This COVID-19 bulletin aims to illustrate the changing state of trade in East Africa. Leveraging Sauti’s East Africa’s embeddedness with traders, we present the 2021 Q4/2022 Q1 behavioural and user data from our regional network of trade and market information platforms.
Reporting in this bulletin includes data on Kenyan, Rwandan, Tanzanian and Ugandan traders. In the case of Tanzania, cross-border trade increased or remained high compared to the last quarter. However, we found that in every other country, cross-border trade decreased or remained low. Cross-border traders’ destinations are consistently lower than pre-pandemic levels in Rwanda and Kenya, indicating that COVID-19 is likely having persistent effects on the levels of activity within the East African trade sector.

This COVID-19 bulletin aims to illustrate the changing state of trade in East Africa. Leveraging Sauti’s East Africa’s embeddedness with traders, we present the 2021 Q3/Q4 behavioural and user data from our regional network of trade and market information platforms.
Reporting in this bulletin includes data on Kenyan, Rwandan, Tanzanian and Ugandan traders. With the exception of Kenya, we find that in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda trade to cross-border destinations either remained low or decreased from last quarter. Comparing the same periods to last year, we find that cross-border trade in Kenya increased for the first time, reversing a year-long trend towards domestic trade destinations.

Uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the trading activities of East African cross-border traders in 2021 Q2/Q3. Proportionally, domestic trade activity remains at an all-time high compared to previous years as East Africa’s traders continue to limit their cross border activities in all surveyed countries.