The East African Community (EAC) has tabled a $110 million (approximately Shs410 billion) budget for the 2026/2027 financial year, outlining ambitious plans to deepen regional integration, boost trade, and strengthen institutions across the bloc.
The budget was presented before the East African Legislative Assembly by Rt. Hon Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, who chairs the EAC Council of Ministers, during a sitting at the EAC headquarters in Arusha on Tuesday.
The budget, themed “Deepening Commitment and Realising Objectives and Benefits of Regional Integration,” marks the beginning of the bloc’s Seventh Development Strategy (2026/27–2030/31) and introduces a new financing framework aimed at improving sustainability and ownership of the integration agenda.
Presenting the budget, Kadaga said the regional bloc had recorded strong economic growth despite global economic uncertainties. She said the EAC economy expanded by 5.8 percent in 2025, outperforming the global growth rate of 3.4 percent and Sub-Saharan Africa’s 4.5 percent.
Intra-regional trade rose by 28 percent to $19.3 billion, while trade with the rest of the world increased by 25.4 percent to $156.6 billion. Regional exports grew by 37.5 percent, reducing the Community’s trade deficit from $13 billion in 2024 to $2.6 billion in 2025.
“East Africans increasingly reached out to one another through cross-border trade,” Kadaga told the Assembly. “Farmers accessed new markets, manufacturers expanded production, transporters moved more goods faster, and young entrepreneurs found opportunities beyond national borders.”
The bloc also resolved 35 non-tariff barriers and launched the EAC Customs Bond, a regional digital guarantee scheme designed to facilitate movement of goods across partner states under a single financial security arrangement.
On political integration, Kadaga highlighted progress in consultations on the proposed East African Political Confederation Constitution, election observation missions, and regional peace efforts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Community also advanced regional tourism promotion through the launch of the “Visit East Africa – Feel the Vibe” brand, intended to market East Africa as a single tourism destination.
In the health sector, nine regional centres of excellence trained 785 postgraduate students and more than 3,300 health professionals, while over 12,500 patients received specialised treatment, including cancer care and kidney transplants.
“Perhaps few achievements illustrate the power of regional cooperation better than those recorded in the health sector,” Kadaga said.
The bloc also supported 16 youth innovators developing Artificial Intelligence solutions and continued investment in digital integration through the Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project.
Infrastructure projects remained a major focus, with progress reported on regional road networks, one-stop border posts, and the Standard Gauge Railway. Construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline has surpassed 80 percent completion, while financing has been secured for feasibility studies of the 39MW Nsongezi Hydropower Project on the Uganda-Tanzania border.
