The head of the Department for International Development (DfID), Elizabeth Carriere, has said that her country recognizes Rwanda’s effective use of aid and pledged continued support.

She made the remarks after officially announcing a new pledge of  £330 million (Approx Rwf 317 billion) to Rwanda as financial support over the next four years.

She said that Rwanda has exhibited effective accountability in using foreign funds.

"This is a continuation of our current support to Rwanda. Providing general and sector budget support is a vote of confidence to Rwanda to be able to use the money effectively, efficiently and accountably,” said Carriere.

She added that the country has made incredible progress over the last 16 years, but that there are still challenges that the UK acknowledges, when formulating support to provide to Rwanda.

"In Rwanda, every pound we provide makes a huge impact, that’s the bottom-line of increasing our financial support to Rwanda. We also recognize that Rwanda has a clear vision of where it is going and the country has showed a rapid development,” she said.

The Minister of Finance, John Rwangombwa, said that the country is coming from, far where over 80 percent of the population once lived in abject poverty and that four years ago, the figures were around 50% or below.

"Our target is going below 30% of the people living below the poverty line by 2015,” he said.

UK is the largest contributor to Rwanda’s budget, and according to the minister; the country is committed to maintaining the development cooperation with the UK.

"We are looking at result oriented financing and we aim at linking the aid to results,” he said

Carriere spoke about her experience of spending three days with a rural family in Nyanza District, Southern Province.

"This was an incredible experience that would enlighten everybody who takes the initiative, I would advise the Rwandan ministers to try it out,” she said.

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