Trade potential of Rwanda: Policy implications from taxonomic analysis of quality of institutions.

The aim of research is to examine the tendencies in the positions of Rwanda over the years in institutional development and the potential trade directed to main trade partners. We evaluated the quality of institutions in Rwanda against the background of the Eastern African countries using method of taxonomy and assessed how Rwanda uses its potential in trade and its coverage in actual exports. We tested the hypothesis that the better quality of institutions is found, Rwandan indicative trade potential coverage ratio is higher. Results confirmed that the relation between quality of institutions and the indicative trade potential coverage ratio is not obvious in every product group, however, in most cases, there is a positive relationship. Moreover, the analysis allowed us to identify markets characterised by high export potential and still not adequately used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]