• CAR, Gabon, Niger, Uganda removed from AGOA
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), yesterday, approved 17 new transactions for the first quarter of the year at the board and sub-board levels, totaling over $3.3 billion.
The transactions, which span the globe, will advance key DFC priorities to promote health, food security, critical infrastructure, energy, support for small businesses and others.
To improve global food security, Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited/SPV Line III secured a $250 million facility from the DFC, which will increase fertilizer production by financing the construction of the company’s third ammonia-urea fertilizer facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In a related development, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger and Uganda’s status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has changed respectively, effective from the first of this month.
In a presidential proclamation signed by the U.S. president, Joe Biden, and issued by the office of the US Trade Representative, it said that based on actions the Government of Mauritania had taken, the country met the requirements outlined in section 104 of the act and the eligibility criteria outlined in section 502 and has now been designated a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country.
The country was on December 21, 2018, removed from AGOA as it was not making progress in meeting the requirements described in the Trade Act.
The president also said that Mauritania satisfies the criterion for treatment as a “lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country” under AGOA.
On the other hand, CAR, Gabon, Niger and Uganda have been removed from participating in AGOA as they failed to meet the requirements.
“The President initially designated CAR, Gabon, Niger and Uganda as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for purposes of section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act. I have now determined that they do not meet the requirements of the Trade Act and accordingly, I have decided to terminate the designations of CAR, Gabon, Niger and Uganda as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for purposes of the Trade Act, effective January 1, 2024.
“To reflect in the HTS that beginning January 1, 2024, CAR, Gabon, Niger and Uganda shall no longer be designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries,” he said.
