East African Development And Emerging Opportunities And Challenges

By Georgia Diaz


Having been considered as a dormant continent for long, Africa is now the fastest growing continent in the world. This may look as an overstatement but a keen economic survey confirms this. The rapid growth is attributed to the natural resources that dot this continent from one corner to the other. Looking at the continent economic growth without factoring the East African development will not give a true picture given that much of this growth is as a result of rapid economic expansion in East African countries.

The community consists of five countries which are Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. The economic survey of these countries gives a picture of countries that are quickly developing in all areas be it politically, socially or economically having emerged from colonialism in just a few years ago.

The recent discovery of large oil reserves in Kenya and Uganda has completely changed the perception of major international investors who now see it as an alternative investment region. The situation is even made better by the presence of other specious minerals such as copper, diamond, titanium, soda ash among many others.

It is the increase interest in these countries by the foreign investors that actually portrays the real picture of high economic growth rate. After emerging from a turbulent election in 2007, Kenyan economy has picked up attracting several multinational firms that are setting up their regional headquarters in Nairobi (Capital City of Kenya) with the focus of serving the entire Eastern and Central African Market.

Infrastructural development is also impressive. The governments have invested heavily to develop road network, modern railway and increase the capacity of the major airports. There is an ongoing drilling of Mombasa port (coastal city in Kenya) to increase the port capacity to handle bigger ships.

Full integration of East African Community umbrella that is at advanced stage is set to promote this development even further. Open border system and adoption of a single currency for trade among all the five countries will further stimulate the economic growth as such activities as cross border trade will be greatly boosted in addition to a major boost to tourism.

East African development is however facing several threats that threaten to slow down the overall rate of growth. High insecurity for instance resulting from terrorist activities keeps investors away. Some neighboring countries like Somalia and Southern Sudan are still unstable in terms of governance, a situation that increases smuggling of illegal firearms through the porous borders increasing insecurity.

Very high population growth rate on the other hand does not auger well with this development plan. It leads to increased poverty levels, joblessness and other social evils. High rate of HIV infection in this region worsen the situation as they are part of the threats to economic growth in the region.

Agricultural potential of the region is so immense and remains one of the areas that can be fully utilized in order to experience faster East African development. Considering a lot of opportunities like fresh water lakes, several rivers and fertile soils, the region has yet to create a name in the world of agriculture and this should be the focus of investors.




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