Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente urged the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) and financial institutions in the country to strengthen their regulatory tools against emerging risks including cybercrimes and money laundering.
He made the remarks during NBR’s 60th anniversary celebration on June 7, that brought together government officials, academicians, captains of industry, members of international organisations, investors, and private sector actors.
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Themed "The Evolving Role of Central Banks," the ceremony featured different discussions around financial and monetary stability, financial inclusion public-private partnership, climate change, and the future of central banks, among others.
The Central Bank has a mandate to drive economic stability based on the move of prices on the market and financial sector stability in the country.
Ngirente took note of the central bank’s significant role in Rwanda’s development journey across the entire socio-economic aspects, in collaboration with the government and other institutions.
"It has been crucial in Rwanda’s journey to achieve a sustained and broad-based economic growth leading the GDP per capita to rise slightly above eight times over the last 30 years," he noted, highlighting that poverty rate reduced by half in the same period and life expectancy has increased from 29 years in 1994 to 69.6 in 2022.
According to the Minister, the central bank's monetary policy and financial systems regulation approaches have maintained a stable macroeconomic environment.
"The resilience of the financial sector largely reflects the high commitment of the central bank to safeguard the prudent behavior of financial institutions,” Ngirente said, pointing at the safety of depositors’ money and prudent usage in financing the economy.
However, as the world takes on emerging challenges including uncontrolled use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybercrimes in financial institutions, and money laundering, he encouraged central banks and financial institutions to constantly update their regulatory tools and stay alert to counter these risks.
"The global geopolitics and climate change events are becoming major emerging challenges to global economies and make forecasting future economic variables more complex. Central Banks need to build their own capacity and understanding to address these issues in a coordinated manner," he said.
The Premier also invited investors to take advantage of the conducive business environment in Rwanda and consider investing in the financial and banking sectors.
In 2019, NBR transitioned to a price-based monetary policy from a monetary targeting regime it had adopted in 2012. The new strategy uses interest rates as the operational target, aiming to steer economic outcomes more effectively.
While being at the center of driving financial inclusion and digital transformation, it seeks to usher the country to a cashless economy and middle-income country in 2035 and a high-income country by 2050.