As East African governments move into the decisive phase of finalizing their 2026/27 national budgets, pressure is mounting from the private sector to shift fiscal priorities toward deeper regional integration and trade competitiveness.
The East African Business Council (EABC) and key private sector stakeholders are urging finance ministries across the region to design budgets that do more than raise revenue—calling instead for policies that unlock trade, dismantle cross-border bottlenecks, and accelerate progress toward an ambitious target of 40% intra-regional trade by 2030.
At the center of the debate is a persistent structural challenge: despite years of integration under the East African Community (EAC), trade between member states remains stubbornly low, weighed down by non-tariff barriers, inconsistent tax regimes, and customs inefficiencies that continue to inflate the cost of doing business.
Oscar Kamukama, Board Director representing Uganda at the East African Business Council, says the upcoming budgets represent a critical policy moment that could determine whether the region accelerates integration—or remains trapped in fragmented markets.
“In East Africa, intra-ESC trade is below 15%. It is actually at 12.8%,” Kamukama said. “So, if we cannot trade amongst ourselves, who is going to trade with us? This budget we have is to enable initiatives that remove barriers that we have in place.”
He emphasized that non-tariff barriers remain the single biggest impediment to regional commerce, arguing that they continue to undermine productivity, raise logistics costs, and discourage cross-border investment flows.
“These trade restrictions must go away so that we grow our trade numbers towards, you know, 45, 50, 60%,” he added, underscoring the private sector’s belief that current levels of intra-regional trade are far below the bloc’s economic potential.
Kamukama further urged governments to use the 2026/27 budget process as a reform tool—one that prioritizes efficiency at borders, streamlines customs procedures, and eliminates discriminatory taxation on goods originating within Africa.
According to him, fiscal policy in the region must evolve beyond its traditional focus on revenue mobilization and instead become a strategic instrument for competitiveness, lowering production costs and enabling firms to scale across markets.
“The budget process should not only be about mobilizing revenue,” he said, in effect, “but about lowering the cost of trade, improving efficiency at borders, and enabling businesses to compete regionally without unnecessary friction.”
The EABC’s position reflects a broader private sector consensus that East Africa’s next growth phase will depend heavily on how quickly governments convert integration commitments into practical trade facilitation reforms.
With the 2030 target of significantly higher intra-regional trade on the horizon, stakeholders say the 2026/27 budgets could become a defining moment—either unlocking a new era of regional commerce or prolonging the structural frictions that continue to hold the bloc back.