Services are rapidly emerging as the primary economic engine for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Growing at a 15% CAGR, services exports are currently outpacing goods exports, which stand at 12%. Beyond sheer volume, the services sector plays a critical stabilizing role across the bloc by providing resilient foreign exchange earnings that shield economies from the price volatility inherent in primary commodities.

However, the region faces a stark structural paradox. Despite reaching approximately $77B in exports by 2024, intra-COMESA services trade remains strikingly low, accounting for only 4% of total exports. Furthermore, the benefits of this growth are heavily concentrated: just five countries—Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius, Kenya, and Ethiopia—collectively generate 77% of total services exports. This leaves 16 Member States functioning largely as spectators on the margins of the region’s services expansion, locked out of high-value job creation and stable FX inflows.

To transform services into a truly inclusive engine of regional growth, COMESA must pivot from an approach overly anchored in regulatory reform toward active market development and business facilitation. COMESA has successfully laid the groundwork for a regional services framework. Key institutional milestones include: the establishment of the Committee on Trade in Services,  feasibility frameworks aimed at extending the Simplified Trade Regime (STR) to service providers, and the initial development of the COMESA Trade in Services Platform.

While these regulatory frameworks establish a vital foundation, experience suggests that legal mechanisms are most effective when paired with active market-enabling initiatives. To unlock the remaining 16 economies and boost the 4% intra-regional trade figure, the bloc must transition into a phase of market development. This means shifting focus toward building regional value chains, enabling seamless cross-border payments, and aggressively investing in digital infrastructure.

Illustrative approaches to transition from regulation to market activation could include:

Championing an integrated goods and services trade framework: Services and goods do not move in vacuums. Modern manufacturing and agricultural supply chains rely heavily on transport, logistics, and professional services. There is a need to fast-track the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers affective service providers to stimulate trade.

Developing tailored roadmaps for member states: To solve the “spectator” challenge, the underperforming nations require targeted service sector strategies rather than blanket regional policies. There is a need to design sepcific service export roadmaps focusing on high-value scalable niches.

Investing in cross-border services infrastructure: Digital and financial connectivity are the “physical roads” of the services economy. There is an opportunity for the bloc to prioritize infrastructure budgets for interoperable digital systems and harmonized cross-border payment platforms to lower transaction costs.

Accelerating regulatory harmonization: Regulatory divergence acts as a severe hidden tariff on service firms. There is a need to finalize outstanding service liberalization commitments to ease intra-COMESA trade in services.

Data demonstrates that services possess the potential and resilience to significantly bolster the COMESA’s shared economic future. Realizing the full depth of regional integration, however, depends on widening participation so that all 21 Member States can actively share in these gains. By progressively complementing existing regulatory frameworks with collaborative market-enabling initiatives, the bloc can help bridge current gaps. This balanced approach will allow Member States, aligned with their national priorities, to collectively transform the services sector from a concentrated success story into an inclusive, mutually beneficial driver of regional prosperity.