Rwf10trn earmarked for EDPRS II

Government WILL spend about Rwf10 trillion on economic development and poverty reduction in the next five years.The development follows cabinet’s endorsement of the second phase of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) II on Wednesday.“The total cost of EDPRS II is about 10 trillion in the next five years and this involves both public and private sector investments,” said Kampeta Sayinzoga, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.While addressing journalists yesterday, Sayinzoga said EDPRS II will specifically tackle four key areas namely economic transformation, rural development, youth employment and public accountability.The main objective of EDPRS II is to turn Rwanda into a middle-income country by 2020, through focused implementation of projects. Rwanda targets to achieve at least 11.5 per cent average GDP growth per annum from 7.7 per cent for the next five years and also aims to reduce poverty to below 30 per cent. “Under the economic transformation, priority interventions will include increasing domestic and external connectivity, transforming private sector, transforming the economic geography of Rwanda by facilitating urbanisation, promoting secondary cities and pursuing a ‘green economy’ approach,” Sayinzoga said. Priority areas under rural development include improved efficiency of land use by better planned human settlements, increased agricultural production and improved infrastructure.Under the productivity and youth employment cluster, government targets to create at least 200,000 new jobs annually, revising education curricula, strengthening technical and vocational training as well as promoting technology.Spending breakdownA paper on EDPRS II from the Ministry of Finance indicates that government will spend about Rwf 4,738 billion as cost of the initiatives linked to its main themes.According to the document, financing the EDPRS II will require investment as a percentage of GDP to increase from 21.3 per cent in 2013 to 29.7 per cent in 2017. It is planned that Rwf 3,292 billion will be spent on initiatives in the foundation sectors while Rwf1,899 billion will be injected in wage bills and social or human security. Foundational sectors include education, agriculture, energy and health.Government plans to pursue new and innovative sources of financing including increasing external borrowing, boosting foreign direct investment and international capital flows, as well as tapping into the recently formed Agaciro Development Fund.EDPRS II follows the first phase which saw about a million Rwandans lifted out of poverty.EDPRS I ran from 2008-12 while the second phase will until 2017.

National

Rwf10trn earmarked for EDPRS II