Browsing: Agoa

Until the Biden Administration, US-Africa trade relations had remained remarkably consistent. Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), in place since October 2000 through five separate US administrations, has been the ‘centrepiece’ of this consistency.…

• Ongoing wars in Africa are bleeding billions from poor economies as investors flee the region.
• Sudan army is spending about $1.5 million per day fighting the Rapid Support Forces.
• IMF says Ethiopia’s GDP contracted from 9 percent in 2019 to 6.1 percent in 2020 as Tigray war intensified.

Wars in Africa are costing an arm and a leg, and throwing an awful wrench on poor economies that are hardly providing the bare minimum to their citizens. Take for instance the latest ongoing war in Sudan. Sudan Tribune notes that it is costing roughly $1.5 million every day for the Sudanese army to fight the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

For Sudan, a country whose poverty rate rose from 64.6 percent in 2021 to 66.1 percent last year, $1.5 million is a huge sum of money to be wasted on senseless fighting.

Wars in Africa yielding economic crisis

Sudan is one of …

• Governor Patrick Njoroge has written to Janet Yellen seeking audience with her during this year’s Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• The meetings are set to take place in Washington DC from  April 10 –16.
• In January, the World Bank revised downwards Kenya’s growth projection for 2023 to five per cent from 5.2 per cent.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor is keen to meet the US Secretary of the Treasury, as the East African country navigates through tough economic times occasioned by both global and domestic factors.

Governor Patrick Njoroge has written to Janet Yellen seeking audience with her during this year’s Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), set to take place in Washington DC from  April 10 –16.

This is after failing to meet Yellen last October.

“I would greatly appreciate …

• The influx of used clothes from the west in effect affects the development of textile industries in the EAC
• Five years later, a new administration, Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war not to mention a stronger China economy, the US may reconsider EAC state’s position.
• EA States have 2 years to consider if they want AGOA renewed

In 2015, all major economies in East Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia proposed to ban the importation of second-hand clothes but the US would have none of it.

The intention was good, even noble: Banning second-hand imports would strengthen the domestic textile industry which would create jobs and other positive ripple effects.

“The US claimed this proposal goes too far and violates the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which aims to expand trade and investment on the continent,” the media reported.

Once the US pulled the AGOA card, the East African …

• US$55 billion to be invested in Africa over the next three years along with several new partnerships and initiatives.
• The U.S.-Africa Business Forum was held and attended by 300 executives from American and African companies.
• For African youth development, the US announced more than $100 million in funding for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

This year’s U.S. Africa Leaders Summit (13-15 Dec) in Washington has been defined not by the African guest’s colourful dress code, but by the billions that were pledged in aid, grants and support.

To the welcome of the flamboyant African leaders and businessmen, US officials and corporate chiefs announced US$55 billion to be invested in Africa over the next three years along with several new partnerships and initiatives.

The sum is significant, but going with President Joe Biden’s statement, this is just the beginning. “There’s so much more we can do together and that we …

Ahead of the US-Africa Summit in December, the Russia-Africa Summit next year and as new geopolitical alliances form, Africa is under great pressure to take sides.

China is increasingly becoming a strong economic powerhouse while Russia is making its own stand. The West finds itself reliving history, scrambling for portions of Africa.

This summer was most fulfilling for me, not because the Earth’s revolution had finally brought the sun to shine on my part of the World, I live in Tanzania, East Africa, its spring and summer all year around.

• Africa is under increasing pressure to take sides in new global alliances
• Africa wants an economic proposal in the upcoming US-Africa Summit
• 2022 witnessed the highest number of diplomats & presidents visiting Africa

No, it was not the weather, the reason my summer was most memorable is that my daughter came to visit from the US. We had excellent family …

Richard Neal, a US Representative who chairs the trade and tax-focused House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, held out hope that the US-Kenya talks could develop into a full trade deal.

“This initiative will lay the groundwork for a comprehensive free trade agreement that includes market access, builds off AGOA, and complements both regional and continental integration,” he said in a statement.

Neal said the United States should “embrace” Kenya’s willingness to deepen its economic ties with the United States.

Meanwhile, Meg Whitman has been confirmed by the US Senate as the new US Ambassador to Kenya. She will take over for Kyle McCarter, who left in January 2021.…

Agriculture value chain analysis, also commonly referred to as mapping the agriculture value chain, is the assessment of the value chain participants and factors influencing the performance of the agricultural commodity industry and evaluating the relationships between these participants to identify the main constraints.

The purpose of agricultural value chain analysis (AVCA) is to increase the efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of an agricultural sub-sector or industry and develop solutions for how the identified constraints can be overcome.

AVCA assists in developing an understanding of how value chain actors/participants deal with powers and who governs or influences the chain.…

Worth noting here is that Africa, including Ethiopia and most of its East African neighbours, are squirming in shipments of second-hand clothing, interestingly, imported from Europe, North America and other western countries.

What better defines neo-colonialism than Africa producing clothes to be exported to Europe and North America only for these very clothes to be sold back to Africa after they have been used! This sounds worse than the renowned exploitative colonial and post-colonial trade agreements (that still hold true and strong) where Africa, using cheap labour, produces raw material, which is cheaply exported to Europe, processed, packaged and sold back to Africa!

Several East African countries have attempted to honour up and ban the import of second-hand clothes. As you can imagine, the attempt failed.…