Uganda’s trade deficit with EAC widens

What the report says

Uganda’s trade gap with East African Community member states widened in August 2026, according to the Uganda Development Bank’s Macro-Economic Digest, as imports from the bloc far exceeded export earnings. The Observer reported that Uganda exported goods worth $241.29 million to EAC partners during the month, while imports from the regional market reached $1.05 billion, leaving a deficit of $808.97 million.

The imbalance was driven mainly by trade with Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Kenya was Uganda’s biggest source of regional imports at $714.47 million, while Uganda sold only $41.05 million worth of goods there. Tanzania supplied $203.61 million in imports to Uganda against $13.81 million in exports, and Burundi accounted for another deficit as Uganda imported $110.97 million and exported $9.55 million.

Uganda did post trade surpluses with the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Rwanda. The DRC remained the country’s largest export market in the bloc, followed by South Sudan and Rwanda. However, those gains were not enough to offset the larger deficits with neighbouring economies.

The report points to Uganda’s continued dependence on goods from nearby markets and highlights the uneven pattern of intra-regional trade within the EAC, a grouping designed to deepen economic integration among member states.