Surging Investment and Declining Aid: Evaluating Debt Sustainability in Rwanda

March 31, 2014

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John W Clark JR, and Birgir Arnason. Surging Investment and Declining Aid: Evaluating Debt Sustainability in Rwanda, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2014) accessed September 18, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Rwanda is a unique case among its Sub-Saharan African peers in that it has already undergone a large scaling-up of public investment. The Rwandan government has made clear its desire to lower its reliance on foreign aid while still maintaining high public investment levels. We use the model of public investment, growth, and debt sustainability in Buffie et al. (2012) to evaluate the macroeconomic consequences of a possible scaling-down of investment in Rwanda. Using the model, we can gauge the consequences of different financing mechanisms and investment efficiency levels on the economy. We find that with some commercial borrowing and a modest tax adjustment, the authorities may be able to retain their high investment spending while still reducing their reliance on foreign aid.

Subject: Commercial borrowing, Consumption, Expenditure, External debt, National accounts, Private investment, Public investment spending, Taxes, Value-added tax

Keywords: Commercial borrowing, Consumption, Debt Sustainability, Growth, Growth nexus, Investment adjustment, Investment buildup, Investment efficiency, Investment surge, Low Income Countries, Poverty rate, Private investment, Public Investment, Public investment spending, Rwandan gross domestic product, Sub-Saharan Africa, Value-added tax, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

23
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2014/051
Stock No:

WPIEA2014051
ISBN:

9781475519143
ISSN:

1018-5941

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