Business / Trade in South Africa
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CHINA, 2017/09/04
This weekend, the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—will convene in the Chinese city of Xiamen for their annual summit. It wasn’t long ago that the BRICS were heralded as the future of the globalized economy. Then, for a variety of reasons, the group lost a bit of its luster. Now’s the time to check back in with them.
1. BRICS straddle one quarter of the world
The story of the BRICS—or technically, BRIC countries (South Africa joined in 2010)—begins with Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, who wrote a paper in 2001 arguing that these were the emerging superstars most likely to dominate the 21st century globalized economy. Taken together, these five countries cover 40 percent of the world’s population and more than 25 percent of the world’s land. The sky seemed the limit.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/08/30
"Africa is terra incognita for the Trump Government: a continent it cares little - and understands even less - about. With no dyed-in-the-wool Trumpian Africa hands available, the government appears ready to cede Africa policy making to career civil servants and a few mainstream Republican appointees." - Matthew T. Page
The headline to Page's article in Quartz Africa states that "Donald Trump could be getting his US-Africa policy right by simply not having one." His view is actually additional nuanced, in judging that no policy would likely be only "less bad" than explicitly "bad policy" that may result from better White Home interest in Africa.
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SOUTH AFRICA, 2017/07/28
The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) has concluded a successful Trade and Investment Mission to Zambia.
Director of Export Promotion at the dti, Seema Sardha, said the 20-member South African business delegation that were part of the mission, identified countless mutually beneficial business opportunities that exist between the two nations.
The two-day investment mission that got underway on Monday, as well identified a need to create much needed partnerships towards addressing the structural challenges relating to poverty, unemployment and inequality.
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ANGOLA, 2017/07/16
South Africa and Angola are set to review evolution made in the consolidation of their bilateral relations, inclunding the implementation of bilateral projects.
The two nations will as well exchange views on current regional and international issues of mutual concern at the same time as they meet in Luanda, Angola, for the fourth Session of the Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC).
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BOTSWANA, 2017/07/14
Access to data across African economies, which has been hindered by the fragmented nature of the respective markets, is currently threatening a $400 billion intra-Africa trade potential.
Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said the present transactions price at $170 billion remained their due to wide gap in market data, which presently needs to be closed to foster accelerated trade integration.
Meanwhile, the size of intra-African trade could be doubled from the current level of about $170 billion per year to almost $400 billion by addressing the issue of availability of market data on the continent.
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UNITED STATES, 2017/07/08
Russia is actively promoting an authoritarian world order and a re-assertion of itself as a dominant geopolitical force on the international stage. For U.S. policy in Africa, this requires a re-examination of pro-democracy and human rights strategies that have been core pillars of American policy in Africa since the end of the Cold War.
The current aggressive Russian propaganda war mocks U.S claims of upholding democratic ideals and seeks to negatively highlight any and all shortcomings in the American social fabric. The anti-American tenor of Russian propaganda can be seen from even just a quick viewing of Russian national-owned Russia Today (RT) TV. Russian diplomats are as well carrying the message to African leaders that they should find their own solutions to African problems and not be forced to model themselves on the systems of non-African nations, a clear effort to encourage a rejection of liberal democratic ideals.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/06/24
Trade between African nations has long been outstripped by intra-regional trade in other parts of the world – for Africa as a whole, intra-regional trade is between 10% and 13% of total trade. This is far lower than in regions such as the EU, where about 60% of trade is between member states, and the Association of South-east Asian Nations, which has a rate of about 25%. Intra-regional trade in North America is put at about 40%.
However, the ratification of the Tripartite Free Trade Sector(TFTA) – potentially later in 2017 – could help change that and push the development of additional intra-regional trade increase. A pan-regional free-trade zone, the TFTA stretches from Cairo to Cape Town and encompasses 26 African nations.
Africa’s Tripartite Free Trade Area would reduce regional tariffs and create a pan-African single market, to aid development and cash in on a growing middle class in the continent. But with member countries often belonging to multiple economic areas, progress is both complex and slow, as Kit Gillet reports.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/06/15
Importers have threatened to increase the prices of goods if the government implements the 0.2% import tax to fund the AU.
Mr Samson Awingobit Asaki, Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association, told the Ghana News Agency that the implementation of the tax would increase the cost of operation for importers.
Mr Asaki added that at the same time as it happens like that, they would have no other choice than to transfer the cost onto the prices of goods for the consumers.
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INDONESIA, 2017/03/06
The Trade Ministry will approach six nations, mostly non-traditional markets, to try and expand Indonesian exports and discuss the potential of sealing trade agreements during a series of high-level meetings with members and partners of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) next week.
The six nations are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Africa, Bangladesh, Iran, the United States and the United Kingdom (UK).
The UAE, South Africa, Bangladesh and Iran are IORA members, while the US and the UK are IORA partners that will participate in the meetings from March 5 to March 7.
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SOUTH AFRICA, 2016/10/22
The next for a sustainable increase and development of Africa depends on increasing the levels of intra-Africa trade and investment within the African continent. This was said by the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Trade Invest Africa (TIA), Ms Lerato Mataboge during a seminar hosted by TIA, an entity of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), and the Gauteng Increase Development Agency (GGDA) in Johannesburg today.
According to Mataboge, TIA is South African government’s response to address the increase in levels of intra-Africa trade and investment within the African continent. She added that there was much evolution made in the Southern African Development Community region in terms of intra-trade and investments. However, she said, additional still needed to be done on trade initiatives driven towards the East, Central and Northern African nations to address trade imbalance.
