How Rwanda is Becoming The Singapore of Africa. Rwanda, formally the Republic of Rwanda,
is a landlocked country in East Africa's Great Rift Valley,
where the African Great Lakes region meets East Africa. Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania,
Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is located a few degrees south of the Equator.
Rwanda's development is following the Singapore model, putting the country on the road to becoming
a developed country. Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame, wants to make his country into
a technology hub on par with Singapore. Mr. Kagame said in 1995 that Rwanda will follow
Singapore's growth model, and the country has undergone significant changes since then. Rwanda
is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa that has come close to copying Singapore's winning formula.
Rwanda's journey to democracy and economic progress, however, has been marred by serious
human rights violations. Despite the fact that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected,
worldwide awareness is still insufficient to defend human rights violations.
The first portion of this study will look at the Singapore-style growth model, while the second
will look at the accuracy of Rwanda's progress figures. Stay in touch as we travel around Rwanda.
Rwanda’s Singaporean-modelled development strategy Rwanda's development strategy, which is based on
the Singapore model, has been essential in the country's advancement in the global economy,
but it has come at the sacrifice of human rights. Singapore has gone from being a poor country to
having one of the world's strongest economies in less than a generation. The country aspires
to become Asia's business center. Singapore is currently home to 15 of the world's 20 largest
countries. Mr. Kagame aspires to emulate three aspects that have led to Singapore's success:
geographic centrality, political stability, and ease of doing business. Rwanda is growing
its economy by lowering its trade deficit and establishing itself
as an African tourism destination. Exports have surged by over 69 percent since 2015,
and Rwanda's trade imbalance has shrunk by a third. Rwanda's National Export Strategy aims
to boost the country's global competitiveness and lessen its reliance on raw materials. In addition,
Rwanda welcomed 1.2 million visitors in 2017, up from 500,000 in 2008. Rwanda,
according to national data, is on course to develop in the same manner as Singapore.
Rwanda's modern infrastructures. Rwanda recognizes the value of infrastructure
in fostering a competitive private sector. To this purpose,
the government continues to make significant infrastructure investments.
Transportation and other infrastructure account for over a tenth of Rwanda's annual budget. Rwanda
is investing in road, rail, and water transport infrastructure in order to establish a thriving
private sector by drastically lowering the cost of transportation for businesses and individuals.
The Economic growth of Rwanda. Rwanda now intends to be classified
as a Middle-Income Country by 2035 and a High-Income Country by 2050. This will be
accomplished through a succession of seven-year National Plans for Transformation (NST1),
which will be supported by sectoral strategies aimed at achieving the SDGs. The NST1 followed
two five-year Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategies — EDPRS (2008-12) and EDPRS-2
(2013-18) — during which Rwanda's economy and social performance were strong. Over the decade
to 2019, growth averaged 7.2 percent, while per capita GDP increased at a rate of 5% each year.
Political Context. Since the 1994 genocide,
Rwanda has maintained political stability. Women won 61 percent of seats in parliament
in September 2018, the Rwandan Patriotic Front kept its absolute majority,
and opposition parties, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and the Social Party Imberakuri,
won two seats each for the first time. Following a constitutional revision allowing for a third term,
President Paul Kagame was re-elected to a seven-year term in August 2018.
Rwanda's Leadership. Paul Kagame, a Rwandan politician and
former military leader, was born on October 23, 1957. He is Rwanda's sixth and current president,
having assumed office in 2000. Kagame formerly led the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based
rebel organization that invaded Rwanda in 1990 and was one of the conflict's participants during the
Rwandan Civil War, as well as the armed force that halted the genocide. When he served as
Vice President and Minister of Defense under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000,
he was regarded as Rwanda's de facto leader. Foreign observers have conflicting opinions
about the administration, and as president, Kagame has focused national development, establishing
programs that have resulted in improvements in important metrics including as healthcare,
education, and economic growth. Kagame's relations with the East African Community and
the United States have been mainly positive; his relations with France were strained until 2009.
Ease of doing Business. According to the current
World Bank annual evaluations, Rwanda is placed 38th out of 190 economies
in terms of ease of doing business. Rwanda dropped from 29th place in 2018 to 38th place in 2019.
According to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts, Rwanda's Ease of Doing
Business is anticipated to reach 14.00 by the end of 2020. According to our econometric models,
the Ease of Doing Business in Rwanda is expected to trend around 13.00 in 2021 and 7.00 in 2022.
Globalization Rwanda is becoming more globalized,
yet it is still highly corrupt and largely unregulated by the outside community.
The story of Rwanda indicates that increased global accountability does not always imply
greater global responsibility. The international community must question
whether globalized development plans can defend both the economy and human rights
amid the escalating conflict between nationalism and globalization. This
raises the question of whether globalization is a viable strategy for global growth in the future.
Life Expectancy in Rwanda. Rwanda has a World Life Expectancy rating of 129,
according to the most recent WHO data published in 2018. Male life expectancy is 66.1, female life
expectancy is 69.9, and total life expectancy is 68.0. The remarkable increase in life expectancy
and overall socioeconomic wellbeing can be attributed to a variety of variables.
In 2003, the Rwandan constitution established citizens' rights to health. As a result,
the government has made investments in healthcare systems including as primary care,
HIV/AIDS care, cancer, community-based health insurance, and medical education. In order to
improve Rwandans' health, a significant increase in immunization rates has been critical. Only
around a quarter of children had been vaccinated against measles and polio before the war,
but today, 97 percent of Rwandan infants have been vaccinated against ten diseases. There
have also been decreases in TB and malaria deaths. Maternal and child mortality have also decreased:
following the genocide, Rwanda had the highest rate of child mortality in the world,
but it has now caught up to the worldwide norm. In addition, the number of HIV/AIDS cases and deaths
has reduced. Antiretroviral medication became accessible in 1996, and Rwanda's AIDS death
rate declined faster than that of the United States and Western Europe in the last decade.
These are some of the facts that contribute to Rwanda's greatness.
This country is one of Africa's most developed and advanced nations.
Thank you for watching, and we hope you enjoyed your adventure through Rwanda with us.
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