Rwanda’s exports more than doubled from slightly over $1 billion in 2017 to more than $2.4 billion in 2023, while the country created more than 1.37 million jobs under the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), according to Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente.
"We achieved this mainly because of implementing government strategies in line with recovering the economy [from the Covid-19 pandemic impact], but largely the Made in Rwanda programme, but also the initiative to facilitate investors both foreign and Rwandan who are engaged in exports,” Ngirente said.
The premier gave the update on June 5, while briefing the joint sitting of Parliament on the achievements of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) also known as Seven-Year Government Programme which ran from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2024.
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On the trade and industry sector, Ngirente said that the targets under the strategy included increasing the output of domestic industries, Rwanda’s exports, promoting trade with neighboring countries, and boosting mineral trade.
To that end, he said, various factories were set up including those for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, construction materials, packaging materials, mosquito nets, and fertiliser blending, among others.
As a result, he pointed out, the target for the manufacturing sector to contribute 21.7 per cent to the country’s economy – gross domestic product (GDP) – was achieved.
"Now, the contribution of manufacturing to GDP stands at 22 per cent. That made the output of domestic industry grow by about 10 per cent every year since 2017,” he said, adding that efforts to develop the industry sector are ongoing.
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Rwanda’s GDP rose significantly from more than Rwf7 trillion in 2017 to more than Rwf16 trillion in 2023, Ngirente told parliamentarians, indicating that the annual economic growth was 7 per cent on average. But, he said, the country’s economy suffered a 3.4 per cent dip in 2020 as Covid-19 had a toll on it.
The industry sector, he said, greatly contributed to employment in the country, especially for the youth, and women.
Meanwhile, he said that Rwanda’s mineral export revenues considerably went up from about $373 million in 2017 to more than $1.1 billion in 2023.
The premier indicated that the country invested in value addition to minerals for higher revenues, instead of exporting them in raw form.
"We have so far set up four mineral processing factories so that they get added value before being exported,” he said, adding that the mineral value addition journey continues.
Job creation
Overall, Ngirente indicated, more than 1,374,000 jobs were created, against the target of at least 1.5 million jobs, implying that it was achieved at 91.6 per cent.
The inability to achieve the target was largely attributed to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the economy, which slowed down the progress.
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Due to the Covid-19 shock, job creation was somehow brought to a standstill for about two years, and some workers were laid off, the premier observed.
"That had a bad impact on us. But, the gap [between created jobs and the target] is not very big,” he said, expressing the wish "to create very many jobs that make our youth employed.”