This archive report was first published on 1 October 2021.
On October 1, 2020, the East African region was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a significant decline in intra-trade. According to the East African Business Council, the region's intra-trade dropped by 5.5 percent to $5.9 billion in 2020.
The East African Business Council (EABC) highlighted this drop during a webinar on EAC Trade and Investment Recovery amidst COVID-19. The council emphasized the importance of the private sector in driving the economic recovery agenda for the EAC regional bloc.
John Bosco Kalisa, the EABC chief executive officer, underscored the private sector's role in the region's economic recovery. Meanwhile, Rashid Kibowa, the director of Trade at the EAC secretariat, noted that the pandemic had a significant impact on trade performance, with EAC imports declining to $3.56 billion in 2020 from $3.95 billion in 2019.
Foreign direct investments in the EAC also took a hit, dropping by 43 percent to $4.9 billion in 2020. Furthermore, jobs declined by 2 percent, wiping out the gains made in previous years.
