Economic opportunities and challenges for development in Rwanda with a special focus on common market phase in the East African Community

Abstract

The general objective of the study is to analyze the challenges and benefits that Rwanda has been facing in accelerating economic growth and development in EAC. Thus to achieve this, the researcher analyzed the extent level of implementation of the common market phase of EAC in Rwanda, the level of awareness of economic opportunities in Rwanda from establishment of regional common market and identified the challenges of implementing of common market phase in EAC. The study adopted a descriptive design basing on the views from respondents to illustrate the benefits and challenges of development in Rwanda following the implementation of EAC activities notably the common market. It targeted a population of staff from the Ministry of the East African Community, Rwanda Revenue Authority and businessmen in Rwanda dealing in cross border trade among EAC member states from whom a representative sample of 30 respondents was chosen using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Primary data was collected from respondents mainly using structured self administered questionnaires after which the collected responses were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS). The data was presented and analyzed using statistical tools like percentages, graphs and tables to come up with the relationship between the variables. It was concluded that, the East African Community is accelerating economic growth and development of the partner states through improvements in economic activities specifically trade with notable improvements as: larger market size, improved competitiveness, reduction in consumer prices, expansion of investments with member states and increased specialization to benefit from the principle of comparative advantage.