NAIROBI, July 31 (Xinhua) — Kenya introduced on Wednesday that it’s going to maintain conferences with Tanzania in early August to handle considerations over not too long ago launched “discriminatory” tax measures and commerce restrictions, together with a ban on non-citizens working small-scale companies in Tanzania.
Lee Kinyanjui, cupboard secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, stated the measures launched by Tanzania on Monday threaten the features made in regional integration underneath the East African Community (EAC) framework.
He raised concern over Tanzania’s Finance Act 2025 and up to date amendments to the Excise (Management and Tariff) Act 2019, which launched new excise duties and an industrial improvement levy at charges of 10 p.c and 15 p.c, respectively.
He additionally cited the Business Licensing (Prohibition of Business Activities for Non-Citizens) Order, 2025, which bars non-Tanzanians from partaking in 15 particular sectors, together with micro and small enterprises. The order, which incorporates stiff penalties for violations, took speedy impact, aside from present license holders.
“These measures are substantive and undermine the core aims of regional financial integration underneath the Common Market Protocol,” Kinyanjui stated, referring to the EAC’s dedication to making a single market that ensures the free motion of products, providers, capital, labor, and the rights of residence and institution.
“Kenya requests that these restrictions be eliminated and that Tanzania reverts to measures offered for within the EAC protocol,” Kinyanjui stated.
Kinyanjui warned that the licensing order seems to criminalize in any other case lawful EAC investments and dangers damaging each economies.
“It is subsequently important, within the spirit of EAC, that bilateral engagements be held to resolve these points,” he stated, including that additional bilateral discussions have been scheduled to handle the latest measures and different ongoing commerce considerations.
According to the official, the EAC stays Kenya’s largest export market, accounting for 28.1 p.c of its whole exports, valued at roughly 2.3 billion U.S. {dollars} in 2024. Tanzania is Kenya’s second-largest EAC buying and selling companion after Uganda, with bilateral commerce valued at 487 million {dollars}
