Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente has said that Rwanda will need a combination of hard work and partnerships between the government and the private sector in dealing with the losses that continue to rise from the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Addressing members of both chambers of parliament on the impact of Covid-19, Ngirente said that while Rwanda will face challenges like the rest of the world, projections so far indicate that the country’s economy will not fall below zero as has been the case in some countries.

"In the year 2020, the economy is expected to rise by two percent. In 2021, it will raise at the rate of 6.3 percent before it gets to 8 percent in 2022. All these are projections that are subject to change based on the global trends,” he said.

Challenges ahead

Ngirente explained that while the agriculture sector was expected to rise at the rate of five percent this year, projections indicate that due to the impact of the global impact of Covid-19, the sector is expected to rise by only 2.8 percent.

Senators follow the presentation of Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente to Parliament on government’s efforts to contain Covid-19 pandemic, on Tuesday./  Sam Ngendahimana.

The industry sector, which has been affected by lack of raw materials which are both locally made and imported will settle for a 4 per cent rise this year as compared to 16.5 per cent registered 2019.

The service sector will improve at the rate of one per cent this year as compared to the 8.2 per cent rate last year.

Between January and May this year, the country’s trade deficit increased by 4.8 per cent as compared to last year.

Within the same period, Ngirente added that although tea exports increased by 14.9 per cent (based on the 6.7 percent rise in the cost) there was a 50 percent decrease in non-traditional exports and 30 per cent decrease in traditional exports.

"For instance, coffee exports reduced by 35.6 per cent and gold by 53.1 percent. This can be attributed to the reduction of exports and also the fall in prices on the global market,” he said.

Ngirente told the MPs that Rwanda’s business with the East African Community was hit hardest.

"Business between Rwanda and the EAC was hit at more than 200 percent rate and this has so far caused us a $50 million loss,” he said.

Talking about agriculture, which is the source of the biggest percentage of Rwandans, Ngirente said that milk production reduced by 35 percent.

This, he explained is due to the suspension of operations at 22 of the 132 milk collection centers.

"Even those that stayed operational were only operational between two to three days a week. When factories that use milk as a raw material suspended business, a total of 100,000 litres of milk did not have buyers,” he said.

Abattoir business reduced by 50 percent and this has led to a sharp increase in the price of meat.

Tourism picking up

Ngirente reminded that since this year, 70 meetings and events were suspended at the height of the outbreak of the virus. This, he explained, has so far cost the government an $80m loss.

However, official numbers indicate that between June 17 when tourism activities were flagged off and July 15, a total of 1,176 people have visited tourism sites in Rwanda, about 3,000 visitors have used hotels and about 50 meetings have so far taken place.

At a press conference held on Monday, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Soraya Hakuziyaremye said that although Rwanda’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industry had taken a hit, there was hope that the national economy would make an estimated $180 million.

"We can’t quantify all the losses so far and although we are not going to realise the same economic growth that we have experienced in the last 10 to 15 years, the International Monetary Fund says that we still have an opportunity of growing by 2 per cent,” she said.