President Kagame receives Director of IMF’s African Department Antoinette Sayeh- Kigali, 20 July 2012

President Kagame today received both the Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) African Department, Ms. Antoinette Sayeh and IMF Country Representative, Dmitry Gershenson to discuss Rwanda’s progress with the implementation of a program between the Government of Rwanda and the IMF, to highlight the IMF’s enthusiasm for the continued close collaboration with the government through policy dialogue and technical assistance.

“Rwanda is a model of aid efficiency and together with the government; IMF aims at helping Rwanda to reduce its dependency on aid. Therefore, we review areas like the country’s inflationary rate, export diversification and access to credit. IMF pledges to continue offering technical support to Rwanda’s macroeconomic strategies. We recently met Governors of Africa’s central banks to discuss issues of economic development, including tax regimes and policies on aid.”

Dmitry Grehenson also bid farewell to President Kagame as his three year term comes to an end this July.

Policy Support Instrument (PSI) is the current program existing between the government and the IMF for low-income countries that do not want IMF’s financial assistance but seek to consolidate their economic performance with IMF monitoring and support. The Program has been in existence since June 2010 and will run until June 2013.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Pitchett Kampeta said:

“The African continent is enjoying economic growth at the moment and most governments are looking towards reducing their dependence on aid. With IMF’s corporation, Rwanda has indicated that real development can be achieved and that economic independence is a very important aspect to be pursued,”

Recently, the IMF eased restrictions on Rwanda’s non-concessional borrowing, allowing the country to have greater access to credit. Rwanda’s economic growth is estimated to reach 7.7 per cent in 2012, driven mainly by a good harvest, and strong domestic demand especially in the construction sector.

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