It is obvious that the DRC’s desire to become a member of the EAC is to tap into the benefits of regional trade, i.e. an expanded market of 300 million people, and to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through its membership in the EAC bloc. DRC’s capital market remains underdeveloped and consists mainly of the issuance of treasury bonds.

There is no stock exchange in the country and only a small number of private equity firms are actively investing in the mining industry.  There are hardly any institutional investors in the DRC except for an insurance company and a state pension fund. The Central Bank of Congo (BCC), developed a market for short-term bonds, which are bought and held by local Congolese banks. 

The absence of a domestic debt market has meant that the fixed-rate market is limited to government-issued treasury bonds with maturities of up to 28 days traded through commercial banks.

With the recent addition of the DRC to the East African region, landlocked countries have found an alternative port of entry in the Atlantic Ocean. The swiftness of trade with two ports of entry and the region’s strategic location will be incomparable to any other region on the continent.

The East African Federation would be the fourth largest country in both population and landmass, trailing after China, India and the United States. President Uhuru Kenyatta says that the federation would have over 300 million people.

The gross domestic product for the region will sum up to US$250 billion, the fourth-largest in Africa and the 34th biggest globally. Since the beginning of the last decade, East Africa has had the fastest growing economy globally. In 2019, the region’s economy grew by about 5 per cent. If the federation continues with this growth rate, the new country would quickly become the biggest superpower in Africa.

The EAF would become Africa’s largest superpower precisely because of the weaker nations surrounding the region. Among the languages official languages suggested in the region will be English and Swahili.

The International Monetary Fund projects that Rwanda will post 7 per cent growth in 2022…

African Development Fund has approved $5.5 million technical assistance grant to support projects Eastern Sahel…

“Concerning the management of the mineral resources sector, the Partner States agree, among other things, to promote joint exploration, efficient exploitation and sustainable utilization of shared mineral resources,” the treaty reads in part. The World Bank notes that DRC’s natural resources are diverse and immense in its country report. The country has the world’s second-largest primary humid tropical rainforest endowment and carbon sink globally. 

“However, forest loss rates have accelerated in recent years, and in 2020, the DRC lost 1.31 million ha of natural forest, equivalent to 854 million tonnes of CO₂ of emissions. This has had deleterious environmental impacts (including rainfall patterns, biodiversity, and climate change) and is threatening the livelihoods of the 35 million people who depend on forest resources,” World Bank says in the report.

World Bank’s collaborations in energy sector investments have been intended to rehabilitate transmission networks and hydropower plants, raise Inga’s electricity production by 632 MW and augment power supply to mines, but with limited investment in the distribution network segment. However, the civil war caused insecurity, seeing DRC struggle to maximize its resources, particularly mines.

In the construction sector, the price of steel and cement has increased exponentially. And, things are not getting better.

The Kenya Transporters Association has instructed its members across the country to raise freight rates by at least 5 per cent in order to maintain their companies under the current circumstances. The notification issued on March 14 was to help the freighters avoid a total collapse of the sector.

In a petition to parliament, the Consumers Federation of Kenya called for the elimination or reduction of the current 16.5 per cent value-added tax on liquefied petroleum gas to 8.5 per cent.

Pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) put the treasury under pressure to increase the VAT on all petroleum goods in 2018. The IMF said that the implementation of the VAT would ensure that the government is able to meet its financial obligations.