nd soil erosion have created problems. The industrial sector
in Rwanda is small, contributing only 17% to GDP. Manufacturing focuses
mainly on the processing of agricultural products. The Rwandan economy
remains dependent on coffee exports and foreign aid. Weak international
prices since 1986 have caused the economy to contract and per capita GDP to
decline. A structural adjustment program with the World Bank began in
October 1990. An outbreak of insurgency, also in October, has dampened any
prospects for economic improvement.
GDP:
exchange rate conversion - $2.1 billion, per capita $300; real growth rate
-6.8% (1990 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.2% (1990)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues $391 million; expenditures $491 million, including capital
expenditures of $225 million (1989 est.)
Exports:
$111.7 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
commodities:
coffee 85%, tea, tin, cassiterite, wolframite, pyrethrum
partners:
Germany, Belgium, Italy, Uganda, UK, France, US
Imports:
$279.2 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
commodities:
textiles, foodstuffs, machines and equipment, capital goods, steel,
petroleum products, cement and construction material
partners:
US, Belgium, Germany, Kenya, Japan
External debt:
$911 million (1990 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 1.2% (1988); accounts for 17% of GDP
Electricity:
30,000 kW capacity; 130 million kWh produced, 15 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries:
mining of cassiterite (tin ore) and wolframite (tungsten ore), tin, cement,
agricultural processing, small-scale beverage production, soap, furniture,
shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes
Agriculture:
accounts for almost 50% of GDP and about 90% of the labor force; cash crops
- coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from chrysanthemums); main food
crops - bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes; stock raising; self-sufficiency
declining; country imports foodstuffs as farm production fails to keep up
with a 3.8% annual growth in population
Economic aid:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $128 million; Western (non-US)
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2.0 billion; OPEC
bilateral aid (1979-89), $45 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $58
million; note - in October 1990 Rwanda launched a Structural Adjustment
Program with the IMF;