Growth in African countries is projected to decline by up to 0.2 per cent this year due to the Middle East crisis, according to a joint policy document by the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

The report titled ‘Impacts of the Conflict in the Middle East on African Economies’, cautions that African economies, which were slowly recovering from the severe consequences of COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war and rising trade tariffs, could be among the most affected by the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

Growth in African countries is projected to decline by up to 0.2 per cent this year due to the Middle East crisis, according to a joint policy document by the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank Group, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the UN Development Programme.
The main effects of the conflicts on Africa include surging prices of hydrocarbons, food products and fertilisers.

Kevin Urama, chief economist and vice president for economic governance and knowledge management at AfDB who presented the report on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, DC, recently, urged African governments not to panic or take hasty decisions that could harm their fiscal balances.

The main effects of Middle Eastern conflicts on African economies include surging prices of hydrocarbons, food products and fertilisers, noted the report.

“Eighty per cent of the oil imported into Africa comes from this region, as well as 50 per cent of refined petroleum,” said ECA executive secretary Claver Gatete.

The report recommends, in particular, strategic inflation management to ensure short-term price stability expectations. It cautions oil-exporting countries to adopt strict fiscal discipline by managing windfall revenues prudently, while strengthening debt-monitoring, and using energy reserves strategically.

Where fiscal space allows, it advises that temporary and targeted social protection measures be deployed to shield the most vulnerable populations from the crisis, added the report.

However, the report urged governments to avoid broad-based subsidies that could worsen long-term fiscal deficits, and to diversify sources of energy, inputs and food supplies.

It also recommends that African governments strengthen regional and intra-African trade in oil and fertiliser markets to enhance resilience; and ensure smooth inter-institutional coordination to harmonise strategic monetary and fiscal policies.

At the same time, the report calls upon development partners, multilateral banks and development finance institutions to provide emergency support to African countries through crisis response measures and technical assistance.

It also recommends a speedy operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), while strengthening large-scale domestic capital mobilisation.

The report also suggested Africa to diversify its energy mix by accelerating investments in renewable energy and the gas sector.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

The Indian Ministry of Commerce & Industry has undertaken a series of targeted reforms to strengthen the functioning of norms committees (NCs) under the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), it recently said.

The measures aimed at improving turnaround time, enabling early approvals and enhancing transparency and predictability under the Advance Authorisation (AA) scheme.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce & Industry has undertaken a series of targeted reforms to strengthen the functioning of norms committees under the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, it recently said.
The measures—aimed at improving turnaround time, enabling early approvals and enhancing transparency and predictability under the Advance Authorisation scheme—have resulted in improved outcomes.

DGFT administers the AA scheme and the Duty-Free Import Authorisation (DFIA) scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy. These schemes allow duty-free import of inputs that are physically incorporated in export products.

Authorisations are generally issued against notified standard input-output norms (SION). In cases where SION is not available, authorisations are issued based on self-declared input-output norms by applicants, which are subsequently examined and finalised by sector-specific NCs.

At present, seven NCs are operational under DGFT, covering a range of export sectors. These comprise technical authorities and domain experts from relevant ministries and departments. They are responsible for fixation of SION and ad-hoc norms, recommending SION notifications and facilitating issuance of authorisations in accordance with the Foreign Trade Policy and handbook of procedures.

The functioning of NCs had been affected by capacity constraints due to a limited number of technical authorities. As of early February 2026, only twelve technical members were associated with the committees, including five serving government officers, resulting in increasing pendency due to overlapping responsibilities.

To address these challenges, a series of reforms have been introduced. These include strengthening of governance and processes; augmentation of technical capacity; and a special disposal drive for expeditious disposal of pending applications.

Detailed guidelines have been issued to ensure uniformity and consistency in the functioning of NCs. These include institutionalised scheduling of meetings on a fixed fortnightly cycle, prioritisation of long-pending cases, time-bound finalisation of meeting minutes and systematic monitoring of pendency and case ageing.

Efforts have also been made to identify recurring cases for conversion into SION to reduce repetitive approvals.

Line ministries have been requested to nominate additional technical officers to the committees to enhance sectoral expertise and reduce dependence on a limited pool of members.

As part of capacity augmentation, ten additional technical members have been nominated from various ministries, increasing the total number of technical authorities from 12 to 22.

The reforms have resulted in improved outcomes, a release from the ministry said. Between January 2026 and 7 April 2026, a total of 38 NC meetings were held, in which 3,925 cases were taken up and 1,770 cases were disposed of.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

In February, Fibre*Fashion reported, citing an Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency report, that the India–EU FTA pushes for eliminating the duties on shipments from India and giving the country a competitive edge against competitors such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, who have so far enjoyed free entry into the EU region.

The FTA between India and the EU is expected to come into effect sometime in early January and with the United Kingdom in June or July this year. CEO of The Synerg, Karthikeyan Shanmugam, said in an interview with Fibre*Fashion that the future is quite good for India’s textile industry as the FTAs come into place.