East African Community (EAC) was formed as a customs union in 2005, and further developed into a common market in 2010 to boost investment and productive capacity of member countries. The EAC became a fully fledged Common Customs Territory in 2015, with some 90% of all goods entering the EAC through the ports of Mombasa in Kenya, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania without new customs checks on their way further into other EAC countries.

• Eastern Africa is the most integrated region in Africa based on key economic drivers
• The fastest growing region in Africa, with an average GDB growth of 5.4% in 2017. The positive growth path is expected to gain more momentum in 2018 according to a forecast by the African Development Bank.
•  Over 150 million people live within the East African Community, consisting of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
• Increasing integration has been witnessed with the 100 million strong Ethiopia, whose economy has been growing at the world record rate in recent years.

Kenya fact sheet:

• Total population: 45 million
• Life expectancy at birth: 62 yrs
• Urbanisation rate: 25,6%
• The region’s biggest economy. Average annual GDB growth of about 6%.
• Inflation at 6,3% in 2016 – EU expects it to lower to about 5% between 2017-2020 due to prudent monetary policy and efficiency gains from regulatory reform and investment in infrastructure.
• Much of Kenya’s success is built on its youthful and growing population, dynamic private sector, highly skilled workforce, improved infrastructure, new constitution (2010) and its principal political and economic role in the region.
• Lack of energy access is a major challenge to socioeconomic development. Currently, only about half of the population is connected to the power grid, while expensive and erratic supply of power also hampers business operations. Only 22% of rural businesses in Western Kenya have access to electricity.
• Renewable energy is gaining incredible momentum in Kenya. The traditionally heavy reliance on wood fuel and petroleum has come to the end of its road while as strong commitment on greening the economy is opening up new opportunities. Ongoing projects include Africa’s biggest wind energy project in the Turkana region, as well as tapping into the considerable potential on geothermal energy production. Tariffs for biogas, solar and wind energy projects have been revised to make investing in them lucrative.