{{IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has today reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Rwanda\u2019s private sector during the visit of Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC\u2019s newly appointed Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
The visit to Rwanda marks his first official trip since his appointment this month. }} <\/p>\n
He was accompanied by Oumar Seydi, IFC\u2019s Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. <\/p>\n
The IFC delegation met with Rwanda\u2019s President Paul Kagame, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete and business leaders to discuss how IFC can increase its activities in the country. <\/p>\n
Prosper commended the government on its efforts to improve the business environment. Reforms including less expensive and faster business registration, simplified taxes, the creation of special economic zones, and speeding up trade-related procedures have contributed to the country\u2019s improved investment climate. <\/p>\n
Rwanda has been among the most improved economies in IFC and the World Bank\u2019s Doing Business report. In the 2013 edition, Rwanda ranked 52 out of 185 countries globally. <\/p>\n
Prosper said, \u201cI am honored to visit Rwanda on my first visit as an IFC Vice President because the country exemplifies how government and the private sector can build a stronger nation and economy out of difficult circumstances. <\/p>\n
Rwanda is a model for conflict affected states, which is an important area of focus for IFC globally.<\/p>\n
IFC\u2019s commitment to Rwanda is reflected in our portfolio of $96 million investments and range of Advisory Services programs that support entrepreneurs, manufacturing, agriculture and infrastructure.\u201d <\/p>\n
IFC established in 2009 a local currency swap facility with the National Bank of Rwanda, the country\u2019s central bank. It allowed the first long term swap with a local bank, allowing IFC to provide loans in local currency to Rwandan enterprises, and thus protecting them from foreign-exchange risk. <\/p>\n
The swap facility has supported investments equivalent to $26 million in Rwandan francs in projects that support agribusiness, manufacturing and finance for small businesses. <\/p>\n
Among the regional and local companies that IFC has supported with the proceeds are Bakhresa Group, KCB Bank, Market Shopping Centre Urwego Opportunity Bank and.IFC has used the swap facility to support Singaporean logistics firm, Portek to facilitate the privatization of the Magerwa Dry Port. <\/p>\n
To further encourage small business growth, IFC provides Business Edge training in Rwanda. <\/p>\n
Business Edge, which has already trained over 100,000 entrepreneurs across Africa, provides courses in marketing, finance, operations, and other areas. <\/p>\n
In Rwanda, the program focuses on linking small businesses to larger corporations and market opportunities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has today reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Rwanda\u2019s private sector during the visit of Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC\u2019s newly appointed Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The visit to Rwanda marks his first official trip since his appointment this month. }} He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-6221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=6221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}