By David Himbara
The Kagame government newspaper the The New Times is telling a big lie based on the information from Rwanda Development Board (RDB). The paper claims that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Rwanda was US$1.2 billion in 2015, US$1.3 billion in 2016, and that FDI will climb to US$1.5 billion in 2017. This is how The New Times is putting it:
“The Government is projecting to attract foreign direct investments worth about $1.5 billion projects this year, according to Rwanda Development Board…If met, the projected investment will represent a $200 million increase from last year where the country received FDI worth about $1.3 billion up from $1.2 billion in 2015.”
Embarrassingly, the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) reported the following FDI figure for 2015:
“In 2015, the FDI inflows shrunk by 17.2 percent, from US$ 458.9 million in 2014 to US$ 379.8 million in 2015. This decline in FDI is on account of lower inflows of new equity and loans compared to 2014.”
BNR’s figures are closer to those of multilateral agencies that monitor FDI, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank. According to UNCTAD, FDI to Rwanda was US$379 million in 2015, and US$409 million in 2016.
The World Bank’s data which does not yet contain figures for 2016, indicates that FDI to Rwanda in 2015 was US$323 million.
The only East African country receiving billions in FDI is Tanzania due to its mineral and gas deposits. Tanzania’s FDI in 2015 was US$1.6 billion versus US$1.3 billion in 2016 – according to UNCTAD data.
Come on Kagame regime and your New Times, stop lying. Just stop it.
