The government plans to sustain the momentum of investing in infrastructure projects and modernising agriculture among other industries as it steps up efforts to accelerate economic recovery from the 2020 Covid-19 driven slump. The government created the Economic Recovery Fund (ERF) last year with Rwf100 billion to support the businesses that were most affected by Covid-19. While presenting to parliamentarians the status of the economy and the budget, on Monday, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana, said that so far Rwf90 billion or 90 per cent of the Fund has been utilised. “Because we are still fighting the virus and its effects, in that line the government had to mobilise additional $250 million to strengthen the ERF and to support more businesses, and this fund will support the existing windows plus a new window,” he said. The original fund was worth $150 million from the World Bank and $100 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Ndagijimana said that the latest funds, $150 million, will be spent on supporting the expansion of existing investments. “The main purpose of the recovery fund is to revive the economy and we will do so by investing in new projects as well other than helping only the businesses affected,” he said. In order to build the much needed economic resilience, the government plans to sustain investments in infrastructure as well as in modern agriculture practices in addition to facilitating industrialisation, promoting savings, accelerating the digitization of our economy, ensuring macroeconomic stability, and deepening regional cooperation. “We have a department in the ministry that looks out for new promising projects looking for investments, and when investing in them we will follow up to make sure that they are generating profits as planned,” the minister said. According to the minister update, under the ERF, loan refinancing support to hotels and conference facilities took Rwf50.592 billion, public transport operators was allocated 7.5 billion, education which was affected by the closure of schools for almost eight months was allocated Rwf7.83 billion. Direct subsidy to public transport was allocated Rwf12.1 billion, and Rwf1.5 billion was allocated to credit guarantee facility to provide credit guarantees to small and micro businesses without sufficient collaterals, working capital loan support to microbusinesses was given Rwf3.5 billion and additional Rwf3 billion mobilized recently. And working capital for SMEs and large corporations disbursed loans worth Rwf10.3 billion. MP Suzanne Mukayijore questioned the minister on what they plan to do to make sure that the businesses that were not able to access the first recovery fund are able to access it now, and the strategies in place to make sure that the investments are profitable. Ndagijimana said that any registered business that has been working well in the past will have no problem accessing the second phase, adding that there are strategies in place that will see that the recovery fund is accessible to businesses that need it
