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Paper short abstract

The challenge of financing structural transformation under contemporary capitalism is an ever present challenge for most developing countries. Pension funds, even in African countries, are increasingly influential financial actors. But do they represent a pathway to finance structural transfomraiton

Paper long abstract

Pension Fund Capitalism – the growing use of domestic pension funds in shaping investments in national economies – is an increasingly visible feature of the contemporary global economy. In North America, Europe and in East Asia, pension funds played a vital role in funding nationally strategic investments and structural transformation strategies. There is comparatively less analysis of the use of pension funds for strategic investments in African countries. This paper analyses the Rwandan government’s use of its pension fund (Rwanda Social Security Board - RSBB) to finance its development strategy while highlighting the vulnerabilities that have resulted. Rwanda has been among Africa’s fastest growing countries over the last two decades. Through analysing the case of the RSSB, the paper highlights how the Rwandan government has used its pension fund in innovative ways to fund strategic investments to support its services-first strategy. Employing pension funds under contemporary globalisation is accompanied by challenges associated with future demographic changes, the youth under-employment of contemporary low-wage services-based growth and precarious domestic elite politics and state-business relations. The paper is based on fieldwork in Rwanda since 2011, as well as an analysis of RSSB annual reports and investment data.