Over 5 Percent Growth for Rwanda
Statistics reveal that the economic growth rate for Rwanda 2014 is forecasted at 5.7% with an increase to 6.6% in 2015. This is the gist of the latest World Bank Rwanda Economic Update report launched last week at Hotel Mille Colline in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda.
According to the World Bank Country Manager in Rwanda Miss Carolyn Turk, the growth rate for Rwanda for the previous years has been so impressive. She added that the economy now needs a significant structural transformation from one that is characterized by a large public sector to private investment. This can help reduce the current vulnerabilities in the country’s economy and enable to sustain its high growth rate into the next 10 years.
Reports show that last year 2013 the country faced a setback falling by 4.7 per cent. This is the lowest ever since 2003, caused by short fall of aids in 2012 that resulted to budget expenditure delays. The economy later picked to 7.4 per cent in early 2014 due to strong developed services sector growth for Rwanda.
According to Toru Nishiuchi, the World Bank economist, the turnovers in services and industries have picked up, therefore they expect more growth in 2014 compared to 2013.
The mining sector in Rwanda is now perceived by the World Bank as the only option to assist the country achieves its development plans.
Nushiuchi revealed that investment in the mining sector in the previous years has made a great impact in increasing in mineral exports that accounted for about 40 percent of total goods exported in 2013. Although Rwanda mining sector is on small scale, it contributes to national development. This has prompted the central government to change the sector to a semi-industrial sector. Furthermore, the sector has contributed much in providing employment opportunities to the public. More off-farm jobs are created and this is one important pillar of the government EDPRS2. The mining sector has currently created over 30000 job opportunities and pays well compared to other jobs in rural areas.
The government has put in place several strategies to to increase the volumes of minerals from the country and among these include;
– Licensing period has been reduced and legal mining framework changed
– Over 2 Million Euros invested by government to attract hot tracks and mineral prospection for more mineral evaluation, and attract more investors into Rwanda
– The government is putting more emphasis on the quality of minerals produced
Rwanda government targets at achieving $400million by 2017 from $160million achieved in 2012 and this will be so if challenges faced in the mining sector are addressed.
