THE ROLE OF DIGITAL SOLUTIONS IN ECONOMIC RESILIENCE AND GROWTH IN RWANDA
By : Mutemberezi Fidele, Mbabazi Nahayo Christian, Kamukunzi Dominique
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and impacted the daily lives of citizens in an unprecedented manner, therefore governments continue to endeavour hard for protecting lives by imposing lockdowns, testing, segregation, and treatment. As result many businesses are forced to shut down and even businesses are reopened with restrictions. Traditional shopping became difficult to access and people moved to online shopping. This has resulted in spiked in business to customer sales and increased business to business E-commerce. The pandemic has made it clear that e-commerce can be an important tool/solution for consumers. The use of mobile payments has shown its efficiency as a payment solution. Therefore, this research focuses on the role of the use of E-commerce associated closely with E-payment as an important alternative solution to economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 pandemic for supporting people, businesses, institutions and economy as a whole. Secondary data have been collected and analysed using descriptive and comparative analysis. Findings show that E-commerce platforms, whether web-or app-based, are gaining new users and digital payment has increased significantly. Digital solutions have had a profound impact during the COVID-19 crisis in Rwanda, enabling parts of the economy to continue to function online and through remote working. Digital technology in general and digital financial services in particular are accelerating economic resilience and growth and the economy has subsisted.