This archive report was first published on 13 October 2019.
Kenya's exports to key East African Community markets have reached a three-year high, with earnings from goods sold to Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda standing at Sh77.32 billion in the first eight months of 2019.
According to data from the Central Bank of Kenya, this represents a 5.98 percent growth over the Sh72.99 billion earned in the same period in 2018.
The improvement in exports is attributed to Nairobi's efforts to ease trade tensions with Tanzania, which have been a major hurdle for Kenyan manufacturers in recent years.
Manufacturers have long complained about tariff and non-tariff barriers, multiple fees and levies, high power charges, and inefficiencies at factories, which have made locally-made goods expensive in regional markets.
However, with the Ministries of Trade and EAC Affairs working to resolve these disputes, Kenyan factories are now seeing a significant increase in exports to regional markets.
"The Kenyan team has done a very commendable job in working with the EAC secretariat in bringing both tariff and non-tariff barriers down," said Sachen Gudka, the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers.
"We now see that trade is coming in the true spirit of an economic community. There's a definite progress, although there will always be teething problems on some of emerging issues," he added.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's meeting with his Tanzanian counterpart, John Magufuli, in July is seen as a significant step towards improving trade ties between the two countries.
As a result, Kenya's exports to Tanzania have seen a significant increase, with the order book from Tanzania expanding by Sh2.28 billion, or 8.41 percent, to nearly Sh21.54 billion in the eight-month period through August.
