The East African Community (EAC) has unveiled a digital portal, seeking to deepen trade and lower the cost of doing business in the region.
The platform, dubbed the Mansa digital portal, is a single source of primary data to facilitate smooth intra-regional trade, enabling traders to transact seamlessly across the region.
The East African Business Council (EABC) says the platform is expected to enhance trust between buyers and sellers, financiers and borrowers, the public and private sectors and cut transaction costs across the region. Through the ‘Mansa’ one-stop platform, investors will be able to conduct due diligence across the continent and support business recovery.
Intra-African trade currently stands at around 15% compared to intra-regional trade that has been achieved by Europe at approximately 60% and North America at 40%.
A host of non-tariff barriers, increased financial crime and the perceived risk of trading with African businesses, and the high cost of transactions have hampered the growth of Intra Africa trade.
In 2020, trade within the East African Community dropped by 5.5% to reach KSh649 billion, occasioned by the global COVID-19 pandemic that had a negative impact on trade. EAC imports saw a decline to KSh396 billion in 2020 from KSh434.5 billion in 2019. However, exports from the bloc increased 3% year-on-year to KSh1.8 trillion.
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