Rwanda has commended the United States government for having initiated the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and said it was at the discretion of Washington to withdraw AGOA benefits.

This is contained in a statement by the Ministry of Trade and Industry released Tuesday a few days after the US announced the intention to suspend Rwanda from the list of countries whose apparel exports enter the American market duty-free.

The decision by the US is a result of a move by East African countries to raise tariffs used clothes to promote the local textile industry.

“The notification by the United States on suspension of duty-free status for Rwandan apparel products under the African Growth and Opportunity Act follows a decision by East African countries to raise tariffs on second-hand clothing imports, in order to promote local manufacturing capacity in garment and other industries,” the statement released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry said.

It added: “AGOA is a commendable unilateral gesture to African countries, including Rwanda, meant to promote trade and development through exports. The withdrawal of AGOA benefits is at the discretion of the United States.”

In 2006, the Heads of State of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to take measures to gradually phase out second-hand clothing.

AGOA was originally set to expire in 2015 but it has since been renewed to 2025.

NSE records N123bn drop in foreign transactions

Foreign portfolio investors’ transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange dropped by N123bn in the first two months of the year.

Domestic transactions fell to N128.83bn in February from N274.32bn recorded in December, according to the NSE Domestic and FPI Report obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday.

Foreign portfolio investment stood at N83.22bn in February, compared to N206.48bn recorded in December.

Total transactions at the nation’s bourse dropped by 55.9 per cent from N480.80bn in December to N212.05bn in February. A total of N394.44bn transactions were recorded in January.

However, the cumulative transactions from January to February increased significantly by 257.96 per cent from N169.43bn recorded in 2017 to N606.49bn in 2018.

Domestic investors outperformed foreign investors by 21.50 per cent in February. However, total domestic transactions decreased by 43.51 per cent from N228.05bn in January to N128.83bn in February.

Foreign transactions also decreased by 49.98 per cent from N166.39bn to N83.22bn within the same period.

The NSE said, “There was a 51.07 per cent decrease in foreign inflows from N91.75bn in January to N44.89bn in February. However, foreign outflows also decreased by 48.65 per cent from N74.64bn to N38.33bn within the same period.

“The institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 37.44 per cent from N121.56bn recorded in January to N76.08bn in February 2018. The retail composition also decreased by 50.46 per cent from N106.49bn to N52.75bn within the same period. This indicates a higher participation by institutional investors over their retail counterparts.”

According to the bourse, since 2011, foreign transactions consistently outperformed domestic transactions.

“However, domestic transactions marginally outperformed foreign transactions in 2016 and 2017, accounting for 52 per cent of the total transaction value in 2017,” it said.

The NSE said foreign transactions, which was N1.539tn in 2014, declined to N518bn in 2016, but increased significantly by 133 per cent to N1.208tn in 2017, thereby accounting for about 48 per cent of total transactions in 2017.

“Over an 11-year period, domestic transactions have decreased by 62.46 per cent from N3.556tn in 2007 to N1.335tn in 2017. However, there was a significant increase in 2017 by 111 per cent from N634bn recorded in 2016,” it said.