East Africa should heed warnings on ballooning debt

Debt EA

East African leaders can run from the implications of its rising debt but they cannot hide forever. ILLUSTRATION | NMG

In a region that is more often at war than in tandem over trade, the news that the East African Community Secretariat had, without breaking ranks, agreed on a 35 percent Common External Tariff, on a range of imported products is bittersweet.

But, following almost immediately, were the twin revelations that Kenya had flexed its debt ceiling to accommodate additional borrowing and the World Bank was warning Tanzania of rising debt.