Business round-up

RRA, PSF sign agreement to help SME’s to prepare financial statements In a bid to provide financial management support, Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding worth $18,500 to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) prepare their annual financial statements. The MOU was signed on Wednesday last week at RRA headquarters in Kimihurura, between RRA and Private Sector Federation (PSF). According to a press statement, the funds will support SMEs in preparing their annual financial statements through the Business Development Service (BDS) Networks’ resident accountants using tailor-made software. They will also be trained on how to utilize accounting software. The fund comes after realizing that less than 10 percent of the SMEs in Rwanda prepare annual financial statements and most of them do not know whether they make a profit or loss at the end of their financial year. This hinders their filing of tax returns to RRA and thereby affecting the exactness of forecasting annual revenues from tax returns. Fuel prices up by 3.5 percent Fuel prices went up by 3.5 percent from Rwf887 per litre to Rwf918 making it the highest prices the country has ever experienced. According to the mini-survey carried out by the Business Times since Wednesday last week, filling stations around town had added Rwf31 on every litre of diesel and petrol. Emmanuel Hategeka, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry attributed the increase to hike of a barrel prices on the international market. “Prices on the international market have increased by 4 percent in the past month. As a result we had to also increase because we don’t control these prices but we as the government we try to minimise the increase,” Hategeka explained. At the beginning or end of every month, the government meets with petroleum dealers to monitor price structures internationally and reach an agreement on a final local pump price. Hategeka also revealed that the government is trying to workout a strategy that will protect more local pump prices in the future, in case of international hikes. Rwanda seeks Rwf10 billion to develop its foreign land Rwanda needs at least $18m (Rwf10.3b) to develop the three foreign plots that it acquired in order to facilitate its exports and imports. The governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Djibouti offered plots of land to the Rwandan government at Mombasa, Isaka and Djibouti respectively. The Rwandan government gave the land to its private sector as a way of boosting business. “The development of these plots is underway, especially Mombasa and part of the development will be building an inland container depot,” said Gustave Nkurunziza, the Projects Manager at the Private Sector Federation (PSF). With the development of these plots, it is expected that the rental rates by Kenya for Rwandan imports and exports would be reduced, hence cutting import and export prices. The plots in Mombasa, Isaka and Djibouti are 12.8 hectares, 17.5 hectares and 20 hectares respectively. FINA bank posts a 35 % profit increase in 2009. Despite all the financial difficulties in the country attributed to the lack of liquidity, FINA BANK Rwanda (FBR) managed to register an increase in profits after tax, from Rwf570 million in 2008 to over Rwf770 million in 2009. Steve Caley, the bank’s Managing Director said on Wednesday that the bank is finalising the auditing process and so far the company has register in a profit of over Rwf200 million after taxes. The institution was recently awarded as the best bank in financial service sector in the year 2009 by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). The awards were held to promote and support the private sector in Rwanda. Ends