Rwanda among top performers in economic governance

Rwanda has been ranked among the top most performing countries in the area of economic governance in Sub-Sahara African (SSA). This was reported in the African Economic Outlook (AEO) report that was launched last week in Kigali by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Minister of Finance James Musoni (File photo)

Rwanda has been ranked among the top most performing countries in the area of economic governance in Sub-Sahara African (SSA). This was reported in the African Economic Outlook (AEO) report that was launched last week in Kigali by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

According to the AEO, Rwanda was ranked the 6th top reformer in SSA countries in the year 2008. The country came 6th after Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Senegal, Burkina Faso and Botswana are the top performers according to the report.

"Several regulatory reforms were undertaken in these countries which substantially improved the county’s global rankings on overall ease of doing business in 2008 and 2009,” the report stated.

So far this year Rwanda is ranked number 124 in the world and it scored 54.2 points for the area of the country with the most economic freedom as compared to last year’s 54.1.

Also according to the report, starting a business and trading across borders are the most popular reforms in the region this year which include dealing with construction permits, registering properties and enforcing of contracts.

"There has been reduction in time and cost to register property as well as introduction of single application form for location clearance and building permit made doing business easier in Rwanda,” the report states.

However, the reports also adds that just six years from the deadline set by the United Nation and the international community for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with the exception of Northern African countries, none of the SSA countries is currently on track to attain all goals by 2015.

Rwanda was ranked number 165 and it was an early achiever in the universal primary education.

It was also noted as regressing in eradicating of extreme poverty and hunger an early achiever in promoting gender equality and empowering women. The report says that country was off track on reducing child mortality.

However, the board statement inevitably conceals the variety of the results obtained by each country, and more particularly, the striking progress made by some countries.

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