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Rwanda

Introduction


Background			In 1959, three years before independence, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions culminating in April 1994 in a genocide in which roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and ended the genocide in July 1994, but approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC). Since then most of the refugees have returned. Despite substantial international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's first ever local elections held in March 1999 - the country continues to struggle to boost investment and agricultural output and to foster reconciliation. A series of massive population displacements, a nagging Hutu extremist insurgency, and Rwandan involvement in two wars over the past four years in the neighboring DROC continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts.

Economy

Economic Performance

Economy - overview Rwanda is a rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa; is landlocked; and has few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary exports are coffee and tea. The 1994 genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made significant progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy. GDP has rebounded, and inflation has been curbed. In June 1998, Rwanda signed an Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) with the IMF. Rwanda has also embarked upon an ambitious privatization program with the World Bank. Continued growth in 2000 depends on the maintenance of international aid levels and the strengthening of world prices of coffee and tea.

GDP purchasing power parity - $5.9 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 5.3% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $720 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector agriculture:44%
industry:20%
services:36% (1998 est.)

Population below poverty line 51.2% (1993 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%:4.2%
highest 10%:24.2% (1983-85)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 10% (1998)

Labor force 3.6 million

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 90%, government and services, industry and commerce

Unemployment rate NA%

Budget revenues:$202 million
expenditures:$361 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)

Industries cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes

Industrial production growth rate 8.7% (1998 est.)

Electricity - production 159 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source fossil fuel:2.52%
hydro:97.48%
nuclear:0%
other:0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption 165 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports 3 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports 20 million kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes; livestock

Exports $70.8 million (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities coffee, tea, hides, tin ore

Exports - partners Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Pakistan, Spain, Kenya

Imports $242 million (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, steel, petroleum products, cement and construction material

Imports - partners Kenya, Tanzania, US, Benelux, France

Debt - external $1.2 billion (1998)

Economic aid - recipient $591.5 million (1997); note - in the summer of 1998, Rwanda presented its policy objectives and development priorities to donor governments resulting in multiyear pledges in the amount of $250 million

Currency 1 Rwandan franc (RF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates Rwandan francs (RF) per US$1 - 349.53 (January 2000), 333.94 (1999) 312.31 (1998), 301.53 (1997), 306.82 (1996), 262.20 (1995)