RWANDA’S POST - COVID-19 ECONOMIC RECOVERY: THE ROLE OF E-COMMERCE

4 | RWANDA’S POST-COVID-19 ECONOMIC RECOVERY: THE ROLE OF E-COMMERCE JULY 2021 A SETTING THE SCENEThe Economic Impact of Covid and the Potential of e-Commerce In common with other sub-Saharan African countries, The potential for growth of e-commerce has been widely the Rwandan economy has been hit hard by the Covid-19 noted. [...] On 19 March, the National possesses one of the largest tech industries in Africa yet Bank of Rwanda instituted the following temporary only maintains 24.2% 4G coverage across the country; measures with mobile money in an attempt to lessen the 2G and 3G accounts for the rest of the mobile access spread of Covid-19: (GlobalData, 2021). [...] During this period, the amount of money want a phone in the first place, greater digital literacy in transferred through mobile means increased 450% while order to use the phones, and a change in culture towards the number of individuals conducting the transactions greater trust of online transactions. [...] Policy option 3 – Reduce the cost of internet and improving geographical coverage by improving the To complete this, the GoR would require significant data structure of the provider market and analysis on the location of these communities, what is an appropriate price point for this demographic, and Policies GoR are already pursuing will improve the market oversight on managing this initiative. [...] In addition to the crosscutting measures to reduce In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the boost this “friction” with e-commerce for international trade, given to e-commerce globally, there is a case for expanded increasing exports requires targeted support for specific focus on supporting new exporters to use e-commerce.