Rwanda

Rwanda is a country located within Central and Eastern Africa with a population of approximately 13.2 million people. The capital city is Kigali. At 26,338 square kilometres (10,169 square miles), Rwanda is the world’s 148th largest country. Rwanda is bordered by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west.

Rwanda is a landlocked country but has many lakes. Mountains dominate the centre and west, while the east consists of savannas, plains, and swamps. The population is young and predominantly rural. The principal language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by most Rwandans, while English and French are also official languages. The currency used is the Rwandan franc (RWF).

Rwanda is a presidential republic based upon a multi-party system. The current President of Rwanda is President Paul Kagame. The Parliament consists of two chambers, and its role is to make legislation. The current constitution divides Rwanda into provinces (intara), districts (uturere), cities, municipalities, towns, sectors (imirenge), and cells (utugari), with each subdivision and its borders established by Parliament.

Rwanda’s economy has strengthened over the years and is on a growth path.

Rwanda has a clear vision for growth through private sector investment as set out under Vision 2050. The Vision is expected to transform Rwanda into an upper-middle income nation by 2035 and a high-income country by 2050. To achieve this, the Vision identifies five interwoven pillars, including human development, competitiveness and integration, agriculture for wealth creation, urbanisation and agglomeration, as well as accountable and capable state institutions.

The National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) was developed as an implementation instrument for the remainder of Vision 2020 and for the first four years of Vision 2050. It also integrates far-sighted, long-range global and regional commitments by embracing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union Agenda 2063 and its First 10-Year Implementation Plan 2014-2023, the East African Community (EAC) Vision 2050, the COP 21 Paris Agreement on climate change, and others.

The country provides an investor friendly climate coupled with well-functioning institutions, rule of the law, and zero tolerance for corruption. Rwanda has been cited as one of the fastest reforming countries in World Bank’s Doing Business report and was ranked second in Sub-Saharan Africa in Doing Business 2020. This was in recognition of radical reforms that the government has implemented in recent years to improve the business environment in the country, including the establishment of the Kigali International Financial Centre (KIFC) in 2020, an investment hub that is currently ranked 5th in Sub-Saharan Africa on the Global Financial Centres Index.

Rwanda is a hub for rapidly integrating East Africa and a member of the EAC with a population of over 312 million people providing a common market and a customs union, where trade is envisaged to flow freely across Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and South Sudan. In addition, Rwanda is a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA). Rwanda also assumed leadership of the International Organisation of the Francophone (OIF).

Potential investment opportunities abound, particularly in the following sectors:

• Infrastructure, which provides opportunities in rail and air transportation, which are intended to develop Rwanda as an EAC hub.
• Agriculture, which is the backbone of the economy.
• The energy sector, in areas of power generation via methane gas and hydro opportunities. 

There are also opportunities in tourism, especially in the area of conference tourism, and unique assets, such as mountain gorillas. Information and communications technology (ICT), financial services, exports, industrial manufacturing, energy, transport, and construction of low-cost housing are some of the attractive sectors for investment.

PwC Rwanda is one of the leading professional services firms in Rwanda, with over 90 professionals providing industry-focused assurance, tax, and advisory services. We have also developed a tailored tax compliance and advisory support service geared towards inbound investors in Rwanda.

PwC Rwanda offers a range of services to assist taxpayers with tax planning, compliance, revenue authority negotiations, and appeals. Our experienced team of tax advisers can assist with managing tax risk and minimising the tax burden by providing innovative and practical tax and business solutions in the areas of corporate, international, and indirect taxes; mergers and acquisitions; compliance; transfer pricing; and human resource services.