Insatiable opportunities in the DRC

Often referred to as the 'Giant of Africa', the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) presents a huge trade opportunity. With a population of approximately 81 million people, it holds almost half of the population of the EAC member states and thus a huge market. So far, almost half of the trade between the DRC and the EAC is informal, implying that the potential for trade hasn’t been optimized.

Despite its geographic proximity, EAC’s trade with the DRC is surprisingly very low. In fact, the combined exports of all the EAC partner states into the DRC, does not match that of South-Africa. Over the last 7 years, the proportion of EAC exports to the DRC has averaged 13.5%.