Effects of Covid-19 on international trade and post recovery strategies in Kenya

The main objective of this project was to analyze the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on international trade and recommend post-recovery strategies in Kenya taking into consideration the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area. Many sectors have been affected in one way or another, some of them adversely since the reporting of the first COVID-19 case in Kenya on 12 March 2021 and especially more by the measures the Government of Kenya took to contain the spread of the pandemic. Other trading partners also took measures to control the spread of the virus across the borders. However, these measures turned into non-tariff barriers, which became trade restrictive. These restrictions were in the form of quotas, embargoes, sanitary measures, import licensing, conditions, or specific market requirements that made exportation or importation services and goods difficult or costly. The measures led to disruptions in the supply chains of essential commodities such as testing kits, private protective equipment (PPEs), and other medical equipment. They also disrupted trade not only in the East African region but also in the whole world. It is therefore important that the Kenya Government come up with strategies to stop the spread of COVID-19 while at the same time protecting the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. EAC as well as other African countries should prioritize vaccination in the short term to stop the spread of the COVID-19. Trade restrictive measures that have translated into NTBs require Kenya and other African countries to start thinking of how they can become producers as well as consumers of their own products and more so those products that are essential for human life such as pharmaceuticals and vaccines.