Building a competitive economy

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) will maintain its collaboration with various institutions in the country with the aim of further improving and sustaining the country’s global economic competitiveness. RDB’s acting Chief Executive Officer, Clare Akamanzi, said this while commenting on the recent World Economic Forum global competitiveness index that ranked Rwanda as the most competitive country in the East African region, and the third in Sub-Saharan Africa.According to the report, the country had also moved seven places up compared to last year’s index. “RDB is constantly collaborating with various institutions in Rwanda to work towards the improvement of the economic competitiveness of the country, particularly to work towards Vision 2020.”She said the recent agreement between Turkish firm, Hakan Mining and Generation Industry and Trade Inc, to set up a $283 million (Rwf 169.8 billion) power plant to generate 100 megawatts of electricity using peat, underscored the government’s commitment to sustain the country’s economic competitiveness. The firm will commence its work soon in the peat-rich wetlands of Nyanza and Gisagara districts in the Southern Province.“It highlights how RDB is working together with various stakeholders and investors in translating the policy objective of the government into concrete action to increase access to power in Rwanda. This is more so because access to electricity supply is one of the areas measured for economic competitiveness,” she explained.Around 16 per cent of the country’s population has access to electricity, and the government seeks to raise coverage in rural areas to 35 per cent in rural areas by 2020.Commenting on the development of the workforce, Akamanzi said the proliferation of private universities in the country, such as US-based Carnegie Mellon University, provides a window to develop the country’s human resource.Next month, a public-private dialogue is set to be launched under the aegis of RDB with the aim of examining the issue of financial access and land, among other factors.The Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the National University of Rwanda, Prof Rama B Rao, said that the government needs to focus more on ensuring a self-sustained economy and avoid dependency.“We are getting integrated into the global economy. However, more focus should be put on human resource capacities and strengthen a self dependent economy,” he said in an interview with The New Times.“The number of graduates from the universities is increasing. However, for the economy to remain competitive, the government must emphasise that the youth are entrepreneurs instead of job seekers.”The chairman of Rwanda Exporters Association, Janet Nkubana, said that government has succeeded in business reforms but high bank interest rates remain a big challenge to traders. Akamanzi said the Special Economic Zone that is currently under development will, upon completion, further ease doing business within the designated zones. She said the government is currently planning the next round of reforms to improve doing business in the country to attract more foreign and local investment inflows and making the business environment more vibrant.