This archive report was first published on 14 October 2019.
On October 14, 2019, Kenya announced plans to set up product warehouses in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to increase the ease of access to its products and reduce the country's trade deficit.
The initiative aims to increase exports and reduce competition from neighbouring countries, with Kenya's ambassador to Burundi, Ken Vitisia, stating, 'We intend to take up space at a free trade zone that the government has set up for us at the border with DRC in Gatumba, which we are marketing to Kenya's private sector.'
The free trade zone will offer Kenyan companies easy access to the Burundi market, where Kenyan brands are 16% more expensive than products from competing countries.
According to research by the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KeProBA), the high cost of Kenyan products is attributed to the high cost of manufacturing in the country, brought about by high electricity costs and huge taxes.
Kenya currently controls 6% of the combined Rwanda and Burundi markets worth $8 billion, with Nairobi's exports to DRC standing at Ksh15 billion as of 2018.
