funding to CBA in foreign currency at lower than commercial lending rates. According to the pan-African bank, SMEs have difficulty in accessing foreign currency in the international markets due to Kenya’s systematic risks. Negatu said that the financing is part of the bank’s commitment to promote inclusive economic development by increasing SME’s access to credit. The trade finance line of credit will represent the AfDB’s first intervention in East Africa in the trade finance sector. CBA has presence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda and has over 22 million accounts in its Mshwari digital banking platform. CBA Group Managing Director Isaac Awuondo said that the financing will enhance the bank’s ability to target the SMEs which are a critical pillar of Kenya’s economy. Awuondo said that SMEs account for 80 percent of employment opportunities in both formal and informal sectors. He added that SMEs typically face difficulty in accessing long-term finance...