Establishment
In 2023, the total number of establishments was 269,326, including 261,549 enterprises (head offices or single unit establishments). Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 53.5 percent of the establishments, followed by accommodation and food services by 23.0 percent.
TABLE: Employment opportunities change in private enterprises and public business-oriented enterprises by size categories (2014 - 2023)
| Size | Counts | % change | |||
| 2014 | 2017 | 2020 | 2023 | (2020-2023) | |
| Micro(1-3) | 186,357 | 219,723 | 264,469 | 305,407 | 15.5 |
| Small(4-30) | 72,153 | 79,789 | 102,462 | 128,249 | 25.2 |
| Medium(31-100) | 27,624 | 34,286 | 48,958 | 63,545 | 29.8 |
| Large(100+) | 69,749 | 132,408 | 123,354 | 196,999 | 59.7 |
| Total | 355,883 | 466,206 | 539,243 | 694,200 | 28.7 |
The three districts of the City of Kigali have the highest concentration of establishments: 9.3 percent for Gasabo, 8.4 percent for Nyarugenge and 6.3 percent for Kicukiro. In addition, apart from the City of Kigali; Musanze (4.9 percent), Rubavu (4.8 percent), Bugesera (4.2), Rwamagana (3.6 percent), Nyagatare (3.5 percent), Rusizi (3.3 percent), Kamonyi (3.3 percent), Gicumbi (3.2 percent), and Muhanga (3.1 percent) are the ones with the highest number of establishments. Almost all establishments (95.9 percent) are private and 92.0 percent are owned by one person (sole proprietorship) and a great number of enterprises employ less than 4 workers (92.2 percent being of micro-enterprises).
The Establishment Census results showed a total of 927,739 workers across all establishments, with females accounting for 43.6 percent.
Finance
Financial inclusion in Rwanda has reached 96% (7.8 million) up from 93% in 2020, getting closer to the universal access of 100% set target. There has been huge growth in formal financial inclusion or formally served from 77% (5.4 million) in 2020 to 92% (7.5 million) in 2024 surpassing the set target of 90% by 2024.
The Rwanda FinScope 2024 findings show that uptake and use of other formal non-bank products and services have drastically increased to 92% (7.5 million) from 75% (5.3 million) in 2020 driven largely by mobile money. The proportion of banked individuals remained similar with a slight increase in absolute numbers to 2020 (22%/1.6 million in 2020 vs 22%/1.8 million).
Travels
The following are the key Travel survey results:
▪ Export value of travel services in 2023Q4 was 149.0 million USD;
▪ Import value of travel services in 2023Q4 was 108.8 million USD;
▪ Export value of travel services in 2023 was 563.9 million USD;
▪ Import value of travel services in 2023 was 355.2 million USD.
Trade
The deficit in the balance of formal trade in goods was US$ 134.69 million in December 2024, a decrease of 45.08 percent compared to the previous month of November 2024. Year-to-year, the formal trade in goods deficit decreased by 63.46 percent on the deficit of December 2023.