Competitiveness and diversification of service exports in sub-Saharan Africa: The case of the East African Community

Abstract

provides economic analysis and policy advice with the aim of promoting sustainable and equitable development. The Institute began operations in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, as the first research and training centre of the United Nations University. Today it is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency-providing a range of services from policy advice to governments as well as freely available original research. The Institute is funded through income from an endowment fund with additional contributions to its work programme from Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom as well as earmarked contributions for specific projects from a variety of donors.

Impact of COVID-19 on the services sector and direct foreign investments in Kenya

“…Transport services, which comprise air, sea and courier transport services, accounted for around a third of total EAC service exports in 2018 and 2019. Our results corroborate the findings of other studies, which show that travel and transport services are the major export services in Africa and the world (Loungani et al 2017;Were & Odongo 2019).…”

“…Kenya had the highest share of insurance and pension, and financial services in the EAC region in 2018 and 2019. This affirms the finding by Were and Odongo (2019) that Kenya has a comparative advantage in these services. Table 3.5 further indicates that about three-quarters of service exports from Kenya were transport services, while the rest were travel services in 2020.…”

Examining the Patterns and Dynamics of Intra-Regional Trade and Revealed Comparative Advantage in the East African Community

“…As a result, comparative advantage is a primary source of cross-country trade flows, and countries should align their internal trade policies with their comparative advantage when formulating policies. Studies on comparative advantage in East Africa have tended to focus on individual countries and specific commodities or sectors (see for example, Katunze and Kuteesa, 2016;Mkenda, 2014;Ndayitwayeko et al, 2014;Were and Odongo, 2019), rather than looking at which product groups the EAC members have comparative advantage within the Community and how comparative advantage has evolved over time. As a result, this study adds to our understanding of how trade structure has changed following the revival of the Community by not only examining the product groups in which the countries have comparative advantage, but also how it has changed since its revival.…”