Data from the local bonded warehouses has shown that there is a decrease in imports to Rwanda, a trend that has been attributed to the global economic meltdown.

Roger Nkubito the Manager of the Inland Container Depot with SDV TRANSAMI said that there is a significant decline in the whole supply chain since February this year.

Nkubito said that the company used to handle 15 to 20 trucks per day but this has reduced to between 8 and 12 trucks.

According to a report submitted on Monday, only seven trucks were received in the packing yard.

Nkubito said, "The decline in cargo reached its peak in February this year and it negatively affected the business chain.”

He attributed the problem to local banks for failure to avail credit for the importers.

There is currently a liquidity problem in Rwanda due to the mismatch of short term deposits. Liquidity has been blamed to the global financial crisis.

"Our handling machine is underutilized. It has the capacity to handle 200 to 300 trucks but it (now) handles two trucks per day,” he said.

In 2008 credit to private sector increased to the tune of 31 percent and deposits in banks were slower only at 6.4 percent, caused by mainly less savings due to high inflation.

Nkubito said that his office had projected returns on investments to be 46 percent but the company has registered only 26 percent.

Another reason for the cargo decline is the harmonization of East African Community Customs Union where importers are holding back their goods until next month.

Under customs union non-tariff barriers that could hinder trade between the partner states will be eliminated. 

Products produced in EA member states will have same tariffs while those produced outside EAC but traded in the region will have common tariffs.

Aloys Rusagara the acting Director General of MAGERWA said that importers have small consignments, which are even on special orders holding them to next month.

Rusagara, however, said that the pinch can not be felt on a monthly basis because when you compare from January to May this year on average imports was 78.5 tonnes per month while last year same period it was 71.5 tonnes.

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