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East African finance ministers prepare for Budget Day on June 11, 2026. [File, Standard]
As East African finance ministers prepare for Budget Day, and as the wider Horn and Great Lakes region moves through its own budget cycle, the figures will sound immense. Kenya is working with a budget framework of roughly USD 37.2 billion. Tanzania's is about USD 23.7 billion. Uganda's latest spending projection is about USD 22.7 billion. Rwanda's proposed 2026/27 framework adds about USD 5.3 billion, while the Democratic Republic of Congo's 2026 state budget has been revised to about USD 21.9 billion. Ethiopia's current approved federal budget adds a further USD 14.1 billion. Together, these six spending plans place roughly USD 125 billion on the table.
But the real test of these budgets will not be their size. It will be whether they shift power, opportunity and decision-making towards the generation that must live longest with the consequences of the choices being made today.
This is the question our region must confront: are our budgets simply funding government activity, or are they giving young Africans the agency to build the next economy?
