On Monday March 26 2012, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Hon. John Rwangombwa and Mimi Ladipo, the World Bank country representative signed three separate grant agreements worth US$ 130 million (approximately Rwf78.7billion), donated by the Bank to support the Government of Rwanda’s development agenda. This was at Ministry of Finance (MINECOFIN)’s headquarters at the heart of Kigali City.
About $80 million (about Rwf48billion) is to finance the third phase of Rural Sector Support Project (RSSP), US$10 million (about Rwf6billion) is to finance the the five year National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) programme while the remaining $40 million (about Rfw24billion) will finance Support to Social Protection project under Vision Umurenge Programme (VUP).
World Bank Rwanda Boss is impressed by the performance of both VUP and RSSP programmes. “I must say Rwanda is among the countries performing well in terms of aid efficiency, the results really are outstanding.” Cash for the NSDS programme will also cater for the upcoming 2012 Population and Housing Census. Minister Rwangombwa noted that the funds come at the right time when the government was drafting the second generation of EDPRS that will certainly require evidence-based policy formulation by ensuring quality and timeliness of statistical information, as well as making it accessible to users.
