EAC states increase trade with Africa

While East African Community (EAC) member states are increasingly trading with one another and with other African countries, latest statistical data have shown that many other nations on the continent, such as Cameroon, still have marginal trade with Africa despite AfCFTA implementation.
According to the latest data by the EAC Secretariat, the seven EAC member countries increased their trade with the rest of Africa by 14% to $4.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared with a similar period in 2022. Intra-EAC trade also soared 12% over the same period in 2023, an indication of rising trade within the region over the year. At the same time, the EAC countries reduced their trade with the rest of the world, and most notably with Europe and Asia, shaping the intra-Africa trade dream projected to boost commerce and livelihoods on the continent. The region’s trade with the European Union countries and the United States recorded a drop of 14% and 19% respectively over the same period, signaling an improving trade integration on the continent.
This comes at a time when African governments are pushing for increased implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is hoped to lift about 65 million Africans from extreme poverty. However, many other African countries’ trade with their peers on the continent remains marginal. For example, only 12.7% of Cameroon’s export earnings last year came from African trading partners, according to latest figures released by the National Stats Agency (INS). While Cameroon cautiously began, in October 2022, to boost intra-African trade by making its first exports under the AfCFTA, the Gulf of Guinea country’s share of export earnings is still equivalent to what it captured solely from its exports to France, its second-largest customer in 2023, behind the Netherlands.