Business
Huye-Nyamagabe Road Constructed By Chinese Firm A Disaster Waiting To Happen
Government may have to acquire another loan to redo works on a 53km highway connecting Kigali to Nyamagabe district in southern Rwanda. In 2017, government obtained loan financing of Rwf 29.8bn ($29.8m) from Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the…
Read More »Akagera Park Large Animal Population Grows Over 50% In Less Than a Decade
Buffalo have increased to nearly 4000 animals. The number of large animals now roaming the Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda has risen by 53.9 percent – a significant growth. African Parks, the continental management firm which has been managing the park says latest aerial census of mammals and other…
Read More »Rwanda Removes COVID-19 Quarantine For Fully Vaccinated Travellers
Immediately you arrive at Kigali International Airport, you will encount these medical staff doing controls on PCR tests being presented. You will then move to take another test If you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you will not need to quarantine on arrival in Rwanda. Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed the…
Read More »GSMA’s Mobile World Congress Opens In Rwanda
The 2021 online event from September 28-30 will bring together decision-makers from across Africa’s vibrant mobile ecosystem to explore how technology and connectivity can lead the global recovery. This premier event is part of the GSMA’s flagship series of MWC events, which includes editions in Barcelona, Shanghai and Los AngelesThe…
Read More »New Goods Clearance System Launched to Ease Africa’s Cross-border Payments
Trucks at a parking yard in Malaba, Uganda-Kenya border (Photo by TradeMark East Africa) African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and AfCFTA Secretariat announced today the operational roll-out of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), a revolutionary Financial Market Infrastructure to enable instant, cross-border payments in local currencies between African markets.…
Read More »Clinton Foundation Moves To Tackle Rwanda’s Aflatoxins Problem
Maize has become a major staple food in Rwanda, however, aflatoxins, which is naturally produced, has been a challenge. Its not unique to Rwanda alone as it happens everywhere Agriculture is the backbone of Rwanda’s economy, accounting for 80 percent of the country’s earnings and 39 percent of gross domestic…
Read More »World Bank Halts Publishing ‘Doing Business’ Report Completely
The World Bank has canceled a prominent report rating the business environment of the world’s countries after an investigation concluded that senior bank management pressured staff to alter data affecting the ranking some countries. Launched in 2005, the report has long been viewed as a success, inspiring governments to improve…
Read More »Showbiz, Gaming Industries Get Government Reprieve to Reopen As Anticipated
Local duo Charly & Nina thrill revellers at concert before COVID-19. Though they have since gone separate ways, we can begin to hope we will see then in coming days The last time a public concert took place in Rwanda was in February last year. The nearly 2m vaccinated people…
Read More »COP 26: A Five Point Plan for Tackling Climate Change
The destruction left on public infrastructure across Rwanda during last year’s rainy season Success At November’s UN Climate Summit Hinges On The Wealthy World’s Ability To Foster Solidarity, Fairness And Prosperity With Poor Countries, Which Have Been Battered By The Climate Crisis, Covid-19 And Mounting Debt, According To A New…
Read More »How Much It May Have Cost To Install Pegasus On 3,500 Phones
This studio photographic illustration shows a smartphone with the website of Israel’s NSO Group which features ‘Pegasus’ spyware, on display in Paris on July 21, 2021. – Private Israeli firm NSO Group has denied media reports its Pegasus software is linked to the mass surveillance of journalists and rights defenders,…
Read More »IBM Names Saad Toma As General Manager Middle East and Africa
Saad Toma IBM announced today that Saad Toma has been named General Manager of IBM Middle East and Africa (MEA). Mr. Toma succeeds Takreem El-Tohamy, who has been appointed General Manager, Global Strategic Sales at IBM. Mr. Toma brings deep industry, services and technology expertise and over 30 years of…
Read More »Peer Pressure Improving The Ease of Doing Business in Africa
Watching a neighbouring country improve its ease of doing business – and then trumpet the achievement on social media – seems to be having a profound effect on African economies, just as the continent ushers in a new era of collaboration. A light moment during a state visit to Kenya…
Read More »Fintech Revolution: A Window For Africa To Leap Through
From Seychelles to Somalia, smaller African nations are rapidly expanding financial inclusion and making huge strides in cashless payment technologies and in the process helping to build Africa as a global centre of fintech excellence, a new report reveals. More and more African countries are joining the top 100 global…
Read More »Key Agencies Refuse Parliamentary Audit Despite Spending Billions
With having access to books of accounts, for entities like RSSB, it means the nation may never know what happened behind closed doors when a decision was made to build the Vision City estate where unconfirmed reports have pointed to questionable expenditures. In what appears to be a deliberate scheme…
Read More »Be Prepared, Next Financial Year We Are Sending $502m To Repay Debts
French banking giant BNP Paribas was one of two firms that handled Rwanda’s Eurobond, described at the time by a bank executive as “priced to perfection” The biggest test for Rwanda’s economy is coming next financial year 2022-2023, when the repayment of its $400 million Eurobond is due. The bond…
Read More »South Africa Opposes Rwanda-Drafted Global Treaty Banning Plastics
Environment Minister Dr Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya speaking at a press conference in February last year where she was announcing a new government offensive against single-use plastics The proposed global treaty banning plastics has run into trouble after Africa’s biggest economy South Africa deciding it will not support the initiative. Since 2017,…
Read More »CIMERWA Records 14% Increase In Revenues For First Quarter
Albert Sigei, CIMERWA Plc CEO CIMERWA Plc released its interim financial results for the period ended 31st March 2021. The Company posted record revenue of Rwf 30 billion, indicating a 14% increase as compared to the same period last year. With a Rwf 1.0 billion Profit After Tax figure, CIMERWA…
Read More »Shaping the New World of Work: Digital Opportunity Trust and IBM Team Up to Provide Digital and Career Skills for Youth in Africa and the Middle East
Justina Nixon -Saintil, IBM Vice President and Global Head, Corporate Social Responsibility Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) is announcing a timely collaboration with IBM to empower young women and men in Africa and the Middle East with the digital skills, workforce readiness proficiencies, and business knowledge needed for successful careers, social…
Read More »Rwanda’s Debt Will be Rwf 7.6 Trillion At End of June
On Sunday, President Paul Kagame met with Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF Managing Director, in Paris. The IMF is one of the biggest lenders to Rwanda Within a period of 12 months, the amount of debt that Rwanda owes its local and international lenders has grown by 19.3 percent – a…
Read More »Tax Body, Finance Ministry ‘Overstating’ Tax Collections – Auditor General
The imposing HQ of the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) which collects all revenue for government The Auditor General has found that the national revenue collector and the Finance Ministry have been including tax refunds meant to be given back to taxpayers, into the total annual revenue collections – giving false…
Read More »Rwanda’s Debt Grows to Over $7.2bn
Entrance to the special economic zone in Kigali Rwanda’s public debt had been projected to reach 67% of GDP by end of last year, instead it has expanded to over 70 percent. The latest review by the International Monetary Fund shows that the country’s debt is on a steady spiral…
Read More »East Africa’s Largest Insurance Firm ‘Doesn’t Envisage Rwanda Entry’
Jubilee Insurance Chairman, Nizar Juma, speaking at a related event in September last year. Today he spoke about what happened to JHL plans for Rwanda Jubilee Insurance, the region’s largest insurance firm is operating in all the countries of the east African region except Rwanda, and it has no plans…
Read More »Online But Not So-Online Sales
In February 2021, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) stepped back on a decision to start taxing e-commerce service providers after it was evident that they had made lots of money during the COVID-19 lockdown. The decision was reversed after a public social media outcry in which many Kigali based online…
Read More »Nuclear Science Aids Rwanda in Reaching Ambitious Economic Goals and Better Life
Rwanda signed nuclear deal with Russia in 2018, to set up a Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology (CNST) in five years Rwanda’s Vision 2050, aimed at citizen-centred prosperity and improving the quality of life for all, sets a target of achieving an upper-middle-income status by 2035 and a high-income…
Read More »YouTube to Start Deducting Taxes From Content Creators Outside U.S.
Content creators in Rwanda will be paying taxes in the U.S. YouTube is set to start deducting taxes from creators outside of US on the earnings they generate from viewers in the US, the Google-owned company said in an email to all creators including in Rwanda. YouTube has also asked…
Read More »California Startup is Building First Hotel in Space, To Be Operational 2027
Orbital Assembly Corp., a California-based startup that wants to pioneer construction and infrastructure in outer space, has hit its $1 million fundraising goal and aims to open an operational luxury hotel in orbit in 2027. The enterprise bills itself as the “world’s first large-scale space construction company” and wants to produce everything…
Read More »Airtel Rwanda SIM Card Agents Not Paid for Months
Some of Airtel Rwanda agents are not happy with how they are being treated Agents selling SIM Cards for telecom giant Airtel Rwanda in the western region have been demanding for arrears going back month – a plea they took to the company’s headquarters in Kigali but couldn’t be allowed…
Read More »Cattle Keepers in Gicumbi District Pouring Away 10,000 Litres of Milk Daily
There is so much milk produced in Gicumbi district, bordering Uganda, that farmers have to pour some of it away on a daily basis. Every single day, the hundreds of cattle farmers in the region deliver more than 40,000 litres to the government-provided milk collection center. From this amount of…
Read More »550,000 Rwandans to Fall Into Extreme Poverty This Year – World Bank
Mothers with babies wait late evening at a local office in Kigali for promised food aid. Rwanda’s economy has fallen into its first recession due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and could potentially compromise years of gains in poverty reduction, the World Bank said Monday. This dire economic effect, says…
Read More »IMF Suggests That Most of the COVID-19 Emergency Recovery Fund be Channeled Through SACCOs
In rural Gatsibo district, eastern Rwanda, locals wait at the Umurenge Sacco Kiramuruzi. It is these rural financial institutions that reach tens of thousands of small businesses The emergency economic recovery fund (ERF) set up by government to help companies recover from the devastating impact of the coronovirus pandemic may…
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