Trade between the East African Community (EAC) member states increased by 13.4 per cent to $74.1 billion in 2022 from $ 65.3 billion in 2021. Intra-EAC trade grew by 11.2 per cent to $10.9 billion in 2022 from US$9.8 billion in 2021.

The performance was announced by the EAC secretary general Dr Peter Mathuki, while delivering the State of EAC address at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, on Wednesday.

Commonly traded goods in the region, include agricultural commodities, manufactured products and services such as tourism, ICT and financial services.

Why the good performance?

The good performance is partly attributed to the reduction of time spent at the entry and exit of main EAC ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam from 86.16 hours (3.59 days) to 81.84 hours (3.2 days) in 2022.

The other contributor is the reduction in turnaround time from an average 21 days to four days along the EAC trade corridors due to the implementation of the Single Customs Territory. The EAC secretariat says through the Customs Union Protocol, trade within the EAC region has been enhanced significantly. Additionally, EAC has been an attractive foreign direct investment hub.

“The increase is attributed to a strong collaboration with partner states to promote EAC trade including admission of DRC, timely resolution of Non-Tariff Barriers, enhanced trade facilitation initiatives, harmonization of 2,568 East African standards (Partner States have adopted the EAC Harmonised Standards, ranging from 77% to 91% as of June 2023), promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises through the Annual EAC MSMEs Trade Fair (Jua Kali Nguvu Kazi exhibition), sensitisation and capacity building of relevant stakeholders, among other things,” he said.

Despite the good performance, Mathuki appealed to finance ministers of member states to speed up processes aimed at realising the common currency.

About security, Mathuki said the secretariat has resumed national consultations among member states to ensure that peace and prosperity are restored in eastern DR Congo and the region as a whole.

“Process involves consulting with various stakeholders to seek their views on what kind of political confederation they would desire for the EAC,” Muthuki said.

NTBs and protectionism challenges

However, Mathuki said non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and protectionism at the national level are the key factors impeding the growth of intra-EAC trade.

According to him, the region was, therefore, working continuously to eliminate NTBs with 26 NTBs having been resolved out of the 33 that had been reported as of June 2023.

“To facilitate free movement of goods, partner states have effectively eliminated Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) as they arise and have cumulatively eliminated a significant number of 184 NTBs with only a few remaining outstanding,” Mathuki said.

About EAC

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of seven (7) partner states, comprising Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.