NON TARIFF BARRIERS IN CROSS BORDER TRADE

Non tariff barriers are measures other than imposing high duty that make imports difficult but most of all costly.

They arise from different measures taken by the government in form of laws, regulations, policies, conditions, restrictions or specific requirements, and private sector business practices, or prohibitions and are said to protect domestic industries from foreign competition.

According to TMEA, "One of the biggest challenges the business community in East Africa face are non-tariff barriers. According to the East Africa Community, non-tariff barriers cost the member countries close to US$490 million in 2010." NTBs are notorious for restricting trade transactions and in the long run increase the cost of cross border trade.

One of the non tariff barriers that ImpalaPay Kenya is addressing using digital technology, is the issue of overvalued currency rates along the borders.

In order to overcome this challenge ImpalaPay a Fintech operating in Kenya is actively working on facilitating mobile money transfer on the stellar blockchain .This project will eliminate high costs of money transfer and give merchants a platform to access global markets in a secure financial network using digital payments.

The first Pilot project which was between Kenya and Rwanda has already been deemed successful and we look forward to even greater accomplishments.