President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said on Sunday 8/3/2015 that Egypt would host in 2015 the Tripartite Summit of the East Africa Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). This came during a meeting held between Sisi and African ambassadors accredited to Egypt, Presidential Spokesman Alaa Yousef said. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Presidential Adviser for National Security Affairs Fayza Abul Naga, he added. At the beginning of the meeting, Sisi welcomed African ambassadors and informed them of Egypt's keenness on strengthening ties with all African countries, Yousef noticed. Sisi shed light on the importance of boosting cooperation and dealing with joint issues especially the terrorism issue. All African countries should promote solidarity to handle economic and social problems faced by their peoples, Sisi underlined. Egypt is looking forward to strongly fostering relations with the Nile Basin countries to serve as a model for all African states, Sisi emphasized. Egypt's call for all African countries to attend the Economic Development Conference (EEDC), which will be held in Sharm el Sheikh during the period March 13-15,2015 comes in tandem with its keenness to increase economic cooperation among African countries and expand the role of investment and the private sector in promoting development process in the African continent, Sisi stressed. Source: AllAfrica.com

NAIROBI, Kenya – Sitting in truck laden with parts of an oil rig, driver Opira Robinson, 45, rests his head on the steering wheel patiently waiting for customs clearing at Lungalunga, a Kenya-Tanzania border post in Kwale, about 101 kilometres south of Mombasa on the East African coast. He is moving the big rig from Pakwach in Northern Uganda heading for Tanzania’s coast. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” Opira says. “It took me a few hours to cross Malaba, but now I have been here two days already and it might take me two more weeks,” Opira said. At least 50 trucks cross through daily, according to Patrick Omare, the Kenya Customs station officer. The main commodities are Kenyan fruits and wheat exports – timber and maize imports from Tanzania. There is also Malawian tea headed for the Mombasa Tea Auction and some Zambian copper also going through the crossing. It is among 35 One-Stop-Border- Posts (OSBPs) that are under construction across the East African Community. The intention is to reduce delays and ensure faster cargo movement across the region. Money is being provided by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Japan International Co-operation Agency. According to trade facilitation agency, Trademark East Africa (TMA) which is overseeing the posts. “They are aimed at reducing delays by allowing struck carrying goods to stop once, not twice,” said Frank Matsaert, the TMA Chief Executive Officer in an e-mail response to questions said. “Officials will share facilities on...

East Africa is providing lucrative opportunities for investment bankers, this is according to Paul Mwai of AIB Capital. Investment bankers are financial institutions that assist individuals, corporations, and governments in raising capital by underwriting issuance. Mwai told CNBC Africa that there was need for investment bankers to also start exploring for opportunities in the small to medium enterprise (SME) space. “SMEs are going to be the engine of growth in Africa with some having the potential to become multinationals,” he said. According to Mwai, there were various opportunities for investment bankers such as in debt funding, growth in private equity and advisory across sectors. He also said SMEs were already part of the Africa growth story warning that the big challenge they were facing was access to capital. “They can see the opportunities and they have accesses to these opportunities but access to capital remains as one of their big challenges,” he said. “There is also a knowledge gap and lack of advisory services as it seems they are concentrated on bigger transactions instead of SMEs.” Mwai said with the right capital injection it will only take certain SMEs a few years to become big business conglomerates. “We could look at companies that are growth companies and make investments in those spaces,” he urged investment bankers. Mwai said the stock market was still alien to SMEs as most players in this space think it is preserved for big players only. He added that SME players should explore for opportunities on...

Africa needs foreign investment, and it’s not only up to governments to encourage this. While there is a lot that governments can do, particularly in providing policy and regulatory certainty, the private sector has an important role to play in unlocking Africa’s opportunities. Africa has huge advantages, not least a potential return on investment higher than most other regions. The downside is that it attracts less investment than it should because countries and institutions are often nervous about the risks they see in Africa. This is where the private sector comes in. I call it “demystifying Africa” - demystifying Africa’s economies, demystifying Africa’s markets and demystifying Africa’s risks. Foreign investors don’t have enough visibility about what is happening in Africa. The onus is on African-based companies to deliver that knowledge and vision to the rest of the world. Companies operating successfully in Africa know local conditions and understand local risks. They are in the best position to explain the realities of working here. Financial institutions with international reach and strong African networks are able to bring African clients and institutions closer to international capital. This can be a big enabler of local growth. Demystifying Africa is not so much about correcting misconceptions as it is about using a depth of local experience to bridge the knowledge gap with international clients. African companies in turn need to provide investors with accessibility and transparency on their financials, operations and risks. The role of African governments in promoting the continent to investors is...

Trade patterns in Africa are changing, with new products, new trading partners and new technologies all influencing the way African countries trade with each other and the world. As a result, African trade is growing as it has never grown before. This is benefiting African companies and economies, lifting living standards and providing opportunities for trade to and from the continent and between African countries. Africa is rich in opportunities - now while it is in the midst of transformative change, and in the future when expanding populations will increase the market size and a better educated middle class will increase consumer demand. By 2020 Africa will have a population of 2.1 billion people and a collective GDP of US$2.6 trillion. The continent is a minerals treasure house, has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land when world food demand is rising, and offshore gas finds are transforming economies, particularly down Africa’s east coast. Barclays has been involved in Africa for more than a century. Leveraging that experience, we have identified 10 factors which are influencing the rising trend of African trade in a combination that bodes well for the continent playing a larger role in world trade. Rapid and sustained economic growth. Africa’s GDP growth averaged 5% from 2002 to 2012, and is expected to climb above 5.5% from 2012 to 2017. This is higher than any region except Asia and puts Africa above Europe and America. Healthier economies. Together with economic growth has come improved governance, lower inflation,...

The State of Food Insecurity (Sofi) 2014 report stated that the World Food Summit goal of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015 cannot be met. What does that mean for Kenya and East Africa as a whole? Currently, statistics show that the number of undernourished people in the world is falling by an average of six million per year, which is well below the yearly target of 22 million necessary to achieve the World Food Summit goal. However, 63 countries, mostly from the developing world, have reached the hunger target in the first Millennium Development Goal. Sustained political commitment at the highest level, with food security and nutrition as top priorities, is a prerequisite for hunger eradication. Good news in Africa is that eradication of hunger is a top priority of the African Union, evidenced by African Heads of State committing to end hunger on the continent by 2025 in July 2014 at the African Union summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. In Kenya and East Africa, we must continue working with the governments to ensure the right to food for all. We highly appreciate the political commitment towards ensuring appropriate food security policies, programmes and laws at country level are developed and adopted. In addition, we need to engage better with the private sector, improve access to agricultural inputs, land, services, technologies, markets and promote investment in agriculture towards increasing the agricultural productivity in Kenya. Last but not least, we need to continue promoting rural development and nutrition...

NAIROBI, Kenya – Sitting in truck laden with parts of an oil rig, driver Opira Robinson, 45, rests his head on the steering wheel patiently waiting for customs clearing at Lungalunga, a Kenya-Tanzania border post in Kwale, about 101 kilometres south of Mombasa on the East African coast. He is moving the big rig from Pakwach in Northern Uganda heading for Tanzania’s coast. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” Opira says. “It took me a few hours to cross Malaba, but now I have been here two days already and it might take me two more weeks,” Opira said. At least 50 trucks cross through daily, according to Patrick Omare, the Kenya Customs station officer. The main commodities are Kenyan fruits and wheat exports – timber and maize imports from Tanzania. There is also Malawian tea headed for the Mombasa Tea Auction and some Zambian copper also going through the crossing. It is among 35 One-Stop-Border- Posts (OSBPs) that are under construction across the East African Community. The intention is to reduce delays and ensure faster cargo movement across the region. Money is being provided by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Japan International Co-operation Agency. According to trade facilitation agency, Trademark East Africa (TMA) which is overseeing the posts. “They are aimed at reducing delays by allowing struck carrying goods to stop once, not twice,” said Frank Matsaert, the TMA Chief Executive Officer in an e-mail response to questions said. “Officials will share facilities on...

Although the tumbling global oil prices will slow down investment in Uganda’s petroleum sector and delay further the expected flow of petrodollars, experts say the price crash presents Kampala with a rare opportunity to put its house in order if the country is to avoid the oil curse. “To sustain growth and poverty reduction, Uganda’s economy requires a stronger reallocation to more productive and high return sectors, and a sustained transformation of subsistence agriculture,” Stefan Dercon, chief economist at the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) told a Bank of Uganda forum on February 25, which discussed the implications of the current oil price volatility on the country’s economy. Speaking at the event, BoU Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile said that even if oil prices dropped too low in future and little revenue was earned from the commodity, Uganda’s economy could continue to thrive if it was well managed. “What would be disastrous is if we failed to recognise the significant risks entailed in the uncertain future path of oil prices and incur expenditure commitments that subsequently prove to be unaffordable,” said Mr Tumusiime-Mutebile. The government has repeatedly come under criticism over the financing of its grand infrastructure projects like the Karuma and Isimba hydropower dams, the standard gauge railway and the express highway to Entebbe International Airport, through loans from China that it expects to pay back using future oil revenues. This has fuelled fears that Uganda may be unable to service the debt in the unlikely event that it does...

Uganda’s debt level is on the rise due to capital flight and a decline in donor support, hampering the country’s economic growth prospects, a Moody’s Investors Service report published last week says. Mathias Angonin, a Moody’s analyst and the author of the report, said that the long-term health of government finances will depend largely on mobilising new sources of revenue. “The level of earnings from Uganda’s minerals and other exports will depend on improvements in domestic security,” Mr. Angonin said. Moody’s expects Uganda’s fiscal deficit to increase to 5.7 per cent of GDP in 2015, from between 2 per cent and 4 per cent over eight years ago, due to fiscal expansion before the 2016 elections, higher investment in power projects and the recapitalisation of the central bank. Although still relatively low, tax revenue will continue to rise faster than and exceed current expenditure. Mr Angonin said that Uganda’s stable rating outlook reflects the country’s prospects for accelerating growth, improving infrastructure and consolidating institutions. “Investment in mining projects and transport will help to accelerate growth in the economy, which is small but diversified and faces considerable social challenges,” he said. Moody’s assessed Uganda’s institutional strength as very low, noting that the country’s effectiveness, regulatory quality and control of corruption scores have weakened even though its political stability, rule of law and inflation indexes have improved. Uganda’s fiscal strength is assessed as medium, because of its weak tax revenue position against relatively low debt levels. “Debt-affordability indicators are favourable, but expected...

East African Community member states are seeking to harmonise courier and postal service operations in order to ease the movement of parcels and cargo around the region. Among the areas targeted for harmonisation are electronic transactions and licensing, and regulations for regional postal and courier operations. The strategy will include an assessment of the status of the postal sector in partner states, policies, laws and regulations for the sector, establishment of effective, efficient, and sustainable postal markets and the development of a modern postal infrastructure. A survey commissioned by the EAC to guide in the development of the strategy is complete. “The baseline survey for the EAC postal sector has been concluded, and a meeting to consider the report of the survey is scheduled for May,” said Philip Wambugu, the EAC Secretariat director of infrastructure. The committee spearheading the development of the strategy comprises postmasters-general, regulators, technical ministries and the East African Communications Organisation (EACO). The committee was established in 2013 to advise the EAC Council of Ministers on postal development in the region. “We will involve the private sector to see how well we can develop the strategy,” added Mr Wambugu. A courier service provider, for example, will only require one licence to operate across the region once the harmonised regulations are in place. The current requirement is to register in each of the member states for the domestic, regional and international categories. Charges vary in each country depending on duration and category. In Kenya, the initial licence fee...