{The new National Agricultural Export Board (NAEB) boss, Amb. George William Kayonga, has promised to expand Rwanda’s export base to boost volumes and foreign exchange receipts.}
Amb. Kayonga, who was appointed last month by the Cabinet, assumed office on Monday. He takes over from Corneille Ntakirutimana, who has been the acting director general for the past four months.
Amb. Kayonga is also a former East African Community Ministry Affairs permanent secretary.
Rwandan exports are dominated by a few traditional cash crops such as; tea, coffee, pyrethrum, as well as minerals. They represent 58.8 per cent of total export value in the first half of this year.
Despite a decline of 5.5 per cent in tea value exports in the first half of this year, traditional exports coffee, tea and minerals’ value went up by 51.4 per cent, amounting to $166.8m from $110.2m in the same period in 2012.
Coffee exports increased in value and volume by 68.3 per cent and 104.2 per cent, respectively, despite a decrease of 17.6 per cent in the coffee price.
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