The impact of East Africa economic integration on bilateral trade in East Africa: Uganda as the case study

East African Community (EAC) is a regional integration comprising of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan. This study examines the impact of EAC economic integration (one of the pillars) on bilateral trade among its members with key focus on Uganda as case study. This research used Descriptive Statistics Methodology using secondary data with time series data for the years 1967 to 2020. The analysis is divided into two, the period before and after Integration. There has been an argument that some countries have benefited more than others, or the achievements have been misrepresented by politicians, or some are losers and winners, hence I chose to analyse this using Uganda as my case study. The findings show that the EAC economic integration has resulted to positive impact on trade among and within its members through expansion of exports worth USD 14B within which 22.4% exports are associated to intra-EAC trade, thus the economy recording an annual average rate of 6.5% in-crease. Subsequently, trade within and among EAC has increased due to harmonization and reduction of tariff barriers from 26.1% in 1994 to 9.2% in 2011. The regional competition continues to register increment after the integration as the economic growth of 6.5% is the best in Sub-Saharan Africa. The GDP-trade share has increased also with imports rising from 21% in 2000 to 28% in 2015 while exports came from 13% to 18% in the same period. Uganda is the greatest beneficiary of the integration with trade effects of 3.4% totalling $1241600 with a record increase of 26% exports between 2001 and 2009 and imports doubling from USD 288b to USD 547B in the same period. Therefore, EAC economic integration has a positive influence on bilateral trade within and among its member states.