Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) says that it will increase investor awareness about Export Growth Fund as it attempts to avert a slowdown in the uptake of the Fund. BRD also says that it will support exporters to improve their technical skills, especially in designing bankable projects as part of the efforts to help them tap from the Fund and bolster their exports. There has been little utilisation of funds by exporting firms, and BRD has attributed that to the lack of adequate capacity to develop viable and bankable business cases that can qualify for financing. Bank officials also admit there has been little awareness and education of the products offered under the facility, which is the reason why the new campaign seeks to address that. Under the campaign, the bank will step up efforts aimed at reaching out to exporters to show them the financing opportunities that the fund offers. It will equally provide expertise and skills training to commercial banks to develop tailor-made products for small and medium-sized businesses. So far, BRD says only 31 projects have directly benefited from the Fund since its establishment. Through the facility, 19 projects have benefitted from lines of credit extended to five commercial banks by BRD. The 31 export projects have been financed at a tune of Rwf5.4 billion and Rwf6 billion line of credit has been extended to partner commercial banks, since its operation in 2016. “We want to accelerate the rate at which the lines of credit we provide to commercial banks are utilised,” Benjamin Manzi, BRD’s Export Investments Senior Manager told the press on Wednesday. BRD partners with Equity Bank, Bank of Kigali, I&M Bank, Cogebanque and BPR Atlas Mara to provide access to affordable financing to their clients who are into export businesses. However, Lydie Nyombayire Murorunkwere, BPR’s head of institutional banking, said the utilisation of these funds has been low, citing limited awareness of exporters and lack of technical capacity, among other things. “As expressed by BRD, some businesses accessed the funding because they fulfilled the requirements, however others need support with technical expertise to access that funding,” she noted. BPR has only utilized Rwf500 million of the line of credit provided by BRD, since 2017. That is 80 per cent of the total they received, they say. The idea behind the new campaign is to facilitate more local business to access finance for export-related activities through domestic market recapturing. This is done by providing subsidized loans, grants, and working capital guarantee. Government generally wants to promote exports to offset a trade deficit, which stood at $767.9 million in the first six months of this year up from $601.4 million in the same period last 2018. The Export Growth Fund (EGF) was established by the Government to provide exporting firms or those that invest in export-related production with a facility to reduce the costs of finance. They want to sustain financing for more export businesses beyond agribusiness, which currently dominates the list of the beneficiaries. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
