Why Competitiveness of Light Manufacturing Industries Matters to
East African Countries: In the Case of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania,
and Uganda
ROVSHAN GULIEV, ABREHET MEHARI
Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku,
AZERBAİJAN
Abstract: - Competitive manufacturing industries help in modernizing the agriculture sector which forms the
backbone of the country’s economy and reduces the heavily dependent of people on agricultural income. The
purpose of the study assesses the competitiveness of manufacturing sectors in East African countries (Ethiopia,
Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) and explore the policy, strategies, and agreements of the countries to enhance
the competitiveness of the manufacturing sectors, analyse the government’s supporting package and identify
the constraints that hinder the manufacturing sector’s competitiveness. The result finds that most of the light
manufacturing industries’ products produced are used to meet the needs of domestic demand even though the
rate of employment increased. And their export performance was very weak. Therefore, the government
focuses on the quality of human aspects and export goods than quantity through enhancement of the strategic
plans to remain a competitive manufacturing industry.
Key-Words: - Competitiveness, transformation, industry, policy, strategies
Received: July 14, 2022. Revised: January 21, 2023. Accepted: February 14, 2023. Published: March 10, 2023.
1 Introduction
The rapid and profound technological change,
production value chain, and the emergence of new
competitors create a competitive manufacturing
industry. The competitive manufacturing sector
plays a catalyst role, core engine, and foundation to
enhance economic growth and structural
transformation of the agrarian societies which
depend on agricultural income, [27], through
forward and backward linkage, managerial
knowledge, and new technology, [25]. Many
policymakers and scholars recognized that a healthy
and competitive manufacturing sector is a
fundamental path and source of productive growth
and development through the adoption of new
technology, generates fast structural change, drives
development, alleviates poverty, and reduces
unemployment, [25].
Knowing the existing reality happening in the
international market and the significant role played
by the manufacturing sector, the East African
countries have designed and started implementing a
vision of 2036 [23], the Central Free Trade
Agreement to integrate the African economy,
designed transformational policies, and green
strategies from 2011/12 to 2025/6 to enhance
manufacturing productivity and competitiveness,
[20].
One of the objectives of these strategies launched in
March 2018, is to create a single market for goods
and services in Africa that aims to unlock
manufacturing potential and facilitate a competitive
manufacturing industry crucial for absorbing a
massive number of workers and placing them into
productive and decent-paying jobs which were
practiced in some Asian and developed countries.
These all indicate how competitive manufacturing
industries can generate fast structural change, drive
development, alleviate poverty, and reduce
unemployment, [25].
However, East African Countries, where
manufacturing continues to play only a marginal
role, have not benefited from increased flows of FDI
and their presence in the international market to
achieve the best results in a competitive market in a
certain activity as long as a new scenario offer
opportunities to gain competitive advantages and
retain them, [22], and the policymakers understand
the main features and benefits of competitiveness,
act upon and transform the agriculture sector into
manufacturing industries, [27], and ability to remain
strong and unaffected in competition compared with
similar entities in a volatile environment as a result
of production factors, market demand, and support
of the government to ensure stable development and
competitiveness of domestic enterprises.
Thus, taking the internal and global situations into
account, manufacturing industrial policies were
designed and implemented at various times to create
not only as many job opportunities for the youth as
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possible but also to facilitate the progress of the
entire industrial development. However, World
Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index
2014 and 2015 identified that the developing
manufacturing sector has been constrained by
inefficient government bureaucracy, foreign
currency regulations, access to finance, and
technology, inadequate market and supply of
infrastructure, and lack of peace and stability are
mounting challenges in East African countries that
could jeopardize the manufacturing sector and
African development in general. Therefore, this
study explores the key issues existing in the country
that enhances competitiveness and structural
constraints that have hindered the East African
(Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda)
manufacturing sector from growing and
competitive.
2 Problem Statement
The African economic growth is promising and
encouraging; however, this growth could not be
accompanied by the structural transformation of the
manufacturing industry that created productive
employment lifting workers from the low-
productivity agriculture and informal sectors into
higher productivity activities that achieved the
objective of economic growth and sustainable
development, [9].
Africa has shown the capacity to create millions of
productive jobs because of ever-growing labor costs
and natural resource advantages, having special
advantage access to high-income markets for
exports, and growing domestic and regional
markets. The structural transformation designed by
the countries enhances the productivity of some
medium and large firms, including massive, small,
and informal firms providing low-quality products
to the domestic market. However, with a wide range
of subsectors and factory sizes, the major constraints
of manufacturing input cost and quality, are finance,
trade logistics, entrepreneurial capacity, and worker
skills. In Africa, the economic contribution of the
manufacturing sector is still low, and export to GDP
contribution share has been falling. Manufacturing
in Africa is heavily dependent on resource-based
manufacturers; dominated by small firms most of
which are informal with weak technological
capabilities and their performance varies from one
country to another, [7]. Growth and competitiveness
of the manufacturing sectors indicated weak and
institutional failures have been faced by a poor
business environment and limited access to finance.
2.1. The Objective of the Study
The general objective of this study is to assess why
the competitiveness of manufacturing sectors are
matter to East African countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda,
Tanzania, and Uganda), The specific objective of
this study:
-to explore the policy, strategies, and agreements of
the countries to enhance the competitiveness of the
Manufacturing sectors;
-to analyze the government’s supporting package to
create a competitive manufacturing sector in the
countries;
-to identify the constraints that hinder the
manufacturing sector’s competitiveness and forward
some solutions for further policy implications.
3 Definition of Competitiveness
Competitiveness is defined by various authors at
different times and situations. Adamkiewicz-
Drwiłło, [1], defend a firm’s competitiveness as
making suitable products for the market and
fulfilling the competition requirements (product
range, quality, reasonable price as well as optimal
sales, and methods of promotion), [3], its share in
the competitive market, and Altomonte et al., [4],
the ability to exchange the goods and services which
is abandon in home country Whereas WEF, [17],
competitiveness is the set of institutions, policies,
and factors that determine the level of productivity
of a country. Porter's theory enables a business
environment that supports continual innovation in
products, processes, and management Siudek, A.
Zawojska, [26].
Thus, factors that have a direct impact on
manufacturing competitiveness include the firm’s
operations and strategy, quantity, and quality of
production factors, technology, and innovations as
well as supporting related industries. Besides,
monetary and fiscal policy (employment and market
conditions), and political stability sets general
conditions creating opportunities for higher the
firm’s competitiveness.
3.1 Policies and Strategies to Enhance
Competitiveness of Manufacturing Sectors
The African Continental Free Trade Area
Agreement, signed by 44 of the AU’s 55 member
states in Rwanda, Kigali, on March 21, 2018, is one
of the single continental markets for goods and
services, with free movement of businesspersons
and investments. One of the goals of this agreement
is to enhance competitiveness at the industry and
enterprise level through exploiting opportunities for
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scale production, continental market access, and
better reallocation of resources.
Moreover, it generates a greater diversification of
African economies, through technology transfer and
higher competition among countries and firms that
will favour technical progress and stimulate
investment. Furthermore, it provides African leaders
with greater negotiating power to eliminate barriers
to exporting from developed countries. Finally, a
healthy and competitive manufacturing sector is a
fundamental path to economic growth and
development and crucial for absorbing a massive
number of workers and placing them into productive
jobs which were practiced in countries like the
United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, and
Germany. These are all indicated how
industrialization can generate fast structural change,
drive development, alleviate poverty, and reduce
unemployment, [25].
Despite their manufacturing potential and promising
trajectories, most African countries have remained
in a relatively crunch of factories. This limited
industrial development represents a missed
opportunity for economic transformation and quality
employment generation that alleviates poverty.
3.2 Policies and Strategies of the Selected
Countries
The Ethiopian government and relevant support
institutions have started to implement a series of
economic reforms have been made the Structural
Adjustment Programme in 1991, the Agricultural
Development Led Industrialization Strategy, in
1993, the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
of 2000, Sustainable Development and Poverty
Reduction Program of 2002, Plan for Accelerated
and Sustained Development to End Poverty 2005,
and Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) 2011
and 2015 and GTP II 2016/19 to bring fast
economic growth in the country and reforms of the
fiscal and Monetary policy and aimed to achieve
Middle-Income Status by 2025 with rapid Economic
Growth - annually by 11% in 2025, increased
contribution of the industrial sector to GDP: from
15% in 2015 to 28%, manufacturing (%GDP) -
5%(2015) to 18% by 2025 and agro-processing
(%GDP) - to 3.39 by (2020). The priority sectors
identified in these strategies are leather and leather
product, textile and garment, agro-processing,
construction, chemical, and mining since it has
ample low-cost labour, giving it a comparative
advantage in less-skilled, labour-intensive sectors,
and abundant natural resources serving both
domestic and export markets, [10]. However, the
performance of the manufacturing sub-sector has not
been appreciated, and there is remained to be done to
create a competitive and growing manufacturing
sector.
The United Republic of Tanzania adopted the Long-
Term Perspective Plan which advocates socio-
economic transformation, and the Integrated
Industrial Development Strategy of 2011-2025,
confirming the Government becomes pragmatic
with industrialization as the main catalyst to
transform the economy, generate sustainable
growth, and reduce poverty, [27].
To create a competitive manufacturing sector and
improve the enabling environment for investment,
Rwanda designed a new investment code and one-
stop investment promotion centre in 1998 and
formed technical and financial assistance, including
loan guarantees and liberalization of selected
economic sectors to attract private investment, [19].
In coffee and tea factories important for the
manufacturing sector for job creation, skills
development, and growth. However, Rwanda’s
manufacturing sector and its relatively moderate
export contribution underscore the importance of
tackling the obstacles to the economy’s growth and
competitiveness like financial and real constraints of
transport costs since Rwanda is one of the
landlocked countries in Africa.
Uganda is the other east African country,
undertaking and establishing the policy and
institutional framework of the Green Growth
Development Strategy which is intended to
operationalize the broad green growth principles
highlighted in Agenda 2030, [13]. However,
Uganda's economic policies affect the industrial
sector’s comparative advantage, export, and
domestic competitiveness; and not be able to export
internationally, [25].
3.3 The Need for Competitiveness
Manufacturing Industry in Africa
According to 2019 data, Africa is home to 1.3
billion people, representing close to 17 percent of
the world population. Yet the African continent only
generates three percent of the world’s gross
domestic product. This emphasizes a major disparity
in income distribution between Africa and the rest
of the world which calls for manufacturing
industrial competitiveness key to achieving the
continental goals that are not yet encouraging due to
several reasons, [28].
Competitive manufacturing industries help in
modernizing the agriculture sector which forms the
backbone of the country’s economy. It also reduces
the heavily dependent of people on agricultural
income by providing them with jobs in the sectors.
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Thus, industrial development is a requisition for the
eradication of unemployment and poverty in each
country. It brings down regional disparities by
establishing industries in tribal and backward areas.
The export of manufacturing goods expands trade
and commerce and brings in much-needed foreign
exchange. With regards to the manufacturing sector,
Africa’s share of world market value added is around
2 percent; the average world market value added per
capita is almost nine times higher than Africa’s.
Industrial competitiveness is the capacity of countries
to increase their presence in international and
domestic markets whilst developing industrial sectors
and activities with higher value-added and
technological transfers, [27].
Like other Sub-Saharan African countries, the East
African Countries: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and
Uganda of the competitive manufacturing sector can
offer a viable path for transforming the industrial
structure and creating productive jobs, in the leather,
apparel, wood, metal, coffee, and tea as well as
agribusiness sectors. transform their economic
structure and strive for productive job creation
which is effective in countries like China, Vietnam,
and Zambia and relevant for Sub-Saharan Africa,
[16]. Thus, African countries need to have a clear
idea about the most promising and competitive
manufacturing subsectors and then identify,
prioritize, and avoid the most serious obstacles in
those subsectors. Need to keep targeted policies
selective, sustainable with comparative advantage,
and in line with the country’s scarce resources and
capabilities.
3.4 Manufacturing Sector in East Africa
In Africa, the economic contribution of the
manufacturing sector is still low, and the export and
GDP contribution share has been falling and
characterized by commodity exports. Manufacturing
in Africa is heavily dependent on resource-based
manufacturers; dominated by small firms most of
which are informal with weak technological
capabilities and their performance varies from one
country to another, [7].
However, the growth and competitiveness of the
manufacturing sectors indicated weak and
institutional failures faced by a poor business
environment and limited access to finance. In East
Africa, the manufacturing sector’s GDP contribution
varies by country. For example, in 2013, the
manufacturing sector in Kenya was 11.7%; in
Ethiopia, 10.6% in Uganda; 7.4% in Tanzania, and
5.1% in Rwanda 2014, [2]. However, in Rwanda,
the industrial sector has remained stagnant in the
past decade.
Manufacturing industrial growth guided by a strong,
proactive developmental state is the key to rapid and
successful development. However, due to the high
cost and poor reliability of logistics, comparatively
low labour productivity, and foreign exchange
difficulties, the existing industrial businesses in
Ethiopia struggle to make a profit. These issues
threaten the long-term viability of existing industries
and discourage future investments. As the World
Bank‘s Investment Climate, [15] mentioned, the
light manufacturing industry is a fundamental
foundation and seed for industries that link the
urban-rural sectors. However, the quality and
coverage of infrastructure are low, and the
inadequacy stems largely from resource and
capacity constraints leading to low productivity, and
inefficient allocation of resources that lacks
competitiveness in the international market.
4 Value Chain in the Manufacturing
Sectors
A value chain is an approach that is used in
formulating competitive strategies, understanding
the source of competitive advantage, and developing
the linkage and interrelationship between activities
that create product value in the manufacturing
sector, [22].
In countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Tanzania,
the Governments have designed integrated home-
grown policies and strategies that promoted both
domestic and foreign direct investment to enhance
the economic growth of the country through its local
design development home-grown paths, and unique
industrial policy to support the manufacturing
sector. However, the push on competitiveness, the
status of the manufacturing industries and the
existence of available resources, and enabling socio-
political situation, demand to design and
implementation of applicable manufacturing
strategies, [27] These were focusing on developing
policies and strategies, shifting toward building
manufacturing industrial capability to sustain broad-
based, rapid, and equitable economic growth, which
required human capital, production capacity,
coordination, and the relationship between partners
as well as various actors in the value chain.
And encouraging both the farmers and the private
sectors to focus on production capacity with high
value-added and demand products in the market.
However, enhancing and expanding infrastructure,
and logistic facilities is very important to the value
of a product and trade facilities. Thus, becoming
part of a global value chain is key to the
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competitiveness of the manufacturing sector to
increased productivity and better allocation of
resources while requiring finance, [14], access to
marketing, [9], technology, and human power.
The major exports of the countries are traditional
and agricultural commodities with tobacco, coffee,
cotton, cashew nuts, tea, cloves, and gold
(Tanzania). coffee live animals, oilseeds, flowers,
and khat, gold (Ethiopia) and coffee, tea, and
minerals like tin, coltan, wolfram, and cassiterite
(Rwanda) to Japan, China, United Arab Emirates,
the Netherlands, Germany Saudi Arabia United
States Russia, and India.
5 Methodology
In our research, we will analyse the competitiveness
of the manufacturing sector of these countries in
comparison to the world economy, not to each other.
We will use the "Revealed Comparative Advantage
(RCA)" Index developed by, [6], to quantify such
competitiveness. According to this index, the
competitiveness of the manufacturing sector
() can be calculated as follows.
Here, - is the share of the export volume of
the manufacturing sector of the country in the total
merchandise export, and - is the share of
the export volume of the manufacturing sector in the
total merchandise export in the world.
By evaluating the impact of the competitiveness of
these countries on a) employment in these countries
and b) the share of the volume of production in the
manufacturing sector in GDP, we can determine
how important the manufacturing sector is for these
countries. Such assessment we will do with Eq.s
+ (1)
and
(2)
Here, - - is the share of employment in the
manufacturing sector in the country in the total
employment, - is the share of the total
GDP in the manufacturing sector in the country. ,
coefficients, -error terms
6 Some Essential Information about
the Manufacturing Sectors of
Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and
Uganda
Fig. 1: Manufacturing. value added (mln. constant
2015 US)
Source: [29]
Examining the 20-year actual number trend for
value-added in Fig. 1, Uganda was the largest, and
Rwanda was the smallest year to year. Each country
is evaluated from 2011-2015 and 2011-2020 to
check the percentage increase.
The results indicated that Ethiopia had the highest
increase with 80% and 242% in 5-year and 10-year
respectively, followed by Tanzania with 27% and
77% respectively in value-added. Overall, all
countries have shown an increase in the 5-year
(2011-2015) and 10-year (2011-2020) period.
Unlike the increase shown in Fig. 2, the value-added
% to GDP indicates a fluctuation in change
depending on the country. Tanzania showed the
highest decrease in GDP with 17% and 11%
followed by Uganda with 2% and 8% in the 5-year
and 10-year periods respectively. Ethiopia is the
only country that indicated an increase in GDP with
19% and 43% in the 5-year and 10-year periods
respectively in value-added to GDP. The world
record showed a 2% increase in 5 years with no
change in the 10 years (2011-2020).
0
1E+09
2E+09
3E+09
4E+09
5E+09
6E+09
7E+09
8E+09
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
Ethiopia Rwanda
Tanzania Uganda
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Fig. 2: Manufacturing, Value added % to GDP
Source: [29]
Fig. 3: Employment in the industry (% of total
employment)
Source: [29]
As shown in Fig. 3, Overall employment has
increased in all countries except for Uganda. Even
though Uganda showed a 1% increase from 2011-
2012, there was a 14% and 18% decrease from
2011-2015 and 2011-2019 respectively. An increase
in employment has been shown in Ethiopia and
Tanzania. However, the highest increase was
identified in Rwanda with 29% and 37% from 2011-
2015 and 2011-2019 respectively. This indicated the
manufacturing output is a labour incentive and gives
serious attention to changing the skill required to
perform the new task in the manufacturing sector.
The employment decrease shown in Uganda is
consistent with a decrease indicated by the world
record with a 1% decrease from 2011-2019.
Fig. 4: Manufacturing export (% of total
merchandise export)
Source: [29]
The total percentage of manufacturing export of the
four countries is displayed in Table 4. The 5-year
trend from 2011-2015 indicated that Rwanda had a
dramatic increase with 94% followed by Tanzania
with 23%. However, the 10-year trend from 2011-
2020 showed a decrease in export in all countries
except Rwanda which showed a 20% increase.
During this period, Uganda displayed the highest
decrease with 57% followed by a 29% decrease in
Tanzania in total export. This implies that the
countries were not achieved the minimum
requirement of human capital and always depend on
primary manufacturing exports as their main source
of export income. The world export record from the
World bank shows an 8% increase from 2011-2020,
and this result is consistent with the increase shown
in Rwanda which is transitioning better from
primary export products and establishing strong
integration with others to create economic stability.
7 Quantitative Assessment
We have analysed the positive and negative aspects
of the state policy for the development of the light
manufacturing industry in Ethiopia, Rwanda,
Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as the manifestations
of these efforts. It is obvious that, along with what
has been done, in the end, any researcher and
politician is also interested in a quantitative
assessment of the mutual influence of the processes
taking place in the light industry of these countries
with their important socio-economic indicators. To
this end, we have built an appropriate econometric
model. First, we note that for this we used panel
data, which have certain advantages over one-
dimensional observations.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
Ethiopia Rwanda
Tanzania Uganda
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
Ethiopia Rwanda Tanzania Uganda
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
Ethiopia Rwanda
Tanzania Uganda
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• Firstly, they allow you to increase the sample size
(respectively, the number of degrees of freedom)
without involving additional years. This is important
for our case since the figures of the distant past
could prevent the identification of an adequate
assessment of the processes that have been deployed
mainly in recent years.
• The panel approach avoids the influence of
individual characteristics of individual countries and
identifies common (and in some sense, objective)
relationships.
In the countries under consideration, the main
expectations from the development of any industry
are:
c) Reduction of unemployment is an important
factor in the fight against poverty.
d) An increase in exports, which is the main channel
for the inflow of hard currency into the country.
For these reasons, we investigated the regression
interdependence of these factors with activity in the
light manufacturing industry. Note that the models
are built using Eviews software based on panel data
for the four countries discussed above for 2011-
2019.
7.1 A Linear Model of the Impact on
Employment
We offer the first generated model:
EMP_SHARE = 4.95 +
0.00034 × MAN_$ +
(0.47)
(0.00009)
+ 0.083× MAN_EXP, R2 ≈ 0.89 (3)
(0.016)
where EMP_SHARE is employment in industry (%
of total employment) (ILO estimate),
MAN_$ – value added in the manufacturing sector,
(mln. constant 2015 US$),
MAN_EXP – exports in the manufacturing sector as
% of total merchandise exports.
First, we note that the model has a high degree of
statistical adequacy: the value of the determination
coefficient is quite high (R2 ≈ 0.89), and the
standard errors are quite small compared to the
values of the regression coefficients, as a result of
which the coefficients are of high significance.
Model (3) allows us to assert that an increase in
production per million US dollars in 2015 in the
light industry increases the share of employment of
this industry in total employment in the country by
0.00034% points and that an increase in the share of
the manufacturing industry in total exports of goods
by 1% point increases the share of employment in
this sector by 0.083% of the point.
7.2 Logarithmic Model of the Impact on
Employment
To estimate the corresponding elasticities, a
logarithmic version of the previous model is also
constructed.
LOG(EMP_SHARE) = 0.29 +
0.17 ×
(0.34)
× LOG(MAN_$) +
0.14 × LOG(MAN_EXP),
(0.004)
(0.003)
R2 ≈ 0.89 (4)
As can be seen from formula (4), this model also
has very good statistical indicators, and reveals the
elasticity coefficients of the share of employment in
the light manufacturing industry relative to general
employment in the country:
equal to 0.17;
exports of goods equal to 0.14.
7.3 Logarithmic Model of the Impact on the
Export of the Industry
This model describes the dependence of the share of
the manufacturing industry in total exports of goods
on the employment level in the light industry
introduced above:
LOG(MAN_EXP) = -1,14 +
1,92 ×
(1.47)
× LOG(EMP_SHARE)
R2 ≈ 0.57 (5)
(0.73)
To avoid the appearance of multicollinearity, we do
not include the volume of production in the sector as
a regress or the model.
Although this model is inferior to the previous ones
in statistical qualities, it also seems quite
satisfactory. For example, the regress or coefficient
is significant at a significance level of 2%, and the
autocorrelation here is much smaller: DW ≈ 1.5.
According to the model, it can be concluded that an
increase in the employment rate in the light industry
by 1% leads to an increase in the share of
manufacturing in total exports of goods by 0.7%.
1. As expected, the development of the light
industry has a positive impact on reducing poverty
and increasing the share of this sector in exports.
2. The dependence on employment in the industry
is not elastic in terms of the volume of production in
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it. This can be explained by the capital intensity of
the industry under study.
3. The dependence on exports in the industry is not
elastic in terms of the level of employment in it.
This can be explained by the fact that so far most of
the light industry products produced are used to
meet the needs of domestic demand.
If we use data for the years 1999-2019 in the
models, the results will be slightly different.
To express the dependence of -on -as a
result of performing panel analysis with the fixed
effect of equations (1) and (2) with the following
model:
=
5.923344
+ 0.027789 ×
(6)
(0.280111)
(0.011428)
This time 0.460322.
-n - while the dependence on
5.923344
+
0.027789 ×
(7)
(0.280111)
(0.011428)
This time 0.460322
We will evaluate the impact of competitiveness on
individual countries a) on employment in these
countries and b) on the share of production volume
in the GDP by the time series method. The results
were trained at this time. It is given in Table 1.
Table 1. Regression analysis between ( ) and between ( )
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
0.013970
0.253597
0.251626
0.148534
0.139795
0.138428
0.015320
0.467106
observations
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
21
Coefficient
7.595990
6.033217
3.883392
8.807240
4.535551
9.259635
7.585038
6.294365
Std. Error
0.558826
0.485259
0.766457
0.355368
0.465149
0.239616
0.256159
1.568112
t-Statistic
13.59277
12.43299
5.066678
24.78344
9.750750
38.64356
29.61064
4.013978
Probability
0.0000
0.0000
0.0001
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0000
0.0007
Coefficient
0.015692
-0.066727
0.119595
-0.039940
0.025370
-0.012995
-0.004673
0.214728
Std. Error
0.030244
0.026263
0.047317
0.021938
0.014438
0.007437
0.008595
0.052617
t-Statistic
0.518827
-2.540754
2.527526
-1.820563
1.757204
-1.747205
-0.543705
4.080974
Probability
0.6099
0.0199
0.0205
0.0845
0.0950
0.0967
0.5930
0.0006
Note: calculated by the author using the eViews software package
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.55
Rovshan Guliev, Abrehet Mehari
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
608
Volume 20, 2023
8 Conclusion
The competitive manufacturing sector is a
fundamental path and source of productive growth
and drives development through the adoption of
new technology, generates fast structural change to
alleviate poverty, and reduces unemployment, [25].
Remaining competitive in manufacturing requires
enabling an environment that reduces costs,
especially for those landlocked countries like
Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda to connect
and coordinate with other countries.
As we indicate from the finding, the literature
reviews all countries, design and establish African
and national strategic plans and implement them
accordingly. However, designing a strategy and
having abundant human and natural resources alone
could not bring the required result unless these
strategies change the existing realities at the
grassroots of the countries. Of course, value-added
and employment except for Uganda in all countries
increased but they should shift breakthroughs from
the agriculture to manufacturing industries and
create a strong integration with others to reduce the
logistic and export costs. That is why the above
target countries showed weak export representation
even though Ethiopia is the only country that
indicated an increase. The light manufacturing in the
selected countries’ products produced is used to
meet the needs of domestic demand using the local
technology and skills even though the rate of
employment increased. Above all, Uganda
has shown the worst situation in employment
creation and export positions. Therefore, the
government focuses on the quality of human aspects
and export goods rather than quantity through
enhancement of the strategic plans to remain a
competitive manufacturing industry.
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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.55
Rovshan Guliev, Abrehet Mehari
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
609
Volume 20, 2023
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Contribution of Individual Authors to the
Creation of a Scientific Article (Ghostwriting
Policy)
-Rovshan Guliev carried out an introduction,
literature review, methodology, and conclusion.
-Abrehet Mehari has collected information on the
out manufacturing sectors of Ethiopia, Rwanda,
Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as carried out a
quantitative assessment.
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.55
Rovshan Guliev, Abrehet Mehari
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
610
Volume 20, 2023
Sources of Funding for Research Presented in a
Scientific Article or Scientific Article Itself
No funding was received for conducting this study.
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare
that are relevant to the content of this article.
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(Attribution 4.0 International, CC BY 4.0)
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
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