Africa’s global mobility continues to suffer as the world watches the COVID-19 crisis in India. Several African countries have introduced travel restrictions, and some have temporarily banned travel from India. This comes as India’s coronavirus cases skyrocket and new infection numbers reach record numbers.

Africa is largely dependent on India for their vaccine supply as India, whose Serum Institute is the source of the AstraZeneca vaccines delivered by the global COVAX project. India has placed an export ban on vaccines due to the increased domestic demand. This has adversely affected Africa’s rollout of its vaccination programs.

Countries in Africa have introduced new travel restrictions in response to India’s COVID-19 crisis:

  • Malawi – Malawi’s Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has also announced a ban on travellers from India.
  • Nigeria – Nigeria’s chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, announced in a statement that the country will ban travellers coming from India from May 4.
  • Tanzania – Tanzania’s health ministry announced that Tanzania has suspended flights to and from India amid the Covid-19 surge in India.
  • Kenya – Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe has announced that flights to and from India will be temporarily banned for the next two weeks from May 1st.
  • Uganda – Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng reported that Uganda has so far recorded one case of the Indian strain of the coronavirus. “Further to the existing Covid-19 control measures, all travellers and passengers originating from India shall not be allowed into Uganda starting at midnight of May 1, 2021,” she said.

 

Not only is the COVID-19 a threat to Africa’s vaccine supply but also global economic growth. India is the world’s sixth-largest economy and is a contributor to economic growth. These new strict travel restrictions affect the airlines and airports, and businesses dependent on the travel industry.

One of the industries heavily dependent on the travel industry is the global mobility industry. PWC reports that “40% of companies told us the pandemic has had a moderate or significant impact on the ability of mobile employees to continue with business as usual. Two-thirds of companies who had employees on secondment or transfer at the outset of the pandemic had offered them the option of returning home. As for future relocations, many have been postponed, but 58% of surveyed companies said they were allowing employees to start new roles from their home country.”

This is an adverse effect for the global mobility industry in Africa, as smaller African economies depend on the mobility of employees from large transnational companies. The ripple effect on smaller economies is much to think about. As Relocation Africa, a global mobility and immigration company, we know have seen and felt the struggles of this pandemic. We can only hope that in the near future, things will look up. In our next article, we speak in greater detail about the COVID-19 impact on global mobility.

At Relocation Africa, we specialise in mobility, research, immigration and remuneration. Feel free to contact us. We are always happy to help.

Lynn Mackenzie, J.D., LLM.
(Courtesy of Shradha Mithal, Resettle).

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, announced further relaxations in Unlock 2.0 that begins on 1st July 2020.

However, states and union territories have been given the power to further prohibit certain activities outside of containment zones within their respective states.

Macroeconomic indicators such as consumption of fuel and electricity, mobility, and retail financial transactions have seen an uptick.

The broad guidelines of Unlock 2.0 include:
• Domestic flights will be further expanded while international air travel will continue in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat repatriation mission.
• Night curfew timings are being further relaxed and will be now in force from 10 pm to 5 am. The exception being essential activities.
• Apart from curbs in containment zones, there will be no restriction on “inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods”.
• Metro rail, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls, and similar places to remain shut
• Ban remains on social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions, and other large congregations.
• Schools and colleges remain shut till 31st July 2020
• The number of persons allowed inside a shop at a time had been limited to five.

Wearing of masks, social distancing (6 feet), and maintaining general hygiene is encouraged. Work from home as far as possible is to be followed.

For more information about the above, please see this PDF document.

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For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Two KwaZulu-Natal companies are on a mission to explore export opportunities for their products in India. Royalty Agri-Biz, which is based in Pietermaritzburg and Your Best Choice, which is located in Pinetown, will be part of the Outward Trade and Investment Mission to New Delhi and Mumbai in March 2019.

The mission is organised and funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti). The purpose of the mission is to increase the trade of value-added goods and investment between South Africa and India.

The Director of Royalty Agri-Biz, Ms Fatima Cele says the trip to India could not have come at a more opportune time as the company is in the process of expanding by acquiring a tannery that will enable it to produce leather and leather products for the export market.

“We are currently sourcing cow hides from the local farmers and various communities. We then process them and supply people who make drums, shields, cushions and carpets. But we have decided to look at the bigger market and produce leather for the manufacturing of leather products. As part of our process to grow our business and achieve our objectives, we are in the process of acquiring a fully-fledged tannery from which we will be able to produce leather and leather products for the export market,” says Cele.

She also said that she will be using the trip to India to learn about the Indian leather market and to explore possible opportunities that her company can take advantage of and export leather and leather products to India.

“India is big in leather manufacturing and the mission will provide us with an opportunity to get to know how their market functions and how we can penetrate it as suppliers of leather or the actual leather products. We have undertaken a visit to China where we identify possible export opportunities and we are excited that our plans to export our products will gradually fall into place as we are optimistic about the India trip,” adds Cele.

The Chief Executive Officer of Your Best Choice, Mr Subasen Naidoo says his company is on the verge of breaking into the export market after shipping off samples of his moringa products to the United States of America, Colombia, Brazil, Ghana. Australia and the United Kingdom.

“We attended the Americas Food and Beverage Show in Miami through the assistance of the dti in October last year where we got a good order from Ghana and generated a number of good trade leads in America and other countries. We are excited that these leads are steadily developing into concrete deals. As a result, we are on the verge of signing contracts in Brazil and the US,” says Naidoo.

He adds that he will be targeting the fast food market in India and is confident that their proudly South African, organically-produced moringa Ice Tea and sugar-free energy drink will receive a warm reception in the country.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].