This archive report was first published on 10 August 2019.
Published on August 10, 2019, a study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has been launched to investigate the impact of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) on regional trade.
East Africa's intra-regional trade has fallen to 0.2 per cent of global trade due to persistent trade disputes and barriers, according to Unctad.
Despite EAC partner states committing themselves to remove NTBs, they remain prevalent, hindering the region's economic growth.
Unctad Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi confirmed that the study is underway, but it was too early to discuss the results.
"I will comment when we have the results of the survey," he said.
Regional states have attempted to deal with NTBs through various initiatives, but these efforts have achieved little.
Under the EAC Time-Bound Programme for Elimination of Identified NTBs (EACS, 2009), member states were supposed to come up with a list of NTBs reported by partner states and update them during quarterly review meetings.
However, the programme has not been effective in eliminating NTBs, and the region's intra-EAC trade remains low at 20 per cent compared to other regional economic blocs.
According to the EAC Trade and Investment Report 2017, total EAC trade accounted for only 0.2 per cent of global trade in 2017 and 0.3 per cent in 2016.
