An official in the Ministry of Finance, Amiable Nkuranga, has advised Rwandans to develop a savings culture so as to guarantee a healthy future.

"We are here to encourage everyone to learn and embrace the culture of saving; we have few people who save with financial institutions, so the government came up with Sector Savings and Community Cooperatives (Umurenge SACCO) where every body will need to save,” Nkuranga said.

He made the appeal last week while marking the World Savings Day in Rubavu District’s Rugerero Sector last week.
Quoting the 2008 survey, Nkuranga said that, only 14% of all Rwandans work with banks 7% with microfinance and 78% of the population can’t save a single penny.

"Government’s plan is to raise the number of people joining Umurenge SACCO so as to increase the number of people who have access to finance,” Nkuranga added.

The function was attended by a consortium of other organisations which included CHF International and its USAID/Higa Ubeho programme partners, African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE) and Association des Eglises de Pentecôtes au Rwanda (ADEPR) .

The World Savings Day is designed to encourage savings by all, particularly among poor households. This year’s theme was "Saving Today for a Better Future.”

The Ministry of Finance has organised a week of events across the country in a move to encourage the savings culture.

"We support savings and credit groups …we support the vulnerable people in the community to access health insurance scheme and help them join saving groups,” said Anne Smith, CHF International country director.

USAID deputy chief, Brian Fink, said the US government is determined to help Rwanda in its quest to improve life in communities as well as achieving its Vision 2020.

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