Browsing: Rwanda

In most OECD countries, commercialization of research and innovation is very commonplace and is a foundation to establish national, region and global tech and industrial titans.
Where is Africa with this strategy? And, how can Africa engage and attract its diaspora professionals to scale ground breaking research innovations that can scale and solve local problems?
Furthermore, these African researchers work on projects that have the potential to impact Africa and mankind. Think about all the lifesaving medications we take every day, yes, an African researcher may have research or an innovation in Life Science that could save thousands or even millions of lives per year. In tropic Africa, we have the largest biodiversity in the world – can an enzyme from a plant with the help from the latest Artificial Intelligence, come up with the next billion-dollar drug?

KCB Group PLC has completed the acquisition of Banque Populaire du Rwanda Plc (BPR) from Atlas Mara Mauritius Limited and…

Looking at the bigger picture, speculations are that the milk and milk product levies and taxes are designed to lure Uganda to choose favourably towards other trade issues that are pending.

As local Ugandan media puts it; “Uganda maintains that if there are issues that need to be addressed, they can be handled through bilateral arrangements or the regional trade agreements within the East African Community instead of using arbitrary means such as high taxes.”

Squeezing Uganda to act in its favour, Kenya has also imposed what Uganda is terming ‘a restriction to Ugandan diary products since January 2020.’ Notably, Kenya is Uganda’s largest milk trading partner in the region, yet for over an year now, Kenya has maintained restrictions on Ugandan milk products despite the East African Community (EAC) common market protocol.

The next step in harmonizing policies and operating modules, is the need centralizing the related revenue administration and collection, because; “When we harmonize our tax administration we shall not compete with each other as EAC member states,” the sector experts reasoned.

There is also the matter of Visa fees which gravely affect the ability of traders to move between countries. It is now expected that the Republics of South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya will expedite the removal of visa fees while the rest of the EAC partner states still need to remove what was described as ‘discriminatory fees, levies, and charges’ that hinder trade and persons movement across borders.

As the two countries keep pressing different economic plans, the visit ushers in crucial business opportunities as the business community listed seven priorities, they “would focus on in bilateral talks between Tanzania and Rwanda that could boost the intra-trade between the two” according to information from The Citizen.

The key issues to be dealt with from the start from stabilizing economic relations: clearing out the Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs), and payment of unpaid transactions that Rwandan importers owe clearing and forwarding agents and transporters in Tanzania, according to The Citizen.

As of July 1, price for petroleum products in Tanzania increased drastically owing to the amendments outlined in the country’s new Finance Act as passed by parliament.  A huge chunk of the money you pay at the pump goes to the government in taxes; in fact the government takes anything between 30 and 40 percent in form of taxes, levies and regulatory fees.

Nonetheless, Tanzania’s Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) still attributed the price hike to global trends, in part admitting to the tax effect and in part deflecting it to global trends.

A plan seeking to revive tourism in East Africa has been approved, following the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic…

At the turn of the millennium, the Rwandan government purposed what became known as Vision 2020. The government’s goal in implementing this policy was to move from an agricultural-based economy to a digitized and middle-income society by the year 2020. Having made this bold assertion, the government facilitated the linking of the country to global wireless networks. With increased connectivity, Rwanda’s tech revolution began.  

To date, mobile phones are very popular in the country, with connectivity available in rural areas. In asserting its commitment to the provision of ICT tools and programs, the Rwandan 500 franc note is embossed with a picture of young children working on laptops. ICT gadgets are also available for purchase on credit facilities, with smaller tech companies partnering with leaders in the industry to avail such options to the consumer. 

Rwanda’s current account deficit in 2021 is expected to decrease to 10.42 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)…

In its fight against Covid-19 Rwanda has opted to have robots replace humans when coming into contact with infected…