E- Commerce in ECCAS: Bridging Regional Trade Gaps through Digital Trade Infrastructure

By  Larissa Ntoubia

Executive Summary

Intra-regional trade in ECCAS remains critically low at 8-10% of total exports, reflecting structural barriers like poor infrastructure and weak digital systems. Digital trade infrastructure that is e-commerce platforms, digital customs, and broadband offers a scalable solution to cut trade costs, boost SME access, and promote integration. This brief analyzes ECCAS’s trade gaps and proposes phased policies: short-term regulatory harmonization, medium-term connectivity investments, and long-term digital market development to foster regional commerce.

Key Messages

• Intra-regional trade in ECCAS remains extremely low (8–10%) due to structural, digital, and institutional constraints.
• Weak digital infrastructure, including low internet penetration, poor interoperability of payment systems, and limited broadband, significantly increases trade costs and restricts SME participation.
• Digital trade infrastructure presents a scalable and cost-effective pathway to overcome longstanding physical and regulatory barriers.
• Strengthening cross-border digital systems would help integrate SMEs, promote financial inclusion, and reduce trade bottlenecks.
• Coordinated regional action is critical to harmonize regulations, expand connectivity, and build a competitive digital single market in ECCAS.

Introduction

Global e-commerce has emerged as a powerful driver of trade, innovation, and economic diversification, reshaping how businesses and consumers interact across borders. Digital platforms have lowered transaction costs, expanded market access, and enabled small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in international trade. However, the ECCAS region has not fully harnessed these opportunities due to persistent structural and institutional challenges. The region remains only moderately integrated, with intra-regional trade estimated at below 5% of total trade.

The rapid expansion of the digital economy across Africa presents an opportunity for ECCAS to overcome traditional trade barriers. Yet readiness for e-commerce adoption remains uneven across member states. In Gabon, 38.3% of the population was ready for e-commerce in 2021, compared to 32% in Cameroon, 30.9% in Rwanda, 30.4% in Angola, and just 14% in Congo. Low readiness levels limit SMEs’ ability to engage with digital marketplaces across borders, thereby constraining regional trade outcomes.

In addition to readiness, the ECCAS region lags behind due to structural barriers that undermine digital trade. Limited broadband coverage and high internet costs restrict access, particularly in rural areas where connectivity remains poor. Weak cross-border digital payment systems, coupled with low digital literacy and limited trust in online transactions, further constrains participation in digital markets. These challenges slows the adoption of e-commerce, and regional trade integration efforts.

This brief examines the extent to which digital trade infrastructure can reduce persistent regional trade gaps in ECCAS and proposes policy recommendations to strengthen digital trade systems. It draws on literature from international business, development economics, digital trade, and information systems, review of ECCAS policy frameworks, comparative analyses with other African regional economic Communities (RECs). The brief is organized into two sections: first, an analysis of the structural constraints driving the trade gap in ECCAS; and second, an assessment of how digital trade infrastructure can help bridge this gap. The brief concludes with policy recommendations.

1.Understanding ECCAS’s Trade Gap and Its Structural Limitations

i. Trade Structure & Dependence on Commodities

Intra-ECCAS trade accounts for only about 8% of total exports, lagging behind the continental average of 18.6% and regional peers such as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with intra-regional trade of about 15%. This gap reflects structural inefficiencies and exposes the sub-region to external shocks, as economies remain heavily dependent on primary commodity exports such as oil, timber, and minerals, which account for over 60% of ECCAS merchandise trade.

ii. Digital Exclusion

Digital exclusion continues to widen the trade gap. Internet penetration across ECCAS remains below 30%, with countries like Central African Republic at 13.8% and Gabon at about 60%. Broadband speeds remain low at approximately 5-10 Mbps regionally, limiting effective participation in digital markets. While mobile money adoption has reached about 46%, weak interoperability across operators fragments the region’s digital trade potential. Gender disparities further intensify these constraints, as women who constitute nearly 60% of informal cross-border traders have significantly lower access to digital tools and technology.

iii. Physical and Logistics Constraints

Furthermore, infrastructure constraints such as weak road networks and port inefficiencies reduce trade capacity. Customs clearance delays often 10 to 15 days per border crossing increase transaction costs and negatively affects SMEs, whose compliance costs can exceed 15% of shipment value. Similarly, the Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII) shows low ECCAS performance across infrastructure, trade and financial integration, and institutional cooperation, reinforcing a cycle where limited trade discourages investment in integration. ECCAS road density remains low, increasing transport costs to 20% of product prices,  about double the global average for developing regions. Key corridors such as the Douala–N’Djamena trade route illustrate the combined effect of weak logistics and fragmented digital payment systems, where seasonal disruptions and insecurity compound delays and raise costs. Rail and air freight connectivity also remains limited, further restricting regional trade flows.

2.Strengthening Trade through Digital Infrastructure

Addressing ECCAS’s persistent trade gap requires more than traditional infrastructure investment; it demands the development of digital trade infrastructure capable of reducing transaction costs, improving market access, and strengthening regional connectivity. While physical infrastructure and regulatory reforms remain essential, digital technologies increasingly offer scalable and cost effective solutions to overcome persistent structural constraints.

E-commerce platforms can directly reduce market fragmentation by providing SMEs and informal traders with access to regional marketplaces. This helps overcome the limited physical market reach and high compliance costs that currently discourage cross-border trade. By lowering entry barriers, platforms enable small firms to integrate into regional value chains. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), digitalization can significantly reduce trade transaction costs through streamlined logistics, automated customs processes, and improved information flows between traders and authorities.

Weak interoperability of mobile money networks has been a major barrier to cross-border trade. Interoperable mobile payment systems can directly address this issue, particularly for traders operating across Cameroon, Chad, and Congo, where fragmented networks often prevent seamless transactions. By enabling payments across providers and borders, interoperability reduces transaction delays and fosters financial inclusion.

Customs clearance delays of 10–15 days per border crossing are a critical constraint for SMEs. Digital customs procedures, including electronic single windows and digital certificates of origin, reduces clearance processes and reduce compliance costs. These tools directly solve the constraint of slow border procedures, cutting transaction times and costs. Also, low trust in online transactions has limited adoption of digital trade. Regional standards for data protection, cybersecurity, and electronic transactions can build confidence among traders and consumers, ensuring that digital platforms are secure and reliable.

In Cameroon, for instance, the use of mobile trade registration systems along the Douala–N’Djamena corridor has begun to reduce both logistical delays and payment fragmentation by digitizing trader registration and linking it with mobile payment platforms, demonstrating how targeted digital tools can address multiple constraints simultaneously.

Policy Recommendations

To harness digital trade infrastructure as a driver of regional integration and reduce the trade gap in the ECCAS region, policymakers should adopt a phased approach combining immediate regulatory reforms with longer-term infrastructure investments.

Short-Term (1–2 years): Strengthening the Enabling Environment

• The ECCAS Secretariat, in coordination with member statesshould work on harmonizing  national rules on e-commerce, data protection, digital taxation, and consumer protection with that of the AfCFTA. This would reduce compliance costs for SMEs and build trust in cross-border e-commerce.
• Member states and private sector fintech providersshould promote the design and adoption of regional payment platforms supported by ECCAS Secretariat. Interoperable payment systems would directly address fragmented mobile money networks and enable users to send or receive money without restrictions tied to specific apps, banks, or wallets, fostering broader financial inclusion and easing e-commerce.

Medium-Term (3–5 years): Expanding Regional Digital Trade Infrastructure

• Invest in regional broadband and digital connectivity. Expanding high-speed internet along major trade corridors and border regions would lower connectivity costs and enable SMEs to participate more effectively in digital commerce and logistics.
• Strengthen digital trust and cybersecurity frameworks.Developing regional standards for data protection, cybersecurity, and electronic transactions would build confidence in online trade and reduce fraud risks, ensuring traders and consumers trust digital platforms.
• Formalize and integrate informal cross-border trade using digital tools. Simplified digital customs procedures and mobile trade registration systems would help informal traders transition into formal markets. For example, a digital customs pre-registration tool could simplify procedures for informal women traders along the Cameroon/Congo border, reducing delays and compliance costs.

Long-Term (5–10 years): Building a Competitive Digital Trade Ecosystem

• Develop a regional ECCAS digital single market. A harmonized regional digital market would allow the free flow of digital services, data, and online commerce across ECCAS member states, reducing fragmentation and boosting competitiveness. Early digital harmonization efforts in the East African Community (EAC), such as regional e-payment interoperability and shared data protection frameworks, illustrate the feasibility of such integration and provide a benchmark for ECCAS.ECCAS’s digital single market vision is achievable since the region already shares common trade frameworks under the AfCFTA, and growing mobile money adoption provides a foundation for interoperability. By learning from precedents like the EAC’s early digital harmonization, ECCAS can gradually align regulations, build trust, and scale digital infrastructure to create a unified market
• Promote digital value chains and innovation ecosystems. Regional digital platforms, fintech solutions, and e-commerce startups would drive intra-regional trade and value addition, helping diversify economies beyond commodities.
• Invest in digital skills and innovation capacity.  Expanding programs in digital entrepreneurship, data science, AI, and ICT skills would ensure a workforce capable of sustaining the digital economy and supporting innovative

Conclusion

ECCAS continues to face structural, infrastructural, and institutional barriers that restrict intra-regional trade. However, the rapid expansion of digital technologies across Africa provides a unique opportunity to address these longstanding challenges. Strengthening digital trade infrastructure, from broadband expansion to interoperable payment systems and harmonized regulations, can significantly lower trade costs and expand market access for SMEs and informal traders.

To realize these benefits, ECCAS must adopt a coordinated, phased approach that builds digital trust, enhances regulatory alignment, and supports the integration of informal and small-scale traders. With sustained investment and regional collaboration, digital trade can become a key driver of economic diversification, competitiveness, and long-term regional integration.