by Ggombe Kasim Munyegera (PhD), Philip English (PhD) and Patrick McSharry (PhD)
Increasing exports and attracting foreign direct investment are central priorities of the Government of Rwanda and of DfID in its Invest Africa initiative. Rwanda must create some 200,000 jobs per year to absorb its expanding population and even more are required to relieve the pressure on rural land. While export growth has slowed recently, the export portfolio has become more diverse in terms of both products and markets – though some vulnerabilities remain. These include shrinking global market shares in certain sectors and a lack of focus where world trade is expanding.