INTERNATIONAL

ICC releases set of tax measures to save small businesses in response to COVID-19 - Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the global economy, accounting for 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. As part of a global call to take urgent and decisive action to Save Our SMEs, ICC has outlined key tax measures that governments can implement to ensure stimulus efforts flow rapidly into the real economy and provide direct and immediate support. The statement outlines short-term measures to reduce compliance burdens, including flexibility in extending deadlines for tax filing payments, and measures to increase the short-term liquidity of MSMEs. These include measures such as the deferral or waiving of tax payments, flexibility measures for debt payments, temporary tax refunds, and cash-flow assistance to MSMEs. Looking ahead, the statement also calls for additional assistance to MSMEs to bolster the post-COVID-19 economic recovery. “Given the cross-border nature of supply chains, such stimulus and safeguard measures should be taken in a coordinated manner at both the national and international levels,” the paper states. Tax measures outlined in the statement aim to provide direct and immediate support to MSMEs as they continue to navigate the economic fallout associated with COVID-19.  As countries consider a broad range of policy tools to effectively respond to the crisis, the ICC statement serves as a best-practice guide against which governments can benchmark their support measures. ICC also supports the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) targeted and temporary tax policy and tax administration measures to relieve the economic repercussions of the pandemic. The OECD maintains a useful compilation of tax measures that governments have taken to help preserve business continuity and curb the negative effects of COVID-19. (ICC)

Key Words: ICC, COVID-19, Tax Measures

DDG Wolff: Policy coordination needed to address pandemic challenges – In virtual remarks delivered to a 20 April webinar on the role of the WTO in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted by the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff underlined the importance of global policy coordination to ensure an adequate supply of medicines and medical products to affected countries. “What has been discovered is that when it comes to medical supplies to fight the coronavirus, neither the unrestrained competition of the marketplace nor uncoordinated national government interventions are a satisfactory method to manage scarcity,” he declared. “Trade responses in more than a few instances were designed to facilitate trade(3), mainly through suspending tariffs on imports of needed medical supplies.  Of concern, however, were 102 measures that were trade restrictive, consisting largely of export controls placed on products the supplies of which governments worried were inadequate to meet domestic demand.(4) The first coordinated international response came on 26 March in the form of a pledge by G20 leaders, followed a few days later by a declaration by G20 trade ministers.  The G20 countries committed themselves to using measures that would be “targeted,  proportionate, transparent, and temporary”.  The leaders emphasized “the importance of transparency in the current environment and [committed] to notify the WTO of any trade related measures taken”. The trade ministers further agreed to assure “that emergency measures . . .  do not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global supply chains and are consistent with WTO rules.”As might be expected, the degree of conformity with these commitments has so far been mixed.  Notifications have increased, so there is greater transparency.  These consist of references to both forward-leaning measures favoring the freer flow of trade in medical supplies as well as trade-restrictive measures. (WTO)

Key Words: WTO, COVID-19, Policy Coordination

Environmental impacts of coronavirus crisis, challenges ahead - Many rural and coastal populations rely on the sustainable use of the local environment and its natural resources whether they be small-holder farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) involved in the production of BioTrade, forestry and fishery products and ecotourism services. As the crisis causes disruptions in their linkages to both national and international demand-side markets, rural producers, of whom many are women supporting entire households, are now no longer able to fully maintain their business models and livelihoods. If the crisis is prolonged, many will be forced to abandon existing sustainable production in order to generate income quickly in domestic markets, potentially resulting in further poverty and over-exploitation of natural resources and ecosystems. Helping rural and coastal producers to adapt to crisis market conditions and take actions for recovery and improved performance in post-crisis markets is a top priority. UNCTAD’s Sustainable Trade and Environment Programme stands ready to assist stakeholders from governments, producer associations, SMEs, MSMEs, independent producers (including women entrepreneurs) and civil society to elaborate coronavirus adaptation and resilience strategies. Actions taken by producers pursuant to such strategies can help maintain subsistence income levels, while ensuring the sustainable management of agricultural, forestry, marine and biodiversity-rich ecosystems. Such strategies are expected to be based on enhanced collaboration by affected producers and public support entities in order to adjust to new market realities. To be effective, such assistance needs to be implemented as soon as travel restrictions are eased. Follow-up activities will later be provided to assist countries to restore their businesses when the crisis comes to an end. UNCTAD’s support includes methodologies for market assessment and trade-related responses as well as means to reforge direct linkages with sourcing businesses interested in restoring a sustainable flow of natural inputs. (UNCTAD)

Key Words: UNCTAD, COVID-19, Trade Facilitation

COVID-19: time for gender inclusive decision-making - Experts find that pandemics make existing gender inequalities for women and girls worse, and can impact their treatment and care. The World Economic Forum has warned that ‘as health systems become stretched, many people with COVID-19 will need to be cared for at home, adding to women’s overall burden, as well as putting them at greater risk of becoming infected’. Unpaid caregiving is already an obstacle for women globally, with negative impacts on women’s opportunity to participate in the formal economy and seek education or training. Recognition of the role of women in the immediate response may seem obvious. Recognition of the role of women as part of the economic solution should also be straightforward. However, this does not seem to be the case. The Women 20 Engagement Group is concerned about the lack of direct recognition among G20 leaders of the need to address the impact the pandemic and national responses are having on women. We urge that policies and public health efforts address the gendered impacts of disease outbreaks. The G20 is a primarily economic forum, with its member countries representing 80 percent of the world’s economic output, 75 percent of its trade and two-thirds of its population. G20 outcomes include important guidance to financial systems which demand global collaboration.  In its Presidency year, the Saudi Arabian Government has determined to make women and youth priority work strands. This cannot be lost in the current turmoil. The agenda is more relevant now than ever. The achievement of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and the Brisbane 25×25 target, a commitment to reduce the gender gap in labour force participation by 25 percent by 2025, is jeopardized unless G20 leaders pave the way for equitable economic recovery. (OECD)

Key Words: OECD, Gender Equality, COVID-19

Slow Recovery Needs Confidence Boosting Measures – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for governments to work with the industry on confidence-boosting measures in the face of an anticipated slow recovery in demand for air travel. “Passenger confidence will suffer a double whammy even after the pandemic is contained—hit by personal economic concerns in the face of a looming recession on top of lingering concerns about the safety of travel. Governments and industry must be quick and coordinated with confidence-boosting measures,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. An IATA-commissioned survey of recent travelers found that:

• 60% anticipate a return to travel within one to two months of containment of the COVID-19 pandemic but 40% indicate that they could wait six months or more
• 69% indicated that they could delay a return to travel until their personal financial situation stabilizes

In addition to confidence-building and stimulus measures, the anticipated slow recovery also adds urgency to the need for emergency financial relief measures. IATA estimates that some 25 million jobs in aviation and its related value-chains, including the tourism sector, are at risk in the current crisis. Passenger revenues are expected to be $314 billion below 2019 (-55%) and airlines will burn through about $61 billion in liquidity in the second quarter alone as demand plummets by 80% or more.(IATA)

Key Words: IATA, Global Business, COVID-19

PAN AFRICA

AfCFTA must start July 1 – Legal, policy and transactions specialist David Ofosu-Dorte wants the July 1 starting date for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) maintained. According to him, the move will engage the consciousness of African leaders and push them to support each other – not only to fight COVID-19 but also begin to boost intra Africa trade volumes. He believes the commencement of AfCFTA in July will be a significant indicator for African leaders to start ramping up their industrial powers to begin exporting to other African countries during and post COVID-19. He is optimistic that this will be very efficient for African countries that took the Boosting Intra-Africa Trade strategy – which is a component of the AfCFTA – seriously from the beginning. The Action Plan for Boosting Intra-Africa Trade was infused into the AfCFTA to specifically help deepen Africa’s market integration and significantly increase the volume trade that African countries undertake among themselves. “This is a signal that companies and government must start preparing. The July date is significant as well, because it doesn’t make us go to sleep; it makes us do the things that we are able to do within the period. And when trade starts it will help us with adequate preparation, as it will take some time for trade to pick up.” He advised that virtual meetings can be held and contracts can be signed to keep operations running among African companies and suppliers. “This will put some pressure on all of us so that we can hit the ground running when COVID-19 is over,” he said on the Eye On Port programme. His views are coming on the back of the Economist Intelligent Unit (EIU), the London-based business intelligence unit, which is predicting that African countries are likely to postpone AfCFTA taking effect from July 1 this year (2020). (Ghana Web)

Key Words: AfCFTA, AU, Regional Integration

President Ramaphosa to engage African business leaders – In line with decision of the Extended African Union Bureau meeting held on the 3rd April 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Wednesday, 22 April 2020, chair a virtual meeting of business leaders on the continent to discuss the continental impact of the COVID19 pandemic and the response to this challenge. The President will convene the virtual meeting in his capacity as African Union (AU) Chair. Members of the AU Bureau, other invited Heads of State and/or Government, the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and business leaders from some of Africa’s largest firms are expected to participate in the meeting. The engagement aims to foster business support for the African Union's Joint Continental Strategy for the COVID-19 outbreak; and will discuss the development of a continent wide initiative to assure the resilience of the African economy, and Africa's joint capacity to manage the economic consequences of the pandemic. The AU Bureau has been engaging with various sectors including the World Health Organisation (WHO), Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention as well as developmental finance institutions, in an effort to coordinate a broader response and to mitigate some of the challenges brought by this crisis. (The Presidency)

Key Words: Africa, COVID-19, Business

African regulatory agencies, ethics committees to expedite COVID-19 clinical trial reviews – National regulatory authorities and national ethics committees from across Africa have agreed to combine their expertise to expedite clinical trial review and approvals for new multinational preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, joint reviews are based on voluntary cooperation between the national regulatory authorities and ethics committees. Each country is solely responsible for granting regulatory approval. The agreement was reached during a virtual meeting convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 1 April 2020 under the platform of the African Vaccines Regulatory Forum (AVAREF), one of the Continental Technical Committees of the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Initiative. AVAREF, established by WHO in 2006, is an informal capacity-building platform aimed at improving the regulatory oversight of interventional clinical trials conducted in Africa. Over the years the platform has demonstrated its value in strengthening regulatory and ethics reviews, promoting harmonized standards and approaches and accelerating the review of vaccines of high public health value – most recently in relation to vaccines against Ebola – among member countries. It has also shed light on the growing complexity of biomedical research, which calls for increased cooperation between partners including donors, researchers, product developers, regulators and the medical ethics community. (WHO)

Key Words: Africa, COVID-19, WHO

Minsters of the African Union Discuss Actions to Mitigate the Devastating Impacts of COVID-19 and Address Urgent Challenges in Tourism Sector –  The African Union Ministers responsible for Tourism and members of the Bureau for the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Transport, Infrastructure, Intercontinental and Interregional Infrastructure, Energy and Tourism (STC-TTIIET) held a meeting by Videoconference today 21st April 2020 on the invitation of H.E Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy at African Union Commission. The main objective of this meeting was to discuss the urgent actions to support the continental strategy on COVID-19 pandemic as a way to implement the recommendations of the AU Heads of State and Government held on 3rd April 2020 by Video Conference. The second objective was to discuss the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the tourism sector and propose mitigation measures. The African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, H.E. Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid expressed her gratitude to the Hon. Ministers for honouring the invitation and further highlighted the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 to African tourism including the important losses of jobs related to tourism services, grounding of aircrafts and closure of airports and air transport related services and complete shutdown of important public transport services. She appealed to the Hon.Ministers to propose relief measures to help the industry recover immediately once the COVID-19 pandemic is contained. The bureau strongly underscored that the COVID-19 pandemic challenges our continent to deploy rapid, strong and lasting responses to create a strong African Tourism Industry. The Bureau reaffirmed their resolution to operationalize the African Tourism Strategic Framework and requested the Commission to take appropriate action to that effect. (AU)

Key Words: AU, COVID-19, Tourism Sector

New agreement to facilitate Sino-Africa trade - The South Africa-China Economic and Trade Association (SACETA) and Africa Oil & Power (AOP) on Monday signed an agreement that will introduce Chinese corporations to African projects and firms, SACETA said on Monday. SACETA said the partnership will see the Chinese build critical new commercial links within the private and public sectors.“The partnership signed will to some extent help bring more investment to the African energy sector and gradually solve the problem of power shortages on the continent,” Said SACETA chairperson Wenan Wang. AOP, a leading events organizer in Africa, said they will give exhibition space to Chinese companies at all its 2020 events and set up bilateral meetings between governments and private sector and Chinese enterprises. “China’s impact on the African energy sector has been tremendous, but there is so much room still to grow in electrification, energy infrastructure building, and project financing. This partnership expands the AOP community with the aim of bringing meaningful investment into African projects,” said AOP acting CEO James Chester. SACETA has over 160 Chinese companies based in South Africa in the sectors of energy, finance, infrastructure, mining, ICT and among others. The partnership is expected to promote trade between Chinese and Africans governments and private sectors.

Key Words: Policy Response, COVID-19, Sino-Africa Trade

Op-Ed: ‘Team Africa’ can unlock African supply chains – The current COVID-19 related economic challenges, both locally and throughout Africa, starkly highlight the need for pan-African companies and governments to support African supply chains, and in so doing, to boost economic activity on the continent. This can be achieved by procuring the production of goods and services for infrastructure and industrial projects via the mechanism of ‘Team Africa’, which is a concept in which local suppliers and manufacturers collaboratively supply mining, industrial, power generation and other sector projects. “COVID-19 provides further impetus for Africa to support its own supply chains which will stimulate business in a myriad of upstream and downstream supply chains,” says Nicolette Skjoldhammer, managing director of South African steel fabricator and erector Betterect. “While the new intra-African trade agreement provides opportunities and incentives for African stakeholders to procure from local businesses, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown industry just how dependent Africa has become on the Asian supply of goods and services, and prices of Asian consumables – to name but one supply chain item among many – are rising exponentially,” she advises. Skjoldhammer says that one of the ways in which industrial supply chains on the continent can collaboratively drive growth, is when companies focusing on the supply, processing, fabrication and erection of steel structures join forces to deliver pan-African infrastructure projects in the mining, power generation, petrochemical and other industries. “These companies are able form a cooperative and synergistic ‘Team Africa’, which supplies and processes the steel, or fabricates and installs the finished steel structures,” she explains.  (ESI Africa)

Key Words: COVID-19, African Supply Chains, African Economy

Call for Applications: Online course on Urbanization and Inclusive Economic Growth in Africa – Currently, African national development plans consider urban issues as a sectoral issue, with a limited role in economic transformation and industrialization. Urban goals in many national development plans of African countries are often expected to deal with poverty and informality, rather than to realize the economic opportunities that cities and urbanization represent. In the same vein, national development plans often place a priority on agriculture and rural development over urban economic productivity, even in countries where the population is approaching 50 per cent urban or beyond and GDP growth is driven by urban economic sectors. This results in urban underinvestment, with significant consequences for the economy in the long term. At the end of the course, participants will have an enhanced understanding of the role of urbanization in Africa’s transformation, in line with Agenda 2063 and the SDGs. The self-paced course will be opened from 04th May 2020 to 28 June 2020. In addition, each module has interactive lessons that provide the core content around the topic for that module. The lessons are designed in a way that learners are also able to self-assess their understanding through built-in quizzes. (UNECA)

Key Words: UNECA, Economic Growth, IDEP

NORTH AFRICA

President Tebboune calls to speed up implementation of new economic model  – “President Tebboune insisted on taking practical measures to speed up the implementation of a new economic model based on the diversification of development and knowledge economy, in addition to a new industrialization policy steered towards small, medium and emerging industries, pointing out the importance of giving the priority to the products with high integration rate,” said the communiqué of the Presidency of the Republic. “This industrial policy will allow reducing the import bill and creating jobs,” added President of the Republic. Speaking after the presentation by Minister of Industry and Mining Ferhat Ait Ali Braham on the state of his sector, President of the Republic ordered to make an inventory of all unexploited national natural resources to “strengthen our export capacities, offset lower hydrocarbon revenues and preserve this wealth to the coming generations,” said the source. “We have expertise and material resources likely to protect us from the instability of oil revenues,” said President of the Republic, calling for the development of human resources to win the bet, overcome the aftereffects of Covid-19 pandemic and lay the foundations for a real national industry within the framework of a real economy whose objectives are well defined.   Commenting on this presentation, President of the Republic affirmed that the assessment must be based on real facts to come out with a clear vision of what we want to achieve. Unfortunately, he lamented, this reality shows that we haven’t managed, to date, to produce locally at 100% a television or a refrigerator while Algeria possesses scientific experts in several fields. Experts who have shown their potential in our collective fight against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, added President Tebboune. (Algeria Press Service)

Key Words: Algeria, COVID-19, Policy Response

EAST AFRICA

Kenya bets on local tourism to recover from covid-19 – Kenya plans to leverage local tourism to recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic of the new coronavirus, Tourism secretary Najib Balala (pictured) reported. The new strategy, which aims to promote national and regional travel, is expected to last two years. Its objective is to accelerate the recovery of the tourism sector, after the covid-19 crisis which led to the suspension of activities in the sector. Due to its importance in the Kenyan economy (the country's third-largest source of foreign exchange after remittances and agricultural exports), the authorities expect the slowdown in the sector to have a strong impact on the country's economic growth. The new plan also comes at a difficult time for Kenyan tourism, which is barely emerging from the shock of the terrorist attacks on the country's busy hotels in 2019. Last year, the number of tourists who visited Kenya grew by only 1% compared to 37% the previous year. “We need not be dependent on international tourism and must start investing heavily in the domestic and regional market,” Secretary Najib Balala said.  (Ecofin Agency)

Key Words: Kenya, Tourism Sector, COVID-19

WEST AFRICA

‘Remote Trading May Encourage Direct Transactions by Investors’ – The full remote trading activated by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last month may encourage direct transactions by interested investors, the Chairman, the Chairman, Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria ( ASHON), Chief Onyenwechukwu Ezeagu, has said. The NSE had last closed its trading floors as part of efforts to curtail the spread of the COVID-19.Since then, stockbrokers have been trading in the market via remote access. Speaking on state of the market, Ezeagu said some investors may trade directly taking advantage of the current situation. The NSE’s dynamic trading configuration enables an investor to execute transaction by using access code, generated by his stockbroking firm. But in order to prevent abuse, the stockbroker is responsible for the investor’s transaction in the event of any query from the market regulators. He explained that the policy of allowing clients to trade directly through their stockbroking firms was expected to be more operational under the current trading regime whereby all stockbroking firms trade remotely. Ezeagu noted that one of the benefits of full remote trading was that investors would no longer insist on seeing their stockbrokers physically. According to him, one of the rules of engagement for allowing an investor to trade is that such transaction must be routed through his stockbroking firm which is directly answerable to NSE. “The full remote trading is normal as many of our dealing member firms had been trading remotely over the years before the sudden advent of coronavirus. The current trading atmosphere is a learning curve for the clients. Many of them that enjoy dealing with stockbrokers physically may begin to trade themselves. But they can do this through an arrangement with their stockbroking firm, being a member of the exchange, Exchange,” said Ezeagu. (This Day)

Key Words: West Africa, Remote Trading, COVID-19

CENTRAL AFRICA

Gabon Republic signs Treaty for the Establishment of the African Medicine Agency (AMA) – The Republic of Gabon on 20th April 2020, signed the Treaty for the establishment of the African Medicine Agency (AMA) at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing the number of AU Member countries that have signed the AMA Treaty to sixteen. The signing ceremony organized by the Office of the Legal Counsel, took place between the AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, H.E Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil and the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Gabon Republic to the AU, H.E Mr. Hermann IMMONGAULT. The AMA treaty was adopted by Heads of State and Government during their 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly on 11 February 2019 in Addis Ababa. Member States are free to choose either to sign the treaty at the Headquarters of the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, or in their respective countries. According to the Charter on AU Treaties, the African Medicine Agency, will enter into force after it has been ratified by fifteen African Union Member States. Worth noting that, the AMA will serve as the continental regulatory body that will provide regulatory leadership, to ensure that there are harmonized and strengthened regulatory systems, which govern the regulation of medicines and medical products on the African continent. The Agency will regulate access to safe, effective, good quality and affordable essential medicines and health technologies through coordination of on-going regulatory systems. AMA will also strengthen and harmonize efforts by the AUC, RECs, Regional Health Organizations (RHOs) and member states, while providing them with regulatory guidance among others. (AU)

Key Words: Gabon, African Medicine Agency, AU

SOUTH AFRICA

SADC Regional Response to COVID-19 Pandemic - Since its outbreak in December 2019, COVID-19 has spread exponentially, and was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March 2020. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) recorded its first case of COVID-19 in early March, and since then, the numbers have been increasing. As of 15th April, 2020, fourteen (14) of the sixteen (16) SADC Member States have been affected by COVID-19 – Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  SADC recognises that, the effects of the c o r o n a v i r u s pandemic cut across many aspects of socio and economic spheres, resulting into diverse, and complex challenges, and devastating impacts. The impacts are across the world, and the SADC region has not been spared. The socio and economic impacts of COVID-19 in SADC may be unprecedented due to resource limitations, and inadequacies in health systems in many of the Member States. The immediate expected impact is increased unplanned public health expenditure.  Disruption of supply chains and demand side shocks, will significantly affect the commodity prices and result in weak foreign exchange, while the closures of schools, polytechnics, and universities will impact on the learners and youths in the region. In addition to measures put in place by Member States , SADC has put, and will continue putting in place regional measures that are critical in responding to the COVID-19. (SADC)

Key Words: SADC, COVID-19, Regional Response

Angola’s largest business fair to be held on the scheduled date - The 36th edition of the Luanda International Fair (FILDA 2020) will be held on the scheduled date, with no plans for postponement or amendment of the promotion period of the exhibition, said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eventos Arena Group, the company that organises the exhibition. Angola’s largest exhibition is due to be held from 14 to 18 July at the premises of the Luanda Special Economic Zone – Bengo (ZEELB), with Bruno Albernaz confirming to Jornal de Angola that, before the proclamation of a state of emergency, meetings had been held to discuss the issue of FILDA 2020, and a decision was made not to alter the original date. “The events that are scheduled for the second half of this year will all be carried out, but we are considering aspects of the evolution of the pandemic, as we plan to comply with the guidelines of the health authorities,” he said. The process of registration for exhibitors has been running smoothly, although there were some fears in March, because of the progress of the disease on a global scale, said the chairman of Eventos Arena. The organisation expects to receive, within an area of 28,000 square metres, more than 700 exporters, a similar number to the last edition, and Bruno Albernaz said that the traditional exhibitors, especially at the level of the countries, have already renewed their registration and everything points to having many participants in Angola’s largest fair. (Machauhub)

Key Words: Angola, Trade Fair, COVID-19