Finance | - Part 186

Why Intra-African Trade Matters: Working Locally to go Global

Economic integration efforts have a long history in Africa. The large number of preferential trade agreements signed in the past five decades has led to a “spaghetti bowl” of intertwined and overlapping regional organizations. Every African country is a party to at least one regional economic agreement, and many are members of five or more. Despite these efforts, intra-African trade remains low. Regional exports are less than 10 per cent of Africa’s total merchandise exports,…

Kenya’s manufacturers laud efforts to enhance intra-Africa trade

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Kenya’s manufacturers have praised efforts being made by the government to secure additional market, enhance intra-African trade and boost the country’s exports through regional trade blocks. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), which organised a forum in Nairobi to review the progress on the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) negotiations and its impact on business, lauded the ministry of foreign affairs for engaging the private sector in the talks. KAM Executive Officer in charge of…

Intra-Africa trade: Going beyond political commitments

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Among Africa’s policy wonks, underperforming trade across the continent is a favoured subject. To unravel the puzzle, they reel off facts and figures at conferences and workshops, pinpoint trade hurdles to overcome and point to the vast opportunities that lie ahead if only African countries could integrate their economies. It’s an interesting debate but with little to show for it until now. The problem is partly the mismatch between the high political ambitions African leaders…

Building Infrastructure to Spur Inter-African Trade and Tourism

Posted on by The Editorial Team

African Heads of States and Governments recognize the potential contribution of tourism to the growth and transformation of the continent, given that Africa is endowed with rich and diverse cultures, landscapes, and biodiversity. Consequently, tourism is one of the strategic areas in the New Partnership for Economic Development (NEPAD) framework, and is identified there as a key driver for socio-economic growth. To foster the development of tourism in the continent, the NEPAD Tourism Action Plan…

West Africa: New railway network aims to boost inter-regional trade

Posted on by The Editorial Team

On the dual carriageway linking the main airport to downtown Niamey, the capital of Niger, workers are busy digging trenches in the middle of the island separating the lanes, and laying tracks where rows of lampposts once stood. They are racing against the clock to build a thousand-kilometre stretch of a regional network that will connect Niamey to the West African seaport of Cotonou, Benin. The project is expected to be completed by the end…

Financing Africa’s massive projects

Posted on by The Editorial Team

It is an audacious $4.8 billion project undertaken by one of the world’s poorest countries. At the construction site in the Benishangul region of Ethiopia near the Sudanese border, some 8,500 workers are labouring tirelessly every day to build the gigantic Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. When completed in 2017, the dam will generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity for domestic consumption and export. On the surface, the 558 ft tall dam — Africa’s biggest hydropower project…

SEFA supports 72MW Solar PV power project in Cameroon

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) approved at the end of 2014 a USD 777,000 preparation grant for JCM Greenquest Solar Corporation to support the development of a 72 MW Solar Photovoltaic (PV) power plant as the first renewable energy Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Cameroon. The SEFA grant will finance environmental and social impact assessments and the cost related to the technical, legal and financial advisory services. Despite Cameroon’s abundant resource potential and…

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