Rwanda (Commonwealth Union)_A two-year project to increase industrial capacity in Rwanda has been initiated by the Rwandan government in collaboration with the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance of the African Development Bank.
$550,000 will be spent on the Enhancing the Quality of Industrial Policy in Rwanda Project (EQuIP). It will increase the ability of employees of the Rwanda Development Board, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the private sector to develop, carry out and assess industrial policies autonomously or with little dependence on outside expertise.
The initiative supports Rwanda’s goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2035. The industrial policy’s overarching economic objectives include pushing for industrialization, moving the export base to high-value commodities and services, establishing Rwanda as an internationally competitive knowledge-based economy, and creating over 200,000 employments yearly to support development.
Commented on the initiative, the minister of trade and industry, Beata Habyarimana said: “When we are revising the 2011 industrial policy, this project is timely. Enhancing the Quality of Industrial Policies (EQuIP) technical assistance and capacity development training is crucial in helping us build our abilities to more successfully execute and assess the efficacy of industrialization plans.”
Masahiro Imai, the Japanese ambassador to Rwanda, said: “I want to applaud the government of Rwanda’s efforts to boost the economy by being extremely open and transparent with both domestic and foreign investors and financiers. We anticipate that the initiative will help Rwanda develop in a way that is both inclusive and sustainable.” According to the 2022 African Economic Outlook, Rwanda’s gross domestic product growth hit 10% in 2021 after declining by 3.4% in 2020 as a result of Covid-19. The GDP is expected to expand by 6.9% in 2022 and 7.9% in 2023.
