Congo’s EAC entry comes with risks and opportunities

Significance

Its admission makes the EAC one of the largest trading blocs in Africa and will create significant new economic opportunities, but also additional political and security challenges.

Impacts

• The economic benefits of EAC membership may be regionally lopsided within DRC, with the east standing to benefit much more than the west.
• Increased availability of low-cost foodstuffs and manufactured goods may aggravate DRC’s import dependency and weak manufacturing sector.
• DRC’s overlapping memberships of the EAC, SADC and ECCAS may create challenges but also offer options to Kinshasa.