By MARYANNE GICOBI

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East African states once again missed the middle-income economy status by the end of June milestone, with per capita income of between $3,956 and $12,235.

Data released by the World Bank recently shows that Kenya is the only country in the region that got close to becoming an upper middle-income economy.

Its economy was rebased two years ago, branding it a lower middle-income country. Tanzania, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda Burundi and Ethiopia are still classified as low-income, with gross national per capita incomes of below $1,045.

Kenya has been ranked as a lower middle income economy with per capital of between $1,006 to $3,955, in the same category with Congo, Nigeria, Sudan and Egypt.

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Angola is one of eight countries in the world and the only African country that has moved from upper middle-income to a lower-middle income.

Angola’s drop is a reflection of the structural economic shocks the country has faced as a result of the decreased oil prices and commodity prices in general.

Individual governments in East Africa have been struggling to meet key growth targets under their long-term development blueprints in efforts to achieve middle income economy status.

Kenya has Vision 2030, Uganda has formulated Vision 2040, Tanzania Vision 2025, Burundi Vision 2025 and Rwanda has Vision 2020, but there are plans to align all of them to the EAC’s Vision 2050.

Though East African governments have laid down elaborate visions for their countries, the pace of execution remains largely unco-ordinated and execution has been relatively slower than initially anticipated.

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