Franc remains stable

The Rwandan Franc depreciated by 0.9 percent against the US dollar between December 2010 and September 2011, data from Central Bank show. The local currency has not been as volatile as some of its peers in the region which have also experienced serious battering from high inflation pressures. In the period under review, the Franc depreciated by 4.1 and 2.1 percent against the Euro and the British Pound, respectively. However, it appreciated against regional currencies, boosting the country’s trading activity within the East African Community (EAC) through cheap imports. The central bank statistics show that the Franc appreciated considerably by 14 percent, 15.1 percent and 9.5 percent against the Kenyan, Uganda and Tanzania Shillings, respectively. “This is a result of actions taken before when we (the Central Bank) made sure that our foreign exchange rates remained stable,” Central bank Governor, Amb. Claver Gatete, said recently. The currency in circulation increased by 5.3 percent between December 2010 and August 2011 against 5.5 percent in the same period of 2010, the central bank said in its quarterly report. Between December 2010 and August 2011, broad money supply increased by 18 percent from 8.7 percent in the same period, the previous year. “This shows how it helped the economy,” Gatete said. The Governor allayed fears that the strong Franc could instead hamper the growth of the country’s exports, saying that the good economic performance which was registered in the first quarter of this year was reflected in the rise in exports, by 52.3 percent in terms of value and 42.1 percent in volumes. Central bank is projecting the economy to grow by 8.8 percent from 7 percent as earlier projected at the beginning of the year, driven by increased credit to the economy. Ends

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Franc remains stable