Crown Berger, a Kenya based company which produces paint under the brand name Regal Paints has postponed its plan to launch a  production plant in Rwanda.

The Kigali plant was supposed to be commissioned at the end of this month. Management however says that the current financial crisis in the US has forced them to postpone the plan as some of their machinery is held up.

Announcing the delayed opening, Rakesh Rao, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, said that Kigali operations will instead begin in January 2009.

"Part of the machinery from the US that was to be installed for the production has been delayed because of the financial crisis. If we are to go ahead with the plan, the costs will have to go up by about 70 per cent,” said Rao.

The Rwandan factory in Gikondo Industrial Area will be the second full scale manufacturing plant of Crown Paints in the region.

It will serve Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo and the whole of Central Africa. The company also plans to establish a distribution point in Southern Sudan.

"As opposed to the Ugandan model which started as a distribution plant, we are going into full manufacturing in Rwanda and shall trade under our brand name of Crown Berge,” said Rao.

Analysts have warned that the financial crisis in the US which has spread to Europe and Asia markets will extend to other parts of the world and emerging markets in developing countries will be most hit.

Currency fluctuations are already being experienced in most African countries as remittances from abroad have reduced and trade has been hampered by a strong ‘rare’ dollar against local currencies.

Rescue

In a statement posted on its Website, the World Bank said it plans to double its long-term loans to the developing nations from $13.5 billion in 2007 to help them cope with the global credit crisis.

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