The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) was yesterday named seventh African development financial institution of 2013.The ranking follows BRD’s regular support to the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This was during the Annual Forum for CEOs in the Association of African Development Banking and Finance Institutions (AADFI), hosted in Kenya. The review focused on 14 member institutions selected on the basis of how regular or irregular their participation is; where BRD, which is by a majority shares owned by the government, emerged with a score of 89 per cent. The Director of Finance at BRD, Emmanuel Murangayisa, received the honours during the forum, and pledged the bank’s continued support to business growth in Rwanda, according to a statement received by The New Times from AADFI. "BRD over the last 46 years of existence has contributed to the creation and sustainability of SMEs,” Murangayisa said. "As  a  consequence  of  the  portfolio  growth, the  profitability  over  the  years  went  up. Although  the  period  between  1985  and 1994  was  marked  by  continuous  losses, the  bank  finally  picked  up  by  getting  out of  the  losses  in  1995  and  has since been making positive strides.”  He said as  a  result  of  to  the  overall  great performance ,  BRD’s  net  worth automatically  shot higher in the past eight years. "The  loans  and  equity participations  are extended  to  various priority  sectors  of  the Rwandan  economy and  they  are  directly linked  to  the  overall growth of the Bank,” Murangayisa said. Gabriel Negatu, the regional director of the African Development Bank, said the growth and changes in Africa are notably positive and urged finance institutions to continue supporting business on the continent. "The growth rate of the continent’s low-income countries was well above 4.5 per cent in 2012 and is projected to remain above 5.5 per cent in the coming years. Governments should further support their national development financial institutions in the pursuit of their efficiency and prudence,” Negatu said. The top five rated institutions included African Export and Import Bank (Egypt), East African Development Bank, Credit Agricole du Maroc (Morocco), Odu’a Investment Company (Nigeria), and Banque Nationale pour le Developpement Economique, of Senegal.