Under a law determining state finances for the fiscal year 2025/2026 published in the Official Gazette on July 1, Rwanda plans to spend more than Rwf7 trillion in the national budget. The expenditure represents a 21 per cent – or over Rwf1.2 trillion – increase compared to more than Rwf5.8 trillion that was approved by Parliament for the las fiscal year. ALSO READ: How Rwanda plans to fund, spend Rwf7tn budget for 2025/26 Rwanda’s budget has continued an increasing trend over the years. It was estimated at Rwf187.5 billion in 2001. ALSO READ: Part of Kigali-Muhanga road to be expanded to four lanes under $120m funding This implies that the country’s budget increased by 37 times since 2001 – in about 25 years compared to the planned spending in the current fiscal year. ALSO READ: Nyabugogo bus terminal to get $100 million facelift Here are 10 major projects to be funded under the new financial year budget: 1. Loans to students in local and foreign higher learning institutions This project, consisting of offering scholarships to students to pursue tertiary education in higher learnings institutions in Rwanda and abroad, was allocated more Rwf17.7 billion in the current fiscal year. However, the total required budget for the scheme was Rwf22.5 billion, meaning that there is a need for Rwf4.8 billion – or 21 per cent – to meet the financing needs for its implementation. 2. Providing laptops to schools Information from the Ministry of Education shows that the project to provide more than 17,000 laptops to 310 schools was allocated more than Rwf9 billion in 2025/26. It is expected that the project run under Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) will be completed in October 2027 at a tune of more than Rwf15.7 billion in total. 3. Training teachers in English proficiency Also implemented through REB, this initiative was apportioned an estimated over Rwf6.7 billion in this fiscal year. The total budget for its execution is Rwf32 billion and it is projected to be completed in October 2027. 4. Ruhengeri Referral Hospital The construction – upgrade – of this hospital located in Northern Province was allocated Rwf2.5 billion. Its upgrade is in line with responding to the increase in healthcare needs as well as improve medical services, according to health officials. The total budget required for the implementation of this project – expected to be completed in 2028 – is more than Rwf111 billion, as per data from the Ministry of Health. It is one of the projects to be financed in the health sector in the current fiscal year. 5. Acquisition of antiretrovirals (ARVs) The government plans to spend at least Rw2.8 billion on the procurement of ARVs – medications for the treatment of HIV infections among the affected people – in the current fiscal year. ARVs provision is one of the healthcare programmes in a number of countries including Rwanda which are hit by the US's decision to halt funding for health programmes as a result of disbanding USAID, which was the US’s largest agency for international development. ALSO READ: USAID officially closes as Obama, Bush decry aid cuts In May, the Minister of Health, Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, said that the government was considering ways to address health care funding gaps stemming from USAID freeze. 6. Medical equipment In this fiscal year, more than Rwf16 billion was earmarked for the procurement of medical equipment through strategic acquisition – which hinges on direct procurement from manufacturers. ALSO READ: Rwanda gets largest medical diagnostic equipment delivery under new strategy In March, Dr Yvan Butera, the Minister of State for Health, told Members of Parliament that Rwanda reduced the costs of medical equipment, including CT scanners, by around 50 per cent through this procurement model, hence ensuring efficiency and lowering healthcare expenses for patients. This is done by bypassing intermediaries in the supply chain, and bulk purchasing medical equipment and medications at lower prices from makers, Butera observed. 7. Priority crop intensification project – including fertiliser and seed subsidies This project in line with the country’s efforts to ensure food security and improve agricultural output, was allocated more than Rwf55 billion, as per information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources. Most of the funding is expected to be spent on easing farmers’ access to fertilisers and seeds as key inputs in agriculture production. 8. Nyabugogo bus terminal In the infrastructure sector, through the Rwanda Urban Mobility Improvement (RUMI) Project, Kigali plans to modernise the Nyabugogo bus terminal and create a dedicated bus lane. Up to Rwf19.3 billion will be allocated to the project in 2025/26, and the amount is projected to rise sharply in the following years to over Rwf82 billion by 2027/28. It is projected that the total scheme costs will exceed Rwf288.6 billion, according to the City of Kigali. The project, whose completion is expected 2030, is backed by the World Bank and supports national development goals like Vision 2050. 9. Drone Operation Centre A Drone Operation Centre project expected to be finalised in 2026 was allocated more than Rwf3.3 billion in the current financial year, as per data from the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT). ALSO READ: Rwanda earmarks funds to set up drone operation centre This is Rwanda’s initiative meant to support the country develop its unmanned aircraft industry at the same time ensuring its utilisation and effective regulation. The facility to be located in Huye District, Southern Province, at an area currently occupied by Huye aerodrome (airfield), is part of Rwanda’s aspiration to become an ICT hub, according to MINICT. The centre is expected to have a battalion of drone students, designers and pilots, and will accommodate drone manufacturing, testing, training, and research and development activities. It is also expected that the centre will provide space for recreational and hobbyist activities where inexperienced people can fly drones in a safer environment. 10. Kigali-Muhanga road The upgrade of the 45-kilometre Kigali–Muhanga road is scheduled to begin in the 2025/26 fiscal year, according to Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA). The project includes road rehabilitation, expansion of a 12.2 kilometre section from the current two lanes to four lanes in congested urban areas for easing traffic, and construction of 11.9 kilometres of climbing lanes for heavy trucks to avoid a situation where the slower moving vehicles delay movement of people. Rwf3 billion was allocated for the project in the current financial year. “We expect that, if everything goes well, we will have a contractor by January or February [2026] so that we can begin rehabilitation,” RTDA’s Director General Imena Munyampenda told the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), on June 25.
