The fund was created in June 2020 to mitigate effects of COVID-19 with Rwf100 billion.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday 16th March 2022, Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente said that more funds were pumped into the facility to increase the number of beneficiaries.
Dr. Ngirente revealed that the fund supported teachers, drivers, hotels and medium enterprises among others during lockdowns.
Beneficiaries of the fund launched in 2020 were given a three-year tenor.
Of these funds, Rwf42 billion was disbursed to 13 hotels across the country.
In public transport, the Government disbursed Rwf7.7 billion to 56 people to clear outstanding debts owed to banks and received additional support of Rwf11 billion.
The education sector also received Rwf13 billion funding distributed among 116 private schools including universities.
Among others, Rwf11 billion was disbursed to 156 companies from the private sector affected by COVID-19.
A total of 52,000 small and medium enterprises also benefitted from the fund with Rwf6 billion as at Friday last week.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana has explained that the Government acquired more Rwf100 billion after the initial fund was drained and plans to increase the funds by Rwf150 billion in the next three weeks.
“The fund is set to increase from Rwf100 billion to Rwf350 billion, more than three times. The move will help us along the journey to mitigate COVID-19 effects. The facility will help us maintain normal economic growth as it had been before the pandemic emerged,” he said.
Minister Ndagijimana said that the Rwf150 billion to be injected will be allocated to support new investments and the manufacturing sector.
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