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African Development Bank Launches Initiative to Enhance Trade in East Africa

Participants in the recent roundtable meeting of donors affiliated with the East Africa Group in Arusha, Tanzania (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Participants in the recent roundtable meeting of donors affiliated with the East Africa Group in Arusha, Tanzania (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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African Development Bank Launches Initiative to Enhance Trade in East Africa

Participants in the recent roundtable meeting of donors affiliated with the East Africa Group in Arusha, Tanzania (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Participants in the recent roundtable meeting of donors affiliated with the East Africa Group in Arusha, Tanzania (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The African Development Bank is partnering with the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to launch a capacity development project to enhance trade in East Africa.

The $1.56M EAC Trade Portal Enhancement Project will support digitized trade solutions to reduce trade barriers and enable the EAC to meet its obligations under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

It will address the lack of capacity in trade information and ICT systems, insufficient market information, poor internet connectivity, and transparency for trade and investment. The two-year multi-country trade portal enhancement project, funded by the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), was launched during the EAC Donor Round Table held in Arusha, Tanzania on 6 October 2023.

Senior Trade Facilitation Officer at the African Development Bank, Rachael Nsubuga explained that the bank’s trade facilitation programs are designed to reduce barriers to international trade and facilitate both intra-African and external trade.

“This project will complement other programs of the African Development Bank in the region by providing digitalized trade solutions and data to support investment climate and customs modernization work,” Nsubuga.

The project falls under the African Development Bank’s strategic priority of integrating Africa and its Regional Integration Strategic Paper (RISP 2023-2027) priorities.

It will leverage partnerships to enhance and integrate existing digital trade information facilitation and customs modernization systems to share intra-regional and extra-regional market information.

This will further contribute to the EAC single window goal as well as increased trade with key trading partners like the African Continental Free Trade Area, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -plus markets. The EAC Trade Portal Enhancement Project is a pilot project that can be a model for the rest of the world.

The Secretary General of the East African Community Secretariat, Dr. Peter Matuki, said: “The EAC is committed to trade transparency and partnerships in developing regional trade. Enabling infrastructure coupled with capacity building can further bolster the region’s trade ecosystem for sustained socio-economic gains.”

The enhanced regional portal will be user-friendly and interactive with measurable online connectivity indicators linked to artificial intelligence tools that feed into other systems such as customs, and EAC’s non-tariff barriers monitoring system.

It will be linked with national trade portals to provide real-time assistance on non-tariff barriers and the calculation of trade procedure costs.

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Inflation Rose to 2.3% in Europe. That Won't Stop the Central Bank from Cutting Interest Rates

A view shows the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry as a metro operated by the Paris transport network RATP passes over the Pont de Bercy bridge in Paris, France, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
A view shows the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry as a metro operated by the Paris transport network RATP passes over the Pont de Bercy bridge in Paris, France, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
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Inflation Rose to 2.3% in Europe. That Won't Stop the Central Bank from Cutting Interest Rates

A view shows the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry as a metro operated by the Paris transport network RATP passes over the Pont de Bercy bridge in Paris, France, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
A view shows the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry as a metro operated by the Paris transport network RATP passes over the Pont de Bercy bridge in Paris, France, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro currency rose in November — but that likely won’t stop the European Central Bank from cutting interest rates as the prospect of new US tariffs from the incoming Trump administration adds to the gloom over weak growth.
The European Union’s harmonized index of consumer prices stood up 2.3% in the year to November, up from 2.0% in October, the EU statistics agency Eurostat reported Friday.
Energy prices fell 1.9% from a year ago, but that was offset by price increases of 3.9% in the services sector, a broad category including haircuts, medical treatment, hotels and restaurants, and sports and entertainment, The Associated Press reported.
Inflation has come down a long way from the peak of 10.6% in October 2022 as the ECB quickly raised rates to cool off price rises. It then started cutting them in June as worries about growth came into sharper focus.
High central bank benchmark rates combat inflation by influencing borrowing costs throughout the economy. Higher rates make buying things on credit — whether a car, a house or a new factory — more expensive and thus reduce demand for goods and take pressure off prices. However, higher rates can also dampen growth.
Growth worries got new emphasis after surveys of purchasing managers compiled by S&P Global showed the eurozone economy was contracting in October. On top of that come concerns about how US trade policy under incoming President Donald Trump, including possible new tariffs, or import taxes on imported goods, might affect Europe’s export-dependent economy. Trump takes office Jan. 20.
The eurozone’s economic output is expected to grow 0.8% for all of this year and 1.3% next year, according to the European Commission’s most recent forecast.
All that has meant the discussion about the Dec. 12 ECB meeting has focused not on whether the Frankfurt-based bank’s rate council will cut rates, but by how much. Market discussion has included the possibility of a larger than usual half-point cut in the benchmark rate, currently 3.25%.
Inflation in Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy, held steady at 2.4%. That “will strengthen opposition against a 50 basis point cut,” said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro at ING bank, using financial jargon for a half-percentage-point cut.
The ECB sets interest rate policy for the European Union member countries that have joined the euro currency.