As of today, the Government has allocated over Rwf 955 million to the manufacturing industry but the capital is expected to increase and receive more Rwf 150 billion to recover and mitigate COVID-19 effects.

Premier Ngirente explained that funds will be available in the next fiscal year after increasing capital in Economic Recovery Fund expected to increase from the current Rwf 100 billion to Rwf 370 billion.

The Government had planned to inject more Rwf 100 million into the recovery fund but Premier Ngirente explained that the funds will be increased to Rwf 250 billion to support more businesses.

It was revealed yesterday as Rwanda announced a plan to increase this year’s Economic Recovery Fund by more than three times to Rwf 350 billion in order to support the recovery of businesses severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Economic Recovery Fund, currently valued at Rwf100 billion prioritizes sectors including tourism and hospitality, manufacturing, transport and logistics, agro-processing, education, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) linked to domestic and global supply chains, said Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, while presenting the economic recovery plan in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to parliament.

The manufacturing industry was one of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, falling by 19 percent, while the construction sector dropped by 6 percent, according to Ngirente.

He said the government has designed the Manufacture and Build to Recover Program, an initiative that aims to fast track private secondary investments in manufacturing and construction.

The program will help reduce the cost of setting up industries of key essential products and facilitating the growth of SMEs in the country, said the prime minister, who is also an economist.

He added that the program is expected to increase industrial output, create 27,394 new direct and indirect jobs, boost exports, recapture domestic market and generate more than Rwf 1 billion through new investments during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The government incentives under the program consist mainly of tax exemption on imported construction materials not available in the East African Community, he said.