Rwanda’s financial-sector assets increased fourfold from Rwf4 trillion in 2017 to Rwf16 trillion in 2025, as lending, savings, insurance, pensions and digital financial services expanded. Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva presented the figures on Friday, October 2, while briefing both chambers of Parliament on government efforts to develop the financial sector. ALSO READ: Rwanda’s financial sector assets hit Rwf10 trillion value “The financial sector has continued to expand and its capacity has increased significantly,” he said. Financial-sector assets as a share of gross domestic product increased from 53 per cent in 2017 to 68 per cent in 2025. The structure of the sector also changed during the period. The number of banks declined from 15 to 11, while microfinance institutions fell from 473 to 70. ALSO READ: We can finance the future using national assets Nsengiyumva said the decline was mainly linked to restructuring and consolidation aimed at improving the structure and capacity of the sector. The number of insurance companies increased from 16 to 18, while pension institutions increased from one, Rwanda Social Security Board, to 12. Other non-bank financial institutions reached 448 in 2025, while licensed FinTech companies increased from three in 2017 to 36. ALSO READ: How financial sector registered stable growth in first half of 2024 Commercial banks continued to account for the largest share of financial-sector assets, at about 67 per cent, while other financial institutions accounted for the remaining 33 per cent. Lending expands The number of people receiving loans increased from more than 243,000 in 2017 to more than one million in 2025. Total loans increased from about Rwf1.6 trillion to Rwf5.5 trillion over the same period. At the same time, the ratio of non-performing loans declined from 7.6 per cent in 2017 to 2.5 per cent in 2025. Private-sector loans increased from Rwf1.464 trillion to Rwf5.275 trillion, with private-sector credit as a share of GDP rising from 19.2 per cent to 22.6 percent. Loans to construction increased from Rwf302 billion to Rwf1.23 trillion, while lending to manufacturing and processing rose from nearly Rwf163 billion to more than Rwf927 billion. Agriculture loans increased from Rwf46 billion to Rwf185 billion. More people access financial services Access to formal financial services increased from 68 per cent in 2017 to 92 per cent in 2024. When people who access savings through informal savings groups are included, the figure rises to 96 per cent. Nsengiyumva said many financial services no longer require customers to visit bank branches because they can access them through phones and other digital channels. Digital-payment transactions increased from about 256 million in 2017 to 3.1 billion in 2025. The value of money transferred through digital payments increased from Rwf2.9 trillion to Rwf85.5 trillion. In 2025, 73.7 percent of adults made payments using digital channels. Mobile-money users also increased, with regular users rising from 433 per 1,000 adults in 2017 to 715 per 1,000 in 2025. Savings increase Domestic savings increased from 14.7 percent of GDP in 2017 to 22.8 per cent in 2025. The government is targeting a domestic savings rate of 25.9 percent by 2029. The Prime Minister said more effort is needed to increase long-term domestic savings and convert them into investment.
