East Africa has emerged at the leader in mobile payment over the years, with countries like Kenya having more than two-third of its adult population using mobile phones to transact. With the mobile money market in sub-Saharan Africa expected to double by 2019, lack of interoperability between telecoms operators and cross-border restrictions has stood out as one of the key challenges that face the growth of the revolution. According to a Wall Street Journal report, some of the continent’s biggest telecoms are striking deals to allow their customers to make payment across networks and country borders, something that cemented the region as a leader in mobile financial technology. In January, East African nations of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, signed a One Area Network Agreement (OANA) to help improve cross-border telecommunications and expand the scope of mobile money transfers in the sub-region. “We are now exploring how we can have the One Area Network infrastructure grow from voice to data and mobile money transfer. We want you to be able to move money from your M-Pesa account here to a relative in Kigali and vice versa or from Airtel Uganda to Safaricom in Nairobi,” Fred Matiang’i, Kenya’s Communications and Technology minister, said. London-based Vodafone Group and South Africa’s MTN Group hatched a deal that allowed their customers in East and Central Africa to transfer money to each other. Millicom also announced it would allow its customers in Tanzania and Rwanda to send money to each other. These telecoms are eyeing the...

By Ben Gasore The East African Tourism Platform (EATP) has pledged to continue marketing the region as a single tourist destination, as well as take a leading role in conservation efforts to create a sustainable tourism industry in the region. EATP comprises of the East African Community (EAC) countries' tourism boards and tour operators. "We are moving into packaging the region as one destination, celebrating flagship tourism events and finding solutions to challenges together, which wasn't happening before," said Amb. Yamina Karitanyi, the chief tourism officer at the Rwanda Development Board. Amb Karitanyi was speaking during a meeting that brought together EAC tourism boards officials and tour operators to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the region's tourism sector in Kigali over the weekend. The meeting coincided with the annual 'Kwita Izina' ceremony on Saturday, where 24 baby gorillas were named. The annual flagship tourism event in Rwanda was moved from June every year to September as part of a joint tourism promotion initiative established under a tripartite agreement between Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda. Under the deal, each member country has a period to focus on a flagship tourism event. Kenya was allocated October, where they host the Magical Kenya Expo, and Uganda took June when it hosts Uganda Martyrs Day on June 3. "As stakeholders in Kenya, the most important thing is that we are now taking this step. We started with Magical Kenya in October as an anchor flagship programme to market the three destinations and we have so...

THE Ministry of Trade and Industry plans to open Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TAN TRADE) branch in Mwanza Region to support the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agricultures’ (TCCIA) efforts to establish and manage East African Trade Fair. Speaking during the opening of the EAC Trade Fair, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Uledi Musa, said that TCCIA has managed Trade Fair that has regional and international levels. He said that the ministry would make sure that it establishes Tan Trade branch in Mwanza region to target the East African Community markets as Mwanza is the regional trade hub for industry products and other related businesses. Mwanza Regional Trade officer, Ms Christina Owenya appreciated the well-done job by the TCCIA’s endeavour to open up opportunities available in Mwanza Region and entire the region. She said she was optimistic that the entire population in the region would benefit from the products produced at the high level standards by industries in the region. The Mwanza TCCIA chairperson, Mr Elibariki Mmari, said that the event was a good opportunity to the businessmen in the region to meet and see business and investment opportunities. He said that the fair provided opportunity to the community around the East African region to showcase their products and services so as to promote their businesses. This year Mwanza Region celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the East Africa Trade Fair at Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, Mwanza Campus. The main purpose of...

East Africa is the fastest growing sub-region on the continent, with economic growth expected to expand by 5.6% this year, well above the continental average of 4.5% or Southern Africa’s 3.1%. But in an odd contradiction to regional growth trends, East Africa’s infrastructure is one of the least developed in Africa. Infrastructure development is thus paramount for the sub-region to reach its full potential and many ‘mega’ infrastructure projects are currently under way in the region. By LYAL WHITE and ADRIAN KITIMBO. Kenya’s standard gauge railway (SGR), a new rail track that will stretch from Mombasa to Nairobi, is the most ambitious infrastructure project in the country since independence. The 609km-long line is expected to cost $3.6-billion, with China’s Exim Bank footing 90% of the bill and the Kenyan government providing the other 10%. The SGR is part of the grand trans East African railway project, one of many ‘mega’ infrastructure projects currently under way in that region. It is a direct effort to connect East Africans and their economies, and in so doing build economies of scale, lower the cost of doing business, attract foreign investment and ultimately accelerate growth and development. East Africa is currently the fastest growing sub-region on the continent. With economic growth expected to expand by 5.6% this year, well above the continental average of 4.5% or Southern Africa’s 3.1%, investors and credit rating agencies are increasingly bullish about the region. In an odd contradiction to regional growth trends, East Africa’s infrastructure is one of...

At the beginning of this month, businessmen, policy makers and other economic stakeholders from within East Africa and across the globe convened at the Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala for the first ever high-level Manufacturing Business Summit and Exhibition in the East African Community. The fact that the forum was held at Speke resort, with its colonial undertones and heritage, reflects the fact that Africa is still grappling with the legacy of colonialism, especially the effects of national boundaries arbitrarily drawn up so many years ago in Europe, without recourse to local culture or historical affiliations. It also illustrates how these boundaries continue to affect the economics, trade, immigration and geopolitics of these former colonies. How so? For many nations in Africa today, it is easier to trade with Europe, America or China than it is to trade across what for many is an imaginary line in the sand denoting two different countries. Yet there are individuals and companies grappling with how to extend their business beyond borders, setting precedents for those wishing to realise the pan-African dream. The timing of the forum was also apt, coming at a time when many companies have embarked on regional expansion programmes that will see them grow their footprint across the East African market of more than143.5 million people. This ability to operate across borders is important. Cross-border trade within the region brings in economies of scale and enables research and development for a bigger market. According to experts, including the World Bank,...

The East African Community is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the United States that will remove uncertainties surrounding the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The five member states have submitted their request to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modalities and the time to start negotiations on the pact. According to EAC Director General of Customs and Trade Peter Kiguta, the USTR is expected to present the request at the next US Congress meeting. If accepted, the region expects to increase the volume of trade and the number of products exported to the US. “For EAC partner states to expand their trade partnership with the US market, there has to be a reciprocal free trade agreement like the one with the European Union,” said Mr Kiguta. READ: Region to export products under Agoa as a bloc “The challenge with Agoa is that it is unilateral; it can be withdrawn any time and the 10-year period is very short and limiting for trade. So we need to have a long-term trade partnership that is more predictable,” he added. Peter Njoroge, the director of economics at Kenya’s Ministry of EAC Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, said that the East African countries have not been able to fully utilise the US quota-free market under Agoa because the agreement does not comply with the World Trade Organisation’s framework for free trade agreements because of its 10-year period of operations.  With a preferential trade partnership like the EAC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Mr Kiguta said member states will be...

Uganda has received the support of the East African Community Secretariat in its sugar and rice trade disputes with Kenya and Tanzania respectively. The Secretariat said the disputes go against the spirit of integration and free movement of goods and services in the region. According to the EAC, by requiring Ugandan traders to have permits to export sugar to Kenya, the country is imposing a non-tariff barrier, contrary to the EAC Treaty. “Sugar exports to the EAC partner states are duty-free and quota-free under the EAC Customs Union if wholly obtained from the partner states. This means that as long as the sugar is locally produced in Uganda the traders can sell it in Kenya or in any of the other partner states without having to be issued with permits or licences,” said Peter Kiguta, EAC Director-General in charge of Customs and Trade.  The EAC Secretariat’s position highlights the contradiction of one country having dual membership of different trading blocs. Kenya and Uganda are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), under which permits and quotas — forms of non-tariff barriers for sensitive goods like sugar — are allowed in order to protect industries in member countries.   However, under the EAC, such products only attract punitive import duties ranging from 100 per cent to 35 per cent if they are imported from outside the region and sold to partner states — meaning the bloc relies solely on tariffs to protect domestic industries. In the 2015/2016...

AS Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda head towards a joint monetary union, experts are of the view that it is high time the East African Community member states drop their individual procurement acts and adopt a single procedure. The view was among the considerations raised during the ongoing eighth East African Procurement Forum here, hosted by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and officially opened by Vice-President, Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal. “Our community has already gone through the first three stages of integration including the Customs Union, Common Market Protocol and the ongoing monetary union process; but in order to make this effective, there is an important component left; the harmonisation of procurement procedures and Acts,” said the PPRA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Laurent Shirima. Dr Shirima explained that before the end of the three-day session, the meeting would have deliberated on a number of issues and policies towards the proposed harmonisation of procurement acts and procedures within the East African- Community. He reiterated that public institutions around East Africa and other procurement entities still need proper supervision to ensure adherence to authorised purchasing regulations. Vice-President Dr Bilal said unlike the industrialised world, the penetration of imports in East Africa is significantly high and the nature of goods and services that public sectors in the region consume are mostly imported. “If you analyse our budgets, you will find that public administration, education, health and social services make up of over 70 per cent of the public expenditures in each...

East Africa is emerging as a trade hub to rival sub-Saharan Africa’s two heavyweight states of South Africa and Nigeria, according to analysis by Barclays published on Thursday. However the UK bank identifies five “sleeping giants” that present significant new opportunities for foreign companies; Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana. This quintet which are “playing catch-up after significant political and economic upheaval . . . are increasingly attractive to foreign firms and international investors with an eye on long-term returns from fast-growing markets,” Barclays said in its inaugural Africa Trade Index. Matt Tuck, head of global corporate banking at Barclays, said the five were open to international trade and had rapidly growing populations that are likely to reach 325m in total by 2020, comparable to that of the US. Moreover, any repeat of the 7.3 per cent compound annual economic growth they have experienced over the past five years would lead to a significant rise in household spending. Most are relatively unreliant on commodity exports by African standards, shielding them from some of the storms currently battering emerging markets. “The core underlying fundamentals are getting better and with more stable government it does represent an opportunity for growth,” said Mr Tuck. “It’s a much more encouraging outlook than in the past.” Overall, Barclays found South Africa and Nigeria offered the best opportunities for foreign companies, in terms of unmet demand, the absence of major barriers to cross-border trade and their connectivity with other African countries. While South Africa is the...

As Kenya prepares to host the Tenth World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in December, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Mukhisa Kituyi is urging African states categorised as least developed countries (LDC) to rethink their status because it stymies economic integration. The LDC status presents a trade barrier for countries that are not listed as least developed. Speaking to People Daily in Nairobi, Dr Kituyi noted with concern that economic partnership within the East African Community (EAC) bloc appears to be discriminating and could be punishing Kenya by denying it equal market access on the global platform because other partner states in the economic block are listed as LDCs. This is despite the fact that the principle of the EAC common market should be that of equal market access among partners. “Africa must understand why graduating from LDCs is made hostile, and why people are happy in being called poor,” Mukhisa said, adding that it is all about market access and resources. “We should not punish upward mobility but reward,” he said. Mukhisa said by not being listed as an LDC, Kenya must not be penalised but have similar market access in global trade and influence trade negotiations. To come up with the LDC statuses, every three years the UN Economic and Social Council evaluates countries based on three criteria: average household income, based on the country’s gross national income; human health, nutrition, average level of school achieved, and literacy rates (called “human assets”); and economic...