This archive report was first published on 7 October 2019.
On October 7, 2019, Kenya's Acting National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani toured the Moyale border post, expressing concern over the underutilization of the current facility.
Yatani noted that the Moyale One Stop Border Post should be witnessing increased trade volumes, but unfortunately, this is not the case. He directed the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to convene regular multi-agency meetings with residents to emphasize the importance of taxation and compliance.
The additional border post is part of Kenya's efforts to smoothen the agreement on free trade between Kenya and Ethiopia, which has been hindered by persistent challenges including smuggling and non-tariff barriers.
Despite these challenges, trade between the two Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) members remains a priority, supported by Ethiopia's ongoing liberalization of its domestic market under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Kenya's largest banks, Equity and KCB, have established representative offices in Addis Ababa, ahead of a possible start to operations. The balance of trade between Kenya and Ethiopia is currently tilted towards Kenya, with Kenya's exports valued at Ksh.6.3 billion in 2018, while imports were valued at Ksh.959.1 million.
However, the value of Kenyan exports to Ethiopia has fallen by 8.7 percent across five years, while imports have picked up nearly two and a half times in value over the same window.
