The rwanda Franc has hit a record low, with some commercial banks quoting it at 666.1/700.9 to the dollar. The francs problems started mid-July last year when it reached a low of 655/660 on July 21 last year. Dealers have attributed the local unit’s woes to high demand for greenback. This despite central bank saying late last year that pressure on the unit would ease after the Chrismas and New Year festive season.“We are an import economy, so we are competing for the little foreign exchange on the market,” explained Maurice Toroitich, the managing director of KCB Bank Rwanda.Toroitich also said the trend would reverse when the structure of the economy changes “because part of the imports is aimed at investment growth”.“Importation is big now because we need to invest, but after a certain period of time the imports will start to pay off,” he said.The euro also gained against the franc yesterday, with the commercial banks quoting it at average of 886.9/942.3 compared to 890.5/937.9 last Monday. The pound was down at 1,076.2/1,133.2 compared to 1,079.9/1,126.9.Florent Rwiranga, the acting head of treasury at Access Bank, also attributed the franc depreciation to the excessive demand over supply in the market which caused banks to buy the dollar at higher rates from the market.He, however, noted that the central bank was intervening twice a week to support the local currency.The local had depreciated by 5.7 per cent by mid-December last year, according to the central bank.
