EAC Vision 2050
• Macroeconomic stability with higher savings and investment rates as well as a conducive business environment, effective institutional capacities, so that it will make EAC a haven for private sector investment and thereby spur high and sustained economic growth rates, increase production capacity and widen the exports
• Indicative Strategies for national level: develop macroeconomic sectorial polices for a competitive private sector growth; develop policies for PPP in investment of transport systems; proved incentives- taxes, regulatory environment to encourage private sector investment; ratify adopt treaties for CFTA
• Africa union not a member of WTO, hence weaken its voice in negotiations
• Creative economy major contributor to economic growth and global trade in Africa
• ICT: need to put in place policies and strategies that will lead to transformative e-applications and services in Africa; improve physical infrastructure; cyber security. Increased investment in ICT realized to have enormous amount of returns and the potential to revolutionize access to markets and services.
• One of reasons of conflicts are inadequate efforts to address challenges of poverty and inequality; and one of ways to overcoming risks is to build partnerships and institutions to help disruptive changes and fragilities
• Flagship programmes for PSD: Establishment of Annual African forum to bring together Africa’s political leadership, private sector academia and civil society; Pan African ENetwork: transformative e-services, improve physical infrastructure and cyber security
• Long term job creation requires skills development consisted with emerging development opportunities in infrastructural development, industrialization and manufacturing; Management of human capital development
• For PSD: build on the creation of AU private sector forum, building capacities to overcome market and institutional failures and pursue sustainable business practices, investment in infrastructure markets including ICT, transport and power, strengthen innovation capabilities and value chains
• Rwanda: One of the best business climates in Africa
• PSD: Coordination of economic activities and resource including effective supervision of financial institutions as well as fiscal policies that provide incentives to private sector; Support to entrepreneurial class to facilitate private-sector led growth; Working age population increasing which can be the market driver for private sector; Critical factor of success depends upon capable development state with a vibrant private sector; Prerequisites: ensure stakeholders have a representation. At the national level for stakeholder relationships, private sector need to align national plans to Agenda 2063 perspectives and plans; Implementation of Agenda requires private sector development reforms and increasing the capacity of their institutions; Private sector participation in monitoring; National Financing strategy includes Private investment
• Africa’s PS: growing as countries liberalize markets, promote entrepreneurship, offer incentives and encourage open competition but still at an infant stage compared with other continents; a large and growing informal segment which is a dominant source of women employment; dominance of SME in both formal and informal sectors, medium scale enterprises missing; absence of limited inter-firm linkages between formal and informal economies
• Key measures for expanding trade and investment: Remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade as well as poor infrastructure, limited port capacity, limited access to finance, lack of exploitation of supply chain potential, paucity of productive capacity, governance issues and political instability. Fast track the establishment of CFTA and transition to a continental Customs Union with a Common External Tariff Scheme
BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT CLIMATE SURVEY – RWANDA 2019
70