The East African Community welcomes the Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will officially join Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan in the East Africa Community (EAC) on the 29th of March 2022.
Boasting over 94 million inhabitants in a very youthful nation whose median age is 17 years, the DRC becomes the latest entrant into the economic bloc three years after its formal application. Formerly known as Zaire, the DRC is Africa’s second-largest nation and has a surface area equivalent to the entire Western Europe with over 2,267,050 Km2 of landmass.
The DRC is endowed with exceptional natural resources, including minerals such as cobalt and copper, hydropower potential, significant arable land, immense biodiversity, and the world’s second-largest rainforest.
A member state of several continental bodies, the DRC has cordial ties and economic relations with many African countries already. The DRC is a member state of the African Union (AU), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC-ECCAS), and the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries. The DRC is also in the process of ratifying the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. With a GDP of $54.83B in 2021, the DRC becomes a valuable addition to the economic bloc increasing opportunities for increased business across the EAC member states.
Currently, the DRC’s top export markets are:-
- China: $5.79B
- Tanzania: $1.67B
- Zambia: $1.24B
- South Africa: $1.09B
- Singapore: $1.02B
The top 5 import markets are:-
- China: $1.69B
- United States: $1.42B
- South Africa: $611.68M
- Zambia: $326.09M
- India: $315.23M
What does this mean for Kenyan firms looking to reach the expanded consumer base and utilize resources from the DRC?
DRC is already a key African market for Kenyan firms with annual data showing export earnings from DRC amounted to Sh14.3 billion in 2020 — only behind Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, and South Sudan.
Kenya’s main exports to DRC include animal and vegetable fats and oils, pharmaceutical products, tobacco, iron and steel, leather and footwear, vegetables, fruits, nuts, plastics as well as paper and paperboard.
Some of the biggest beneficiaries of this new market are local farmers and manufacturers. “Its rich appetite for agricultural produce shall enable local manufacturers to expand their volume of exports to the country,” Mr. Mucai Kunyiha, the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, told the Business Daily earlier this month.
With cordial relations between the political leaders of Congo and the rest of the EAC, this new market is set to provide a fertile ground for increased cross-border trade and industry. Almost 50% of the DRC population resides in urban areas and this large human resource of young, tech-savvy citizens will need localized solutions to various challenges in accessing last-mile money as well as other digital financial services. We hope that regulators and industry players continue innovating together to make seamless operability and inter-State financial transactions easily accessible and affordable for the almost 300 million inhabitants of this expanded regional bloc. Karibu DRC!
