This study empirically examines the relationship between infrastructure stock and bilateral trade flows using a panel of 11 countries in East Africa for the period 2000 to 2018. Infrastructure augmented gravity model was estimated using total bilateral exports for the countries in East Africa. Infrastructure was disaggregated into transport and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructures. Two institutional variables, control of corruption index and regulatory quality, were incorporated in the model. By employing Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator, the results confirm that both ICT and transport infrastructures and quality institutions positively impact on the volumes of total bilateral exports in East Africa. However, ICT infrastructure has a greater impact on trade flows compared to transport infrastructure. Therefore, more resources should be channelled towards increasing the stock of ICT infrastructure to propel trade and regional integration in East Africa.

Peer-review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer-Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript underwent an evaluation to compare the level of originality with other published works and was subjected to rigorous two-step peer-review before publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the editor(s) or author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher, editor(s) and author(s). The publisher shared feedback on the similarity report and the reviewers' inputs with the manuscript's editor(s) or author(s) to improve the manuscript. Where the reviewers recommended revision and improvements the editor(s) or author(s) responded adequately to such recommendations. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the book be published.

Peer-review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer-Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript underwent an evaluation to compare the level of originality with other published works and was subjected to rigorous two-step peer-review before publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the editor(s) or author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher, editor(s) and author(s). The publisher shared feedback on the similarity report and the reviewers' inputs with the manuscript's editor(s) or author(s) to improve the manuscript. Where the reviewers recommended revision and improvements the editor(s) or author(s) responded adequately to such recommendations. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the book be published.

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