Kigali 20 November 2020 - Prime Minister Dr Edouard Ngirente commended the private sector for its resilience and valuable contribution in the fight against Covid-19 Pandemic.

He made the remarks, on Friday, while officiating at the 18^th edition of the Taxpayers Appreciation Day at Kigali Convention Centre. 

Prime Minister pointed out that Rwanda, like other countries in the world, was affected by the pandemic and that recovery measures were put in place to lessen serious impact on the country’s economy.

“To fight against the social-economic impact of this pandemic, 2020/2021 National Budget shall focus on implementing national economic recovery measures.” Prime Minister said.

After realizing the impact of the pandemic on the private sector, the Government of Rwanda exempted  the Value Added Tax (VAT) on some products, and there was a removal of tax penalties and other delay related taxes, he added.

Speaking about the status of the country’s economy, Prime Minister Ngirente revealed that the growth of the country’s economy shall not be as it was planned:

“Due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, it is expected that the country’s economy shall not increase as planned, however, the projection is that the economy shall increase by 5.7% and 6.8% in 2021 and 2022 respectively. We trust that the economy shall stabilize and reach the status of before Covid-19 times and the plan is to attain the 8% economic increase in 2023.”

Prime Minister noted that the Government also put in place the Economic Recovery Fund with its first batch of FRW 100 billion to support companies that were mostly affected by the pandemic. This Fund supports any private company whose income reduced by 30 per cent due to Covid-19.

The Government has also created the Manufacturing Acceleration Committee (MAC), that is in charge of monitoring how local industries can improve capacities in terms of producing must-have products.

To watch the video of the whole speech, click here

To view pictures of this event, click here