Browsing: South Sudan

Could East Africa Member states unite to form the most powerful federation in Africa? www.theexchange.africa

With the recent addition of the DRC to the East African region, landlocked countries have found an alternative port of entry in the Atlantic Ocean. The swiftness of trade with two ports of entry and the region’s strategic location will be incomparable to any other region on the continent.

The East African Federation would be the fourth largest country in both population and landmass, trailing after China, India and the United States. President Uhuru Kenyatta says that the federation would have over 300 million people.

The gross domestic product for the region will sum up to US$250 billion, the fourth-largest in Africa and the 34th biggest globally. Since the beginning of the last decade, East Africa has had the fastest growing economy globally. In 2019, the region’s economy grew by about 5 per cent. If the federation continues with this growth rate, the new country would quickly become the biggest superpower in Africa.

The EAF would become Africa’s largest superpower precisely because of the weaker nations surrounding the region. Among the languages official languages suggested in the region will be English and Swahili.

EABC-TMEA holds a dialogue in Elegu-Nimule OSBP. www.theexchange.africa

South Sudan joined the East African community joined the EAC in April 2016, after being the youngest nation to gain independence on July 9, 2011. In 2020, South Sudan’s exports summed up to US$87 million to the EAC member states, while imports amounted to US$573 million.

In contrast to the year 2016, the exports and imports to the same stood at US$2.6 million and US$400 million respectively.

According to the International Trade Center, South Sudan exported US$86 million and imported US$357 million from Uganda in 2020.

Tanzania target to build giant grain silos in Mombasa. www.theexchange.africa

The Tanzania Cereals and Other produce Board (CPB) reported that the grain stores in Juba and Lubumbashi were already experiencing a vibrant business environment. They also expected the Mombasa facility to outperform the two.

According to the 2019 Statistics, Tanzania exported more than 97,000 tonnes of maize. This factor opened the country to the opportunity of launching its grain surplus scheme with the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT).

SAGCOT was established in 2010 to create a transformed and economically viable agricultural sector in Tanzania that protects food security, enhances environmental sustainability, and improves livelihoods. The Agricultural growth corridor uses 350,000 hectares in the fertile southern islands of Tanzania to grow maize, wheat, paddy, sorghum, cassava, millet, beans, bananas and sweet potatoes.

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That year, in 2015, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania settled for a three-year plan to phase out the importation of used clothes, a major exporter been the United States. To realise the intended ban, taxes were increased on second-hand clothes were increased effectively deterring their importation. The plan was to completely ban the import of second-hand clothes as of 2019.

This ambitious vision was never realized as the Trump administration issued an ultimatum for EAC to rescind the ban on second-hand clothes by 23 February 2018 or, as the DW writer Isaac Mugabi puts it ‘face the consequences.’