Rwanda is endowed with vast natural wealth—ranging from dense forests and rich biodiversity to unique ecosystems and protected landscapes like Nyungwe and Akagera.
Yet, this environmental treasure remains largely undervalued in the country’s economic planning and reporting, according to the newly released Rwanda Country Focus Report 2025 by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The report urges Rwanda to start formally recognizing its natural assets as critical economic contributors—an essential step toward unlocking climate finance and building a more sustainable, resilient economy.
The report, launched on June 24, 2025, as part of AfDB’s Africa Economic Outlook series, reviews Rwanda’s macroeconomic performance in 2024 and outlines strategies to enhance domestic resource mobilization in support of inclusive, climate-smart growth.
Rwanda’s natural capital is valued at $56.1 billion (1.4% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s total), according to the report.
Renewable resources dominate agriculture ($51.6 billion), forests (USD 1.73 billion), and hydropower ($608 million), making up 98%. Non-renewables contribute only 2%, despite Rwanda holding up to 30% of the region’s tantalum, tin, and tungsten deposits, currently excluded from this valuation.
Strengthening natural asset accounting can unlock investment, support green growth, and align development with Vision 2050 goals
𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 2024 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻:
Rwanda posted robust GDP growth of 8.9% in 2024, driven by solid performance in industry, agriculture, and services—particularly construction, tourism, and mining. Inflation dropped sharply to 1.8%, and several key social indicators improved: poverty declined to 27.4%, life expectancy climbed to 70 years, and access to electricity and clean water rose to 72% and 90%, respectively. Yet, major financing gaps persist.
Although tax revenue reached 14.8% of GDP and financial inclusion improved to 96%, Rwanda’s revenue base remains narrow, with 93% of businesses operating informally. Moreover, the country has yet to fully tap into property taxes, carbon finance, and other innovative funding streams, leaving it with an estimated $2.9 billion annual funding gap to meet development goals.
𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹: 𝗔 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆:
The report identifies natural capital—including carbon stocks, forests, protected parks, and biodiversity—as an untapped economic pillar. Rwanda has been internationally recognized for its achievements in environmental conservation, forest restoration, and low-emission development.
However, these successes are not yet reflected in national accounts, making it difficult to leverage them for climate-related finance. Bernis Byamukama, a Senior Macroeconomist at AfDB said that the bank recommends Rwanda to take up the initiative of counting (valuating) its natural capital to leverage other sources of financing (climate financing windows) which the bank offers.
He revealed that the bank has started supporting in capacity building to support national statistical systems to increase natural capital accounting. Walter Odero, the Principal Country Economist explained that while Africa is considered a rich continent in the world, but the poorest in recorded books (value) thus a need for the bank to start factoring in the value Africa’s natural resources.
Odero explained that the bank wants to factor in the natural capital in the accounting system so that the world knows Africa’s true worth and this has already influenced the UN to revise and introduce a new system of natural accounting which put in the natural capital- such as the Nyungwe, Akagera, Virunga national parks, the mountain gorillas among others in Rwanda that are not accounted for in value.
“Currently we are borrowing at high interest rates because they believe we are the poorest. If we factor in all this and they discover we are rich, they will start lending to us at favorable rates, the credit agencies will also rate us fairly,” Odero explained the benefits stating that this means superpowers which have no natural resources will start borrowing from Africans.
𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀:
AfDB Country Manager for Rwanda, Aissa Toure Sarr said that the current context is to make natural resources count for Rwanda and Africans more than ever as they have a potential to increase and finance country economic transformation agendas.
For instance, Sarr stated the even when the AfDB has a $2.2billion portfolio for Rwanda, natural capital accounting can open up more (double) financing windows for Rwanda. She explained that as today, Rwanda has reached its borrowing cap, but limited to access other windows which the bank has not rolled out for Rwanda since it doesn’t meet this measure/ requirement. The bank will continue to support Rwanda building on its current portfolio which she said was is a testimony to more financing possibilities at the bank.
𝗔 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Representing the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Stella Nteziryayo, chief economist, called the report’s subject timely but stated that Rwanda recognizes the challenges – which are both micro and macro shocks and include recent diseases outbreaks but also stated that structural challenges have to be addressed innovatively and differently.
“As we move forward in the National Strategy for Transformation (NST2), this report shows how we need to be innovative about how we approach development issues and how we need to make the best of what we have,” Nteziryayo said.
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