Trade and Regional Integration in Rwanda: FY2019/20

Rwandan exports have been growing faster than imports during the period from 2015 to 2018. This has not led to a short-term positive impact on gross official reserves supported by depreciation of the RWF. The growth in exports has led to short-term positive impact on Rwanda’s current account balance supported by steady growth in net current transfers. Rwanda is still dependent on raw commodity and agriculture-based exports which are also its top traded goods with its neighbours in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC). However, Rwanda is highly integrated in COMESA and well-integrated EAC but its trade is unbalanced due to the persistent merchandise trade deficit in both regions and poor intraregional exports to the EAC. This suggests that there is significant room to increase Rwanda’s exports to both regions.