Rwanda: U.S. $ 50 Million ADF Grant for Poverty Reduction Strategy Support Programme

18 July 2007
African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Tunis — The African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional window of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved a grant of UA 33 million (US$ 50 million) to help finance the second phase of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Support Program (PRSSP II) in Rwanda.

The Rwandan Government adopted the new "Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy" for 2007-2011, following the implementation of the 2002-2006 PRSP. The Government has embarked on the second generation PRSP that is more growth-oriented and focusing on employment-generating sectors, namely; agriculture, private sector development, as well as investment in both infrastructures and human capital.

The overall program goal is to promote economic growth for sustainable poverty reduction. The specific program objectives are to:

(i) improve public finance management by improving budget programming and execution, and strengthening the fiduciary and transparency framework;

(ii) help create an enabling environment for business development and export promotion by improving the legal and institutional framework as well as strengthening financial intermediation and consolidating the banking system.

Through PRSSP-II, the ADF grant will support the implementation of the Government's PRSP program, in close collaboration with the other partners in the Budget Support Group (World Bank, EU, DFID, Sweden, and Germany). The progress made so far by the government in the implementation of reforms to promote good governance, notably through the improvement of public finance management, enhancement of the population's participation in the design and implementation of development policies, and fiduciary reform efforts such as the overhaul of the procurement system.

The total contribution of the Budget Support Group for the 2007-2008 period stands at RWF 250.3 billion, or UA 303.24 million (US$ 460 million), and is equal to 60% of total financing requirements. The ADF grant represents 10.8% of the Budget Support Group contributions and 6.6% of the financing requirements.

The AfDB Group operations in Rwanda began in 1974. To date, its cumulative commitment in the country stands at US$ 950 million for 113 operations.

* 1 UC =1, 51557 = 825.393 RWF on 18/07/2007

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