Rwanda’s economy has bounced back from the Covid-19 pandemic shocks, leading to gains in job creation for the country’s population, and improvement in its welfare, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente said on Tuesday, February 13.

The premier made the observation while presenting a progress report on post-Covid economic recovery initiatives to a plenary session of both Chambers of Parliament.

Ngirente said that the country’s economy was hit by the pandemic which shook the global economy, pointing out that the country does not do business in isolation.

Because of the pandemic impact, he pointed out, Rwanda’s economy regressed by 3.4 per cent in 2020, which, though it was a growth drop, was relatively better than that of the global economy rate which regressed by 3.1 per cent in the same year.

He indicated that economic recovery measures that the country put in place in different periods fueled progress such that it grew at an average rate of 8 per cent over a three-year period (2021-2023) – which represents a rebound from a 3.4 per cent decline in 2020.

The economic growth corresponded to new employment creation in the same period as 590,000 jobs were created from 2021 to 2023, he pointed out.

This implies that the government’s target to create 200,000 jobs per year under the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), was achieved at a rate of 98 per cent during the period under review.

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Measures that the country set up include economic recovery fund (ERF) to complement the already existing banking services with a view to recover – through access to finance – businesses that were hit by Covid-19.

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Ngirente said that the fund has so far disbursed more than Rwf206 billion to different private sector entities, which represents less than half of Rwf459 billion that was put in it in two phases.

Again, he told lawmakers that a Manufacture and Build to Recover Program was established in order to revive industry and construction sectors as well as contribute to job creation.

"This programme increased investment such that 136 projects worth slightly over $2.38 billion have been approved since 2021. It is expected that it will create more than 43,000 jobs,” he said.

To address inflation impact, he said that the government continued to provide subsidies on important goods and services that can impact many Rwandans.

These include fuel and fertilisers whose prices surged because of supply disruption in the global trade.

From May 2021 until November 2023, the government had subsidised fuel prices with Rwf91 billion, according to Ngirente.

Overall, he said, the aim of the subsidies was to mitigate their effects on the economy as a whole, and transport of goods and passengers in particular.

In line with agriculture financing for food security purposes, Ngirente said that the country [gradually] increased subsidy on fertilisers from slightly over Rwf10 billion in 2019 (before Covid-19) to more than Rwf51 billion in 2023/2024.

"This financial support helped farmers to get fertilisers at a lower price. For instance, in the farming season A of 2024, farmers buy NPK [a commonly used fertiliser in potato production] at Rwf612 a kilogramme, while they would have to pay Rwf1,266 a kilogramme if there were no subsidy,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said that the financial support contributed to increased fertiliser use level among farmers, from 46 kilogrammes in 2020 to 70.3 kilogrammes [in 2023/2024].