On 13 June 2019, the East African Community (EAC) Finance Ministers continued the tradition of synchronized presentation of the member countries’ respective budgets. The EAC member countries registered impressive GDP growth rates and the outlook continues to be promising. Against this backdrop, the countries presented ambitious budgets. Inevitably, funding these ambitious projects called for creativity in coming up with the tax proposals in order to shore up revenues especially given the debt stress that many of the countries face.

This year’s budget proposals has seen Kenya increasing its capital gains tax rate, Uganda raising customs duty on various products some up to 60%, Tanzania enhancing its excise duty regime and Rwanda looking to introduce tax assessment on individuals based on lifestyle as  a measure of prosperity.

We expect a raft of legislative Bills across the region to anchor the tax proposals in law and shall update you as and when these become available. In the interim, we have reviewed the budget speeches and we provide below a summary of the budget proposals and other tax measures across East Africa. 

• KPMG Kenya Budget Brief 2019
• KPMG Uganda Budget Brief 2019
• KPMG Tanzania Budget Brief 2019
• KPMG Rwanda Budget Brief 2019

Please get in touch with us for discussions on how the budget measures will affect your business.