East Africa is made up of 12 countries: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Seychelles is the only country in the subregion eligible to borrow from the ADB window. The other 11 countries are eligible for ADF resources only, except for private sector and enclave projects, which can be financed from ADB resources. In 2010, East Africa received UA 560.3 million of Bank Group loan and grants, representing an increase of 8.7 percent over the UA 515.6 million approved in 2009. The approvals were earmarked to assist development projects and programs in nine countries; this represented 15.2 percent of total approvals.

The beneficiary countries were as follows: Ethiopia (UA 224.4 million), Tanzania (UA 129.6 million), Kenya (UA 116.7 million), Rwanda (UA 41.1 million), Burundi (UA 34.1 million), Eritrea (UA 12.9 million), Sudan (UA 0.7 million), Comoros (UA 0.6 million), and Seychelles (UA 0.3 million).

In line with the Bank Group’s strategic operational priorities, in 2010 approvals in this subregion too were directed mainly toward infrastructure, which attracted UA 396.9 million (70.8 percent of total approvals), while multisector received UA 88.4 million (15.8 percent). The breakdown of infrastructure approvals into subsectors shows that energy was allocated UA 243.8 million (61.4 percent); water and sanitation, UA 94.0 million (23.7 percent); and transportation, UA 59.1 million (14.9 percent). The allocations to the other sectors were as follows: industry, mining and quarrying, UA 39.3 million (7.0 percent); social, UA 22.2 million (4.0 percent); finance, UA 12.7 million (2.3 percent); and agriculture and rural development, UA 0.8 million (0.1 percent). The focus of Bank Group operations on infrastructure aims at building the foundations for sustainable economic growth and promoting regional integration and foreign investment. The approvals to multisector aim to strengthen RMCs’ institutional capacity for sound and transparent fiscal management, which improves the business enabling environment and competitiveness, thereby assisting economic development.

Notable infrastructure projects approved for East Africa include: the Electricity Transmission System Improvement Project, and the Protection of Basic Services, phase II in Ethiopia; the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program and the Iringa–Shiyanga Electricity Power Transmission Line in Tanzania; the Power Transmission System Improvement Project, the Nairobi Rivers Basin Rehabilitation and Restoration Improvement Project, the Timbora–Eldoret Road project in Kenya; and the Gitenga–Nyangungu–Ngozi road project in Burundi. Other notable projects and programs approved for the subregion in 2010 include “La Cimenterie du Rwanda” project, the Support for Higher Education Development Project in Eritrea, and Support to the Regional ICT Center of Excellence in Rwanda.

During the period 1967–2010, East Africa received UA 8.38 billion in cumulative loan and grant approvals, accounting for 15.0 percent of total cumulative approvals to the continent. Among the countries in the subregion, Ethiopia was allocated the largest share, followed by Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, Eritrea, and Comoros.