Free Trade fingers crossed, some time this summer, goods should start being sold without tariffs across borders within the five countries of the East African Community (EAC). The new common market will take in 130m-plus people in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The next step is monetary union, with political federation a far remoter prospect.
The agreement signed last year at the EAC’s headquarters in the Tanzanian city of Arusha was a first step. Optimists say the EAC should join free-trade blocks in southern and western Africa before 2030.
The EAC should be better placed to trade with Congo, Ethiopia, and Sudan. And if it can build its own wider manufacturing base, its goods may start to compete with cheap stuff from China.
Kenya, which has the region’s strongest manufacturers, retailers, and banks, is sure to gain most. But for the EAC to succeed, others must win too. Rwanda and Burundi should benefit from cheaper and quicker transport of goods to and from the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. Uganda is well placed to expand its agriculture for export. Read the rest of this entry »
