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{{The Rwanda central bank (BNR) in the partnership with IMF and IGC is preparing a Regional Central Bank Governors conference to discuss monetary frame work.

The conference is scheduled for July 19, 2012 at Kigali Serena Hotel. On the top of discussion will be price stability within the region.}}

In the previous consecutive press conference, The Governor of Rwanda Central Bank Ambassador Claver Gatete announced that Rwanda’s Economy is still much stable in the region.

Rwanda was presented as the country of lowest inflation on average of 8.3% rate while other countries in the region have a superior average.
The press asked whether these countries economy will not end up affecting Rwanda’s economy.

For this question Amb. Claver Gatete said that, they accepted to collaborate because of the effort these countries put in decreasing their inflation rate.

He gave examples from Uganda which brought its inflation rate from 30% to 17%, Burundi which dropped it to 22% from 26% and Kenya which dropped it to 10% from 18% and so on.

About worries from Euro zone troubles, the Rwanda Central Bank Governor said that the Euro Zone is not the only one market.

He added that Rwanda is expanding its market in the African Region and even in the Asia and ensured that the monetary policy committee in its survey showed evidence of enough capital in Rwandan Banks.

But he accepted that as Rwanda has an open economy, what affect other countries may end up affecting Rwanda’s economy. For that the conference will take measures to overcome challenges and threats from outside countries.

During the meeting, Regional Central Bank Governors will have an opportunity to share experiences from Latin America to make regional monetary policy stable.

Economic crisis started in 2008 in Western Countries. With Arab Revolution, economic situation becomes worse with the increase of Fuel prices. Nowadays Euro zone which is the donor for the most of African countries is in economic crisis, for that, Regional countries have to get united to overcome threats from Western countries.

{{BCR today becomes a part of a regional financial conglomerate thereby gaining access to the markets within the East African community and beyond.

This has been made possible through an 80% equity buy out from Actis, of the Bank’s shareholding, by a consortium comprising I&M Bank – a Kenyan based Bank, and 2 European Developmental Financial Institutions – DEG and Proparco.}}

Actis has held 80% of BCR’s shareholding since 2004, when it acquired the shareholding from the Government of Rwanda. Since then, the Bank has experienced tremendous growth. BCR currently has a network of 15 branches and a staff compliment of over 250.

Over the years, BCR has built a strong reputation of reliability, solidity and innovation that has enabled it to develop quality and profitable operations. The Bank’s total assets aggregate RWF 92.9 billion (approx. KES 12.4 billion; USD 61.9 million), as at December 31st 2011.

The consortium of Purchasers is led by I & M which possesses a rich heritage and history in the banking sector.The Bank was established in 1974 as a community financial institution that has since grown into a full-fledged commercial bank with presence in 3 countries.

The I&M Bank Group comprises I&M Bank Limited in Kenya, I&M Bank (T) Limited in Tanzania, Bank One Limited in Mauritius, and now through this acquisition of BCR Limited in Rwanda.

With a work force of over 860, balance sheet size of KES 108 billion (approx. USD 1.27 billion) and profit before tax of KES 4.95 billion (approx. USD 58.3 million) it is one of the strongest and best managed banks in Kenya.

In Kenya the Bank has a network of 19 branches covering the four major financial centres and access to approx. 4,000 ATMs across the country through the Kenswitch network. With a fast growing customer base, I&M has grown to be a market leader in its domestic market, and was recently ranked by the 2011 Banking Survey as the 6th best overall bank of the 43 banks in the country.

DEG, member of KfW Bankengruppe, is one of the largest European development finance institutions for long-term project financing. For 50 years, DEG has been financing and structuring the investments of private companies in developing and transition countries.

DEG invests in profitable projects that contribute to sustainable development in all sectors of the economy, from agriculture to infrastructure and manufacturing to services with special emphasis on exported oriented and employment generating projects which are environment friendly.

DEG also focuses on investments in the financial sector in order to facilitate reliable access to capital. To date, DEG has worked together with more than 1,700 companies with financing commitments of more than EUR 13 Billion and boasts of 457 staff spread over 13 regional offices and supported by 60 KfW agencies worldwide.

PROPARCO (or Proparco) (Société de Promotion pour la Cooperation économique) is the Investment and Promotions company for Economic Cooperation. Created in 1977, Proparco is a Development Financial Institution, partly held by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and private shareholders from the North and South.

Proparco’s mission is to foster private investment in emerging and developing countries which targets growth, sustainable development and reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Proparco has a team of 150 people, 10 regional offices and is supported by 50 AFD Group agencies worldwide.

Hon.John Rwangombwa, Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said “This acquisition contributes to Rwanda’s continued path towards creating a strong, efficient and inclusive financial sector. The Government’s aim is to encourage all industry players to offer diversified services and products which tailor to all segments of Rwandan society.

In addition, we believe that the partnership with two reputable Development Financial Institutions – DEG and PROPARCO – will highly contribute to mobilizing long term financing for the economy.”

The new Board takes over under the continued leadership of Mr William Irwin, who has been the chairman of BCR since 2009. “We look forward to working with our new shareholders to grow BCR to its full potential.

BCR is well known in Rwanda and now being part of a Regional Banking Group will make it an even bigger player in the region enabling it to offer exclusive products to facilitate regional trade.”

Sanjeev Anand BCR’s Managing Director who has been at the helm of the Bank since 2009, further expressed “We are excited about this milestone in the history of BCR. Being a part of a larger, regional banking entity opens up so many more opportunities both for BCR and Rwanda as a whole.

In addition, having two reputable development finance institutions as major shareholders, will certainly improve the Bank’s visibility in the international markets. We are looking forward to working closely with I&M Bank and to being able to serve our customers much better and more conveniently on a local and regional front.”

I&M Bank Group prides itself and has been recognised for its passion to introduce innovative products and services that enhance customer convenience and their overall banking experience. I&M Bank was the first bank in East and Central Africa to be licenced by VISA for E-Commerce acquiring.

Likewise, I&M was the first bank to introduce a prepaid card that can be loaded using mobile payment systems. The I&M Group also operates in the insurance industry through GA Insurance Company.

“This is certainly a step in the right direction” says Mr Sarit S. Raja Shah, the Executive Director of I&M Bank “We are guided by our customers’ expansion in the region, and this acquisition is no different.

It further strengthens the position of I&M as a truly regional player able to offer seamless one – stop solutions to our customers who transact within the region.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the National Bank of Rwanda for their support and guidance during this acquisition, and for welcoming us as investors into Rwanda. We look forward to find synergies within the Group that will contribute further to Rwanda’s economic growth”.

This operation illustrates I&M’s strong partnership with Development Finance Institutions. Laureen-Astrid Kouassi, Investment Officer in PROPARCO’s Banking and Capital Markets Department confirmed her institution’s commitment to the I&M Group:

“Proparco is proud to support its long dated partner in the expansion of its activities in Rwanda whose banking sector offers some significant opportunities for the I&M Group.

BCR enjoys a strong positioning in its domestic market; its sound recent financial and operating performances have moreover paved the way for a sustainable growth. The successful completion of this acquisition hence further strengthens I&M’s position as a key player in the EAC banking sector”.

“We are proud to support I&M Bank in this transaction, a partner distinguished by exceptional regional knowledge and a proven track record.

As one of the bank’s focus activities is the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, the expansion to Rwanda will enable the transfer of I&M Bank’s expertise and range of banking solutions in this field, thus supporting the expansion of private enterprises structures and creating the basis for sustainable growth in Rwanda” said Peter Bereschka, Investment Manager at DEG.

The trade between Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda has steadily been on the rise, especially supported by the East African Community Agreement. As Mr Arun S Mathur, the Chief Executive Officer of I&M Bank expressed “The acquisition will give the customers of BCR and I&M regional banking solutions and facilitate their expansion within the EAC.

The participation by PROPARCO & DEG in this acquisition also further highlights the confidence the DFIs have in I&M and in BCR.

I&M currently enjoys several credit lines, and we look forward to strengthening BCR’s products and service offerings and support more businesses within Rwanda. Our relation with BCR will certainly support our vision to be ‘…the first choice where customers want to do business’.”

{{MTN employees today joined multitudes of people and organisations around the world to observe Mandela Day in celebration of Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday.}}

“We are marking the day by doing good for humanity in tribute to an icon whose fight for freedom and contribution to the ushering in of democracy in South Africa inspired the birth of MTN, now a global African brand that is using the empowering force of mobile telephony to transform people’s lives,” Yvonne Mubiligi MTN Foundation Manager in Rwanda said.

MTN employees around the world will use Mandela Day to celebrate the achievements they made during 21 Days of Y’ello Care, an annual MTN staff volunteer programme that takes places from the 1st to 21st of June.

This year’s programme focused on education, and saw thousands of employees across MTN’s vast geographic footprint in Africa and the Middle East undertake activities to improve the quality of education and schooling infrastructure.

They re-furbished classrooms and libraries, provided computer centres, technical training, bursaries, career guidance, books and school lessons on a variety of subjects.

In Rwanda MTN employees raised money to cover the needs of over 300 underprivileged children studying between Primary One and Primary 9 levels of education.

“We donated books in 4 provinces in Rwanda and in Kigali City, to be used in the school libraries to improve the reading culture of Rwandan children. We also carried out renovation in various schools and this is done with the aim of improving the standards of education.

By end of July we shall be providing 300 free school bags to the children benefiting from 21 Days of Y’ello Care,” Mubiligi said.

In a message to more than 24 252 employees, MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Sifiso Dabengwa, paid tribute to MTN volunteers for acting out their selfless deeds in keeping with Mandela’s legacy of doing good for humanity.

“For us at MTN, everyday is a Mandela Day. As a corporate organisation and as a people, we live by Mandela’s example through what our employees do for their communities, as well as through the work of MTN Foundations, which help us to effectively balance our commercial imperatives and the social needs of the communities in which we do business,” said Dabengwa.

“We observe Mandela Day by celebrating the achievements we made during the 2012 edition of 21 Days of Y’ello Care – now in its 6th year and still growing in terms of its beneficiary reach and staff participation.

In true Mandela you sacrificed your time and invested your energies in commendable efforts of ‘service to one’s fellow human’ in an all-out endeavor to improve access to, and the quality of, education for our communities,” he added.

To pay homage to Madiba, MTN will be presenting him with a book featuring pledges to serve humanity from our customers and MTN staff sent via www.mtn.com.

The book will also showcase some of the highlights, in word and pictures, of the activities MTN employees undertook during the 21 Days of Y’ello Care programme in 2012.

{{HE The President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief has made the following appointments and promotions regarding Rwanda Defence Forces and
National Intelligence and Security Services;}}

Major General Frank Kamanzi Mushyo (above) has been appointed Army Chief of Staff replacing Lt Gen Caesar Kayizari.

Lt. Col. Franco Rutagengwa has been appointed Chief of Military Intelligence (J2)

Lt. Col. Didas Ndahiro has been promoted to the rank of Colonel. He has just graduated from a US army war college.

Lt. Col. Jill Rutaremara has been appointed to rank of Colonel. He has just returned from the National Defence College, Kenya.

National intelligence and Security Services;

Col. Francis Mutiganda has been appointed Director General External Services

A Communique from the Ministry of Defence signed by the Defence Spokesperson Brig.Gen Joseph Nzabamwita, says that these changes will take immidiate effect

{{Ethiopians are currently tense as there is no clear information about the whereabouts of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

This follows days of rumors and unconfirmed reports that Zenawi was gravely ill, or even deceased. }}

Rumors and unconfirmed reports began last week and gained momentum when Zenawi did not attend a meeting of the African Union in Addis Ababa as expected.

However, on Monday, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Hailemariam Desalegne, confirmed that Meles was indeed ill, but refused to elaborate or say what the illness might be. The speculation increased again.

The Ethiopian government had promised to clarify the situation at a news conference on July 18.

It was also reported that Meles Zenawi who was allegedly being treated at Saint-Luc University Hospital in Belgium having failed to appear at the AU summit his country was hosting over the weekend.

Apart from speculations, no credible source has so far said what his actual ailments are. Some sources claim he is suffering from a blood cancer possibly Lymphoma or Leukemia and others say his actual illness is a malignant form of brain tumor.

Zenawi’s hand-picked deputy, Desalagne said “There is no serious illness at all.” He said Meles would “return soon,” but did not talk about the nature of the illness or where the nation’s leader was receiving treatment.

He (Zenawi) had been scheduled to open a New Partnership for Africa’s Development in Addis on Saturday, Senegal, Macky Sall, took his place and announced that Meles could not attend due “to health conditions.”

Meles also failed to appear on Sunday at the opening of an African Union summit of more than three dozen African leaders at the Addis Ababa headquarters, where the prime minister usually plays host.

Critics of Zenawi within Ethiopia claimed that government bureaucrats were scrambling to collect medical documents that include invoices of the Prime Minister’s foreign medical expenses from the various bureaus and ministries in an apparent effort to dampen the speculation.

At the beginning of July, Zenawi rescheduled important parliamentary sitting to debate and vote on next years budge.

He is constitutionally required to present a report on the state of the republic which should have happened before July 7.

A prescheduled award ceremony at the Science and Technology Ministry where he was slated to be the guest of honor was postponed indefinitely.

Zenawi was expected to attend the one year anniversary of the independence of the South Sudan Republic where his Kenyan and Ugandan counterparts attended.
The Ethiopian delegation was led by the Deputy PM Hailemariam Desalegn.

During his current term Zenawi has launched major development programs in Ethiopia such as foreign investment in large commercial farmlands and the construction near the Sudanese border of the massive Grand Millennium Dam on the Abay River, which is a major source of Nile waters.

{{Liberia has no plans to abolish Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) despite mounting demands by local and international organisations, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said.}}

President Sirleaf said, “to hastily abolish the practice could spark off a serious societal crisis”.

FGM is widely practised in Liberia with thousands of young girls annually initiated in traditional “schools” known as the Sande Society in preparation for mutilation.

More than half of the country’s 16 ethnic groups in north eastern, parts of eastern, western and northern Liberia practice FGM.

Those who practise it argue that it controls a woman’s sexual urge.

“This is not a thing that you can legislate. If you try to legislate or enforce it without much sensitisation, we might run into some tension in our society that we don’t need,” President Sirleaf.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma 63, has been elected to head the 54-nation bloc after a hotly contested election. She is a South African and has been working as home Affairs Minister.

She is the first woman to hold the post and is the ex-wife of South African President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma is a more “professional, more accountable and more proficient” person than Ping, said Mehari Maru with the Institute of Security Studies in Addis Ababa, but warned it would likely take months for a change in leadership strategy to take place.

The election conducted on Sunday took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

It followed a stalemate in January that left 69-year-old incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon in power after neither side could secure the necessary two-thirds majority.

The run up to the election largely split the continent in two, with West and Francophone Africa firmly behind Ping, while Zuma’s counterparts in the Southern African Development Community firmly backed her bid.

Challenges are likely to come quickly for the new head of the AU as she deals with the aftermath of recent coups in Guinea Bissau and Mali. Ping was criticized as being slow and ineffective in his response to last year’s coup in Cote D’Ivoire and the revolution in Libya.

{{The republic of Burundi will receive about US$18million grant to finance the country’s Fifth Economic Reform Support Programme (ERSP V).

Funds have been approved by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Board of Directors from the Fragile States Facility resources.}}

This contribution is backed by a program of reforms aiming the promotion of accelerated economic growth by enhancing Government efficiency in the management of public resources, promoting private sector development, and creating jobs.

In this context, PARE-V’s main operational objectives are to: (i) enhance Government efficiency in the management of public resources (Component 1); and (ii) promote private sector development and job creation (Component 2).

PARE-V’s expected outputs are: (i) increased tax revenue; (ii) a more efficient procurement system underpinned by a Public Procurement Code, which will guarantee greater transparence, fairness and competition;

Also (iii) an improved and more efficient internal and external control system which will contribute to sounder management of Government’s financial resources; (iv) an increase in the level of private investment; and (v) the creation of more youth employment opportunities.

PARE-V is aligned on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Phase II (PRSP-II), adopted in January 2012 for the 2012-2016 period. PRSP II seeks to create an environment that will foster Burundi’s sustainable development and allow for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It is also aligned on the country’s long-term vision ‘Burundi 2025’.

PARE-V, will support the ongoing reform programme in Burundi, consolidate the achievements, and deepen reforms supported by the Bank in its previous Programmes (PARE I-IV). The programme will be implemented over 2012 and 2013 and the grant will contribute to fund the Budget of 2012 and 2013.

Burundi is a fragile State, one of the poorest in Africa. The Human Development Index (HDI) ranked the country 185th of 187 countries in 2011 and about 67% of the population lives below the poverty threshold. This programme addresses the Burundi Government need for public finance stabilization.

By financing part of the budget deficit, the Programme will contribute to easing social tension and reinforcing the country’s stability. It will therefore, like the other four previous operations, continue to support the country in its modernization process aimed at achieving strong, inclusive and job-creating growth.