Rwanda foreign investment dropped from US$354 million in 2019 to US$135 million in 2020

View of downtown Kigali, Rwanda

By David Himbara

Kagame government says it “registered” US$1.3 billion in foreign investment in 2020. In reality, foreign investment dropped from US$354 million in 2019 to US$135 million in 2020

The government of General Paul Kagame is always in fantasy land. Rwanda Development Board (RDD) reports that it “registered” US$1.3 billion in 2020. In reality, Rwanda attracted a mere US$135 million in foreign investment in 2020.

But RDB further fantasizes as follows: “Real estate and construction and manufacturing accounted for 68% of all investments registered at 48% and 20% respectively. Other sectors that attracted significant investments include agriculture, ICT, energy, mining and financial services.”

As noted, foreign investment in Rwanda dropped from US$354 million in 2019 to US$135 million in 2020. Comparatively, Tanzania attracted the largest share of foreign investment in the East African Community (EAC).

Foreign investment in Tanzania increased from US$991 million in 2019 to US$1 billion in 2020. Foreign investment in Uganda dropped from US$1.2 billion in 2019 to US$823 million in 2020. Foreign investment in Kenya dropped from US$1 billion in 2019 to US$717 million in 2020. Stay tuned.