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business new africa bna/IntelliNews

the third quarter of 2022,” KNBS stated, noting
that tea exports rose 45.5% during the period.
Despite the wider trade deficit, efforts by
Kenya and eight other countries to commence
trading under the Africa Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA) have begun bearing fruit, The
Star writes.
The trade arrangement has seen total exports
earnings from Africa increase from KES74bn in
the third quarter of 2021 to KES97.6bn in 2022.
bna/IntelliNews, 03 January 2023

POLICY

Announcement of

successful applicants for
RFQ phase of Nigerian Gas

Flare Commercialisation

Programme 2022
The heightened activity in the sector relates to on commodities also contributed to the steep
the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), decline in FDI between 2019 and 2020, when The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory
the midstream component of the Lake Albert Uganda experienced a 35% decrease as COVID- Commission (NUPRC) is pleased to notify
Development Project (LADP), a $10bn initiative 19 hit the country. all Interested Parties, Registered parties, the
that aims to monetise Uganda’s as-yet untapped Meanwhile, during Q4 2022, according to the investor community and the general public of
crude oil resources. central bank, Uganda’s current account deficit the conclusion of the Request for Qualification
According to the Bank of Uganda, FDI grew also widened, both on an annual and quarterly (RFQ) phase of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commer-
to $474.8mn (UGX1.769 trillion) in the quarter basis, by $112.7mn (to $3.9bn) and $41mm (to cialisation Programme (“NGFCP”) 2022 in line
while there was an 18% slowdown in capital out- $1bn), respectively, due to an 18.5% decline in with the accelerated delivery schedule.
flows to $227.6mn (UGX845.8bn), signaling a trade balance and a 25.9% rise in the services You may recall that in furtherance to the
return of investor confidence. deficit. Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA), the NGFCP
“The increased inflow was on account of a bna/IntelliNews, 05 January 2023 was restructured for enhanced value to inves-
drawdown on deposit to a tune of $125.8mn tors, following in-depth assessment of current
(about UGX468.7bn),” the central bank said, Kenya’s trade deficit industry gas flaring situation and prevailing
noting that monetary policy tightening in big operational realities, coupled with changes in
economies in late 2022 had triggered offshore widens in Q3 2022 on the socio-economic landscape since the NGFCP
investors’ exit from domestic debt securities in was initially conceived.
favour of safe and increased yields in advanced doubling of petroleum Consequently, the Request for Qualification
economies. (RFQ) was issued to enable Interested Par-
The Bank of Uganda further noted that an product, fertiliser imports ties register their interest to participate on the
Ebola outbreak during Q4 2022 had impacted Programme.
tourism receipts, which dropped by 30.7%, with Kenya’s trade deficit widened by 15.8% in the The Commission is pleased to announce that
the fallout likely to continue in the near term. third quarter of 2022, with imports of petro- 300 companies registered their interest to reval-
“Ebola is expected to continue weighing leum products and fertilisers more than dou- idate their prequalification status and submit
down tourism inflows, while high government bling, according to the Kenya National Bureau Statement of Qualification (SOQ) as existing
expenditure on imports and debt service obliga- of Statics (KNBS). bidders and new participants, respectively.
tions will likely constrain reserve build-up, fur- The trade deficit stood at KES434.0bn Following successful conclusion of the SOQ
ther weakening Uganda’s balance of payments ($3.6bn) in Q3 2022 compared to KES366.1bn evaluation exercise conducted by the Bid Evalu-
position,” it said. ($3.05bn) in the same quarter of 2021, the KNBS ation Team (BET), a total of 139 Applicants were
According to the World Bank, even before said. deemed successful and awarded the Qualified
the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, Uganda was During the quarter, exports increased by Applicant status in line with the provisions of
performing below other Sub-Saharan African 29.7% to KES227.8bn while imports increased the RFQ.
countries, with FDI averaging 4% of GDP over by 22.2% to KES661.8 bn, while the import bill To that end, and in consideration of Section
the past decade, while the regional average was also increased by 20.8% to KES601.2bn. 105 (2) of the PIA and similar provisions ena-
at 5.5% of GDP. “The growth in import bill was largely driven bling the Commission in that respect, the Com-
Foreign investments are concentrated in by a significant increase in imports of petroleum mission hereby publishes the list of Qualified
extractives with almost 55% of FDI between products, which more than doubled from KES- Applicants who will proceed to the Request for
2008 and 2017 going to the sector. This reliance 82.3bn in third quarter of 2021 to KES182.6bn in Proposal (RFP) phase of the NGFCP 2022.

Week 01 05•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P15