By David Himbara
General Paul Kagame and Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO just announced that Rwanda will achieve an upper-middle income of US$4,000 per capita by 2035 and high-income of US$12,000 by 2050. There is one problem — Kagame and the World Bank don’t show how and when Rwanda will emerge from its current low-income status of US$743 to lower middle income of US$1,026. This is what Rwanda is supposed to achieve by 2020 which is a year from now, according to Rwanda Vision 2020. To achieve Vision 2020, Rwanda would have to increase its per capita income by US$283 because its current per capita is a mere US$743. In other words, Rwanda Vision 2020 is dead.
Meanwhile, Kagame and the World Bank keep on fantasizing
When measured by the International poverty line of living on less than US$1.90 a day, 56% of Rwandans are poor. In other words, 6.7 Rwandans out 12 million are poor. When measured at living on less than US$5.50 a day, 92.2% of Rwandans are poor. According to this measurement, 11 million out of 12 million are poor. The question then is — by what means will Rwanda uplift these millions to achieve the upper-middle-income of US$4,000 in 2035? That is 17 years from now.
