The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, John Rwangombwa, led a Rwandan delegation to the Africa Debt market forum that was organised by the London Stock Exchange from 21 to 22 June, in London.

The forum examined the opportunities that African countries and corporate entities had in raising finances from the debt capital market. The participants were mainly investors in the capital markets as well as government representatives.

Rwangombwa gave a presentation on Rwanda’s economic outlook and available investment opportunities.

The presentation was well received with keen interest in understanding Rwanda’s drivers of economic growth, East African Community integration as well as prospects in the capital markets.

According to Clare Akamanzi, the RDB Chief Operations Officer (COO), overall, Rwanda’s economic performance was acknowledged with interest from market players, should Rwanda want to raise financing for its projects from the market.

Other presentations covered areas fundamental in the debt capital market such as: political risk fundamentals, legal and regulatory aspects of bond issuance and credit ratings.

Rwangombwa and the delegation which included the RDB COO, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to the UK, Ernest Rwamucyo, among others, held one-on-one meetings with capital market investors.

"The Rwandan team held one-on-one meetings with eight investment funds. The objective was to initiate a relation between the investors and the Rwandan Government should the latter wish to issue bonds for its projects in the future,” Akamanzi told The New Times.

"Those we met are of some of the biggest investment funds located in London. In each of these meetings, the Minister presented a macro-economic overview of Rwanda as well as its business environment”.

Akamanzi said that there is strong appetite for bonds should Rwanda decide to issue one and that the terms and conditions will depend on the country’s credit rating, market timing, pre-market preparations as well as amounts to be raised.

"Particular interest was shown in Rwanda’s vision and strategy to sustain the strong economic performance especially its plans to reduce current account deficit as well as its fiscal deficit.

"Investors were also interested in private sector growth trends and strategies, growth in FDI and taxation policies to support this,” she added.

The capital market offers a great opportunity to raise financing for strategic investment projects, especially in infrastructure as long as the terms are reasonable for the country.

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