The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has told Western donors to unfreeze aid to Rwanda to avoid damaging its economy and causing a new crisis in the region.
Aid to Rwanda should resume “as soon as possible and that means yesterday,” said AfDB president Donald Kaberuka.
“The damage could be significant,” Kaberuka told Reuters in an interview on Thursday, adding the cutting of aid flows could create a crisis in the region.
Kaberuka said the aid cuts risked reversing development in Rwanda’s health, education and other social sectors, achieved as the country tries to recover from the 1994 genocide.
Kaberuka, who is on his second term at the Continental Bank in Tunis, said the AfDB is offering Rwanda $45 million in budgetary support this financial year.
He said Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, was likely to grow by 6.4% next year, buoyed by increased internal demand largely because of urbanisation.
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