On April 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that ”The COVID-19 Pandemic has ground Rwanda’s economy to a halt, creating an urgent balance of payments need.”
To assist, the IMF gave Rwanda an emergency loan of US$109.4 million on April 2, 2020.
This was not enough to meet the Rwandan crisis, however. On June 11, 2020, the IMF came to the rescue one more time. The IMF gave Rwanda another loan this time amounting to US$111.6 million.
That means that Rwanda received two emergency loans within 3 months totalling US$220.4 million. The IMF explained why it gave Rwanda a second loan as follows:
”The COVID-19 pandemic continues to severely impact the Rwandan economy. The global and domestic macroeconomic outlook has further deteriorated. Growth projections have been revised down, and revenue losses and spending needs are more than twice the size estimated at the time of the first RCF request.”
It appears the usual boasts in Rwanda about being the Singapore of Africa have dried up. Rwanda’s tiny economy is on its knees surviving on foreign aid.
By Joyce Umurerwa
Brisbane, Australia
