September 2025 East Africa Macro Outlook

Executive summary

East African countries are outperforming other regions with stellar growth performances above 5%. Rwanda's economy expanded by 7.8% in Q1 2025. In Uganda, the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development's latest economic update showed the economy grew by 6.3% in the fiscal year FY2024/2025. Meanwhile, the IMF predicts Ethiopia's economy will expand by 6.6% between 2025 and 2026. Growth in these economies has been driven by key sectors, including tourism, agriculture, information technology, and financial services, spotlighting promising investment opportunities.
Beyond government initiatives like Ethiopia's National Agri-Finance Implementation Roadmap (NAFIR 2025–2030), there's a growing focus on building private sector partnerships. These collaborations aim to boost contributions from emerging, non-traditional sectors, including digital services, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence.
East African governments are also catalysing expenditure on critical infrastructure to improve productivity and further support growth. The Government of Uganda