Growth of international and intra-regional trade is recognized as key factors towards achieving greater economic growth and regional integration for the East African region. However, the East African region is characterized by high costs of doing business, high costs of transportation, numerous non-tariff barriers, delays and associated administrative costs on the transit logistics chain all of which are eventually passed down to the end consumer of the goods. This cause a huge increase in the cost of goods in the landlocked countries, and given that the EAC region is a net importer, is a factor that makes the region very uncompetitive compared to the world markets and economies.

The report offers a detailed overview of the state of energy access and energy security in countries of the Eastern Africa sub-region. In reviewing the current state of energy access and energy access gaps relative to the numerous policy initiatives, the report recognizes the importance of energy in supporting the ongoing economic growth and social development of the region, and takes account of the multitude of energy policy initiatives at global, regional and state levels.

Ntungamo-Kagitumba Road upgrade kicks-off

This is the 10th edition of the Doing Business report. First published in 2003 with 5 indicator sets measuring business regulation in 133 economies, the report has grown into an annual publication covering 11 indicator sets and 185 economies. In these 10 years Doing Business has recorded nearly 2,000 business regulation reforms in the areas covered by the indicators. And researchers have produced well over 1,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals using the data published by Doing Business—work that helps explore many of the key development questions of our time. Doing Business 2013 holds new information to inspire policy makers and researchers.

The overall objective of the SG’s CEO Forum is to provide the Secretary General of the East African Community and CEOs of businesses in the region a platform for continuous dialogue to ensure that the integration process works for business and trade, EAC competitiveness, and ultimately economic growth.

Creating a monetary union for the East Africa Community requires extensive institutional preparation as well as convergence among the region’s economies. The experience of the euro zone shows the need for putting in place adequate safeguards against excessive fiscal deficits and debt. Despite a long period of institution building and many resources invested in preparing the monetary union, the euro zone currently faces a crisis that threatens its continued existence. Given that the EAC is at a much earlier stage in regional integration than was the European Union at the time of the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, it is unlikely that the EAC could create a full-fledged currency union that was effective in creating a zone of monetary stability in much less than a decade.

The East African Common Market Protocol that came into force in 2010 provides for the free flow of goods, labour, services and capital across the EAC bloc. To achieve this, members undertook to remove all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. While progress has been made on the removal of the former, doing away with the Non-tariff barriers along the main transport corridors of the region has remained a challenge.