Rwanda economy stands strong – World Bank envoy

Rwanda has what it takes to sustain its strong economic performance over the years as well as deal with any possible unforeseen challenges, the outgoing World Bank country manager has said. Carolyn Turk was speaking to journalists shortly after bidding farewell to President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro in Kigali yesterday. She said she was confident in the government’s readiness to address challenges often faced by fast-growing economies like Rwanda. Such challenges, she said, include maintaining the pace of economic growth. “Rwanda is a fast-growing economy and to maintain that speed of growth, there will be challenges such as keeping up with the current rate of investments, ensuring that the investments are of high quality as well as ensuring that public investments are well managed,” Turk said. Rwanda’s economic growth rate has averaged 8 per cent over the 10 years. Other challenges that Turk said are likely to emerge in the future include an ever-growing number of unemployed graduates, but she said the government was devising appropriate strategies to address it. “These are problems that the government is aware of and is devising strategies to (address). I feel very confident that Rwanda has a good future,” Turk said. During her three-year tour of duty in the country, Turk said, the World Bank Group has disbursed over $700 million across various sectors. “Rwanda’s projects are some of the best performing projects in the whole of the African continent and we see tangible results from the projects that we have been supporting,” she added. Turk will be serving the Bank as representative to Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan. The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete, thanked the outgoing WB chief for her contribution toward Rwanda’s development. He added that during her time in Rwanda, the country had improved significantly in the Bank’s various rankings. Rwanda has in recent years topped the region in World Bank’s annual Doing Business Reports. Gatete said the government was looking forward to maintaining warm relations with the World Bank. editorial@newtimes.corw

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Rwanda economy stands strong – World Bank envoy