EAST AFRICA IS THE FASTEST GROWING REGION FOR THE FIFTH STRAIGHT YEAR, DRC & SOMALIA ASK TO JOIN EAC

Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury (Finance Minister) Henry Rotich holds up a briefcase containing the Government Budget for the 2019/20 fiscal year in Nairobi, Kenya, June 13, 2019.

East Africa plans to fund its next year by expanding and streamlining their tax bases, exempting strategic industries and goods from taxes, and boosting local industries.

The finance ministers of four of the six members of the East African Community (EAC) presented their national budgets before their respective parliaments on Thursday. Kenya’s budget remains the biggest in the region at nearly $30 billion. Tanzania’s 2019/2020 budget is $14.3 bn, Uganda $9.1bn, and Rwanda $3.2bn.

At a total of $56.6bn, the budgets are ambitious in their continued spending on infrastructure which has plunged the region into unprecedented levels of public debt.

Part of the common solution to fill the coffers seems to be to attract investments in specific sectors and boost tax collection.

The other two members, Burundi and South Sudan, have not synchronized their financial years with the other states yet.

• Two other states, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are being considered for membership to the bloc, which would bring the total number to eight. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi wrote a formal request to the current chair of the community, Paul Kagame, on June 8th expressing his country’s desire to join the six-member bloc.

• Tshisekedi has been on shuttle diplomacy in the region before the formal request, and Congo, which borders all but one of the current EAC members, is likely to be considered for membership during this year’s Summit in November.

East Africa is the fastest growing region in Africa for the fifth straight year, according to the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Economic Outlook for 2019.

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