THE East African Community has just tabled budget estimates for activities of the EAC Secretariat for fiscal 2025/2026, amounting to $109,338,151.

Beatrice Moe, Kenya’s East African Community Affairs cabinet secretary and chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, presented the annual estimates before the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) holding a virtual plenary session.

She appealed to the EAC member states to utilize available resources efficiently to realize the goals stipulated in the secretariat’s financial bill, which was taken up by the EALA general purpose committee for scrutiny.

The current estimates fall short of last year’s $112,984,442 estimates, with the partner states expected to contribute $67.76m, pegged at 62 percent of the total estimates. There are expectations that the development partners will fill up with $41.58m, or 38 percent of total estimates.

The financial bill is themed “inclusive economic transformation through domestic resource mobilisation and resilient strategic investment for job creation and improved livelihoods,” presented along with a review the EAC accounts audit for fiscal 2023/2024.

In an overview of the region’s economic performance and EAC programme performance for fiscal 2024/2025, she said that despite ongoing global challenges like geopolitical tensions, climate change and shifting aid prospects, EAC economies remained steady.

They demonstrated resilience with a growth rate of 5.5 percent, “outpacing the global average of 3.3 percent and the Sub-Saharan Africa growth rate of 4 percent.”

“The outlook for 2025 is even brighter, with projected growth rate of 5.8 percent, mainly due to robust performance in agriculture, construction and service sectors, supported by sound policies and macroeconomic stability,” the minister declared.

Key priorities for fiscal 2025/2026 include enhancing regional peace, security and political stability, boosting intra-trade and investment through enabling business environments, she stated.

Strengthening regional commitments under the EAC common Market protocol and facilitating acceleration of harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies in tandem with the East African Monetary Union goal was also underlined.

Developing multi-sectoral infrastructure to improve connectivity in transport and Information Communication Technology (ICT) for timely services, booting social and productive sectors for higher productivity and living standards was emphasized.

‘The EAC remains committed to positioning the region as a resilient, integrated and prosperous economic bloc in Africa, harnessing regional opportunities to improve the livelihoods of all East Africans,” she further noted.

Joseph Ntakirutimana, the EALA Speaker, affirmed that the assembly would prioritize council business related to processing the estimates, including the supplementary estimates for fiscal 2024/2025 during the current session.