EAC is relatively well integrated. It performs most strongly on the free movement of people dimension, but macroeconomic integration is not far behind. No EAC member has a bilateral investment treaty in force, but the currency of Rwanda, EAC’s top performer on this dimension, is easily convertible and Tanzania has the community’s best inflation differential.
EAC countries perform most weakly on the productive dimension. This average belies the strong performance of Kenya and Uganda and is best explained by the low positions of Burundi and South Sudan. Although the regional economic community’s score in trade integration is not high either, it is important to note that the community has eliminated tariffs between its members. Its low score on trade is therefore mostly attributable to a low share of regional exports.
ARII measures regional integration in EAC along five dimensions. These dimensions use sixteen indicators to determine the extent to which EAC members are integrated within their region.
The more outward a dimension stretches, the more integrated EAC is on that dimension. Scores are calculated on a scale of 0 (not at all integrated) to 1 (entirely integrated).
This chart shows how each country in EAC performs on the five dimensions of regional integration. Click the inner segments of the bars to see each country’s score.