Private sector can do more under a better business environment

VOICES CALLING upon the private sector to trade more within the region are getting louder once again. Unlike in the past when such advice was not supported by an enabling environment, this time round political leadership has taken decisive measures to clear impediments. Recent developments on the Northern Corridor, for example, are testimony to the fact that political leaders no longer pay lip service to the issue of non-tariff barriers that hindered commerce in the past. It is now possible to transport goods by road from Mombasa Port to Kigali in just six days, down from more than 21 days previously. Therefore, if it is now faster to clear goods from Mombasa and transport them to the hinterland, it must be equally faster to transport goods made in Rwanda to Uganda or Kenya. The private sector, the engine being serviced by political leadership to power our economic growth, should quickly discard the past to seize the moment and exploit opportunities presented by this enabling environment. The vibrant informal trade currently thriving across common borders is evidence that a lot remains to be done by the private sector, in terms of value addition, to produce for the regional market of over 141 million people and GDP of almost $100 billion. This is particularly so because most of the items traded informally are either in raw material form or re-exports of finished goods from Europe and Asia. That is why we should not celebrate the approximately Rwf5.3 billion Rwandans earn annually from informal exports of live cattle and goats to the Democratic Republic of Congo; we should be adding value in order to fetch higher revenue.

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Private sector can do more under a better business environment