LAUSR

The paper investigates inflation convergence in five East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as they aspire to form a monetary union by 2024 under the umbrella of the East African Community (EAC). We find that inflation differentials in the five EAC countries are not persistent, implying that inflation rates in these countries have been converging. This convergence can be attributed to a similarity in terms of the nature of shocks affecting EAC countries as well as the crucial role of foreign factors as drivers of inflation in these countries since the early 1990s. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.