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| Administration of Maritime Affairs
Towards capacity building
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East Africa: EAC States Differ Over Criteria for Monetary Union
Barely three months before the envisaged monetary union protocol for the East African countries is made public, differences in methods of computing key economic indicators have become a tricky hurdle. At the moment, the national agencies are still using a different mix of household items to compile Consumer Price Index (CPI). This means that the resultant indicators, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which are based on constant price, may equally be misleading. Going by a study commissioned earlier by the European Central Bank to guide the region, each of the five countries have a raft of housekeeping tasks to perform before the monetary union springs to life. Each has to maintain annual GDP growth of at least seven per cent, keep inflation below five per cent, and peg national budgetary deficit to five per cent of the GDP before the union is launched. While inflation, for instance, peaked in November with 29 per cent for Uganda, followed by Kenya's 19.72, Tanzania's 19.2, Burundi's 16.4 per cent and Rwanda's 7.39 per cent, the different basis for calculating these figures imply they may not be comparable. As a result, institutions such as the envisaged East African Central Bank would find it impossible to apply monetary policies across the national borders to police the single currency expected out of a monetary union. Source: Business Daily, January 04, 2012.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201201050125.html
Djibouti
Port of Djibouti
Investments of 5.3 billion in 2012 FD
There is a gradual resumption of maritime traffic in the port of Djibouti. This upward trend is expected to be placed in storage containers, transport of livestock, imports and exports of goods within the next twelve months. A realistic forecast gives meaning to the investment program consistent and targeted the Port of Djibouti plans to achieve in 2012.
Optimism prevails among the team leader of the International Port of Djibouti (PAID) at the beginning of the New Year 2012
The statement says a lot about the renewed dynamism of this national treasure. Thus, the PAID draws significant revenue from fees for various activities that are experiencing a gradual recovery. Specifically, the modernization of its infrastructure and operational capacity building should focus spending priorities of the budget 2012, a cumulative of 11 billion of Djibouti Franc.
With the objective in the short term increased the competitiveness of Port of Djibouti, this is expected to play a leading role in the growth of the country. Source: La Nation, January 04, 2012. Link: http://www.lanation.dj/2012/2012_ln4/article7.php
Ethiopia
Semi-Processed Leather Import Encouraged
The Leather Industry Development Institution (LIDI) is dropping plans to import raw leather, opting instead to import semi-processed leather products. LIDI decided make the switch after conducting a study during the last fiscal year, with input from other African countries and looking into the experience of other leather producing nations; in an attempt to solve the shortage of supplies for local tanneries. Sources at the institute say the new direction should minimize the production process for local tanneries and reduce the environmental impact that occurs through processing. For the last two decades major leather producing countries have been importing semi processed leather products. New foreign based tanneries and the expanding local leather industry have meant a shortage of hides and skins since early last year. To keep the sector vibrant the government had been looking at the best way to import needed materials. Source: Capital, January 01st.2012.
Shell Plans Oil Pipeline construction from South Sudan to Ethiopia
The Royal Dutch Shell is planning to construct an oil pipeline line all the way from South Sudan to Ethiopia. Reliable sources told The Reporter that a business delegation from Shell visited South Sudan in November. The delegation that met senior South Sudan government officials expressed Shell’s interest in acquiring an oil exploration area in south Sudan and constructs an oil pipeline that can haul crude oil from South Sudan oilfields to Ethiopia’s Gambella region. Referendums are indeed costly. Sudan has lost its oil reserves while its neighbour, Ethiopia, had lost its two ports and refinery in Eritrea. Landlocked Ethiopia has been importing refined petroleum products since 1998. Currently, the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise is undertaking a feasibility study on building a new refinery near the Ethio-Djibouti border. Source: The Reporter, December 31, 2011.
Business Summit to sell Ethiopia to WEF Participants
A business summit aimed at presenting investment opportunities in Ethiopia to prospective participants of the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa will take place on May 8 next year, a day before the forum kick-starts in Addis. The event, Ethiopian Investment Summit 2012, is designed to link global investors with Ethiopian opportunities, according to Henok Assefa, managing partner of Precise Consult International, the company which will organize the summit in partnership with a number of strategic local and global partners. The 2012 WEF on Africa is expected to bring together over 1,000 participants, including policymakers, business leaders and professionals around the globe while it will serve as an ideal platform to sell Ethiopia to the world, according to experts associated with the WEF events. That Ethiopia, one of the fast-growing countries in the world, is a diplomatic hub and extending development to the rural poor are among the reasons for holding WEF Africa forum in Addis Ababa, a spokesman for WEF said earlier on.
Ethiopia is predicted to be one of the world's fastest growing economies over the next decade. Driven by market forces and economic policy reform, the Ethiopian economy has shifted into a trajectory growth unseen in its long history, reports said. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Ethiopia will be the third fast-growing economy in the world this year. Source: The Reporter, December 31, 2011.
Export Target Missed by 25 Percent despite Improvements
Ethiopia earned about USD 1.14 billion from exports in the five months period of the current fiscal year 2011/12. This was down by one fourth from the government’s target of earning USD 1.5 billion from exports. The government only achieved revenues beyond targets in five sectors out of the 29 total items that the country exported in the stated period. The major exports which reached beyond targets included Honey, Tantalum, minerals (excluding Gold and Tantalum), and Livestock. Next in line were exports which met 99 to 50 percent of the projected plan with flour and food exports, hair oils, coffee, chat, leather and leather products, beverages, packaged spices, gold, flowers, oil seeds, textiles, spices, wax, veterinary products and natural gum and incense meeting the above targets in descending order.
The Ethiopian Government in the 2011/12 Ethiopian Fiscal year has targeted just above USD 4.7 billion income from exports.
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