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EAGC and USAID Ink Partnership to Strengthen Competitiveness in Export-Oriented Staple Food Value Chains
The United States government, through USAID’s Economic Recovery and Reform Activity (ERRA) program delivered by TradeMark Africa (TMA) with funding from Feed the Future, has awarded a three-year grant worth US$2 million to the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC). This funding will strengthen the competitiveness of export-oriented staple food value chains in East Africa. Through the five-year ERRA US$75 million program, USAID and TMA are driving transformative trade and investment reforms in the East and Horn of Africa to create jobs in the staple crops and textiles sectors, especially for women and youth. A core part of this is to increase the ability of grain producers to export both regionally and to the rest of the world. Read more
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Rwandan businesses reap dividends of automation of the country’s regulatory body
 An atmosphere of calm welcomes you as you enter the lobby of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA). This wasn’t always the case, according to Francois Gatete, the Director for Information Systems at RURA. Before 2019, RURA, which regulates all public utilities in Rwanda, struggled with the mundane, time-consuming manual processes of issuing out licenses, resulting in a crowded and chaotic lobby. To understand how complicated the scenario was, imagine this: a vendor would initiate a license request, but the finance department, trapped in an information void, couldn’t know, or track the progress of the application. Read more
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Mombasa, Dar cargo volumes keep rising with competition
 Cargo volumes at Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports have grown amid intensified competition, with Mombasa touting its efficiency while Dar is offering what it describes as favorable terms. Tanzania this week announced the completion of the $420 million Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP) and plans to expand its maritime infrastructure as it opened storage for cargo destined to four East African Community (EAC) states. Kenya charges up to $1,200 more per 40-feet container passing through the port of Mombasa. Read more
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Hope ignited as Malawi joins central corridor
 Malawi’s decision to join the Central Corridor Transport Facilitation Agency has raised hopes among the business community and the government of improved efficiency gains. The agency, a key multimodal transport network, plays a vital role in linking landlocked countries in the region such as Malawi to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Speaking in an interview yesterday, Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara said joining the Central Corridor is a strategic decision as Malawi’s affiliation to the agency is expected to yield several benefits. Read more
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Foresight Africa 2024
 The Foresight Africa 2024 report focuses on five thematic areas: development financing, climate change, digital economy, entrepreneurship, and trade and regional integration. Underscoring these pillars are three cross-cutting themes: governance, gender, and youth. 2023 was remarkably difficult. Most African countries faced multiple synchronized headwinds, including record high inflation, severe currency depreciations, and heavy debt burdens. Zambia, in debt distress in recent years agreed to a debt restructuring deal under the G20’s Common Framework. The deal unraveled because it did not offer adequate debt relief, and was at odds with the comparability of treatment principle whereby no creditor should receive more favorable treatment than others. Read more
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