Rwanda has an opportunity to transform its economy through a commodity-based industrialisation strategy that leverages on the country’s resources, a new report says.The report by the Economic Commission for Africa says such a policy is necessary if the country is to become a global economic power that can address the challenges of youth unemployment, poverty and gender disparities.“Maximising commodities for industrialisation involves adding value to soft and hard commodities and developing forward and backward linkages to the commodity sector,” said Abdalla Hamdok, the deputy executive secretary at the Economic Commission for Africa, during the report’s launch in Kigali on Wednesday.Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Leonard Mungarulire, said government had started realising some of the key highlights of the report.“Our economy is transforming over two major areas that government has been supporting over the years through the EDPRS 1 objectives,” he said. “We are harnessing human capital and technology to add value to our commodities, moving towards knowledge intensive industries.”A land-linked focusMungarulire also said government is building infrastructure to take advantage of Rwanda’s land linked status with the region rather than focusing on being landlocked as a nation.He said urbanisation and a shift to off-farm jobs has led to a more productive commercial sector rather than a more predominantly subsistence one.The industrial sector, he said, had grown by an average of 9.8 per cent over the past five years driven by the development of a broad industrial sector with growth in agro processing, construction materials and light manufacturing.Leonard Rugwabiza, Director General of National Development Planning and Research in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, said the report’s findings were not all that new and that it was like Africa was not adhering.“We want to reduce our external dependency and focus on our private sector at the same time,” Rugwabiza said.“In order to achieve economic transformation we need to encourage private investment, skills development in order to increase productivity, urbanization and rural development, and, lastly, improved service delivery,” he said.The report concludes that apart from providing employment, income, price and non-price benefits, Rwanda, by adding value to its raw materials locally, could also bring about diversification of technological capabilities, an expanded skills base and deepening of Rwanda’s industrial structures.
