Business round up

Economy to slow down to 7 percent in 2011 The country`s economic growth is expected to slow down to 7 percent this year, slightly below 7.4 percent registered last year.This will be as a result of the bad weather conditions affecting agriculture. According to Rwanda`s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, John Rwangombwa, the country`s slow growth in that sector is simply because the season that runs from September to March has lacked enough rain. He said that the rains for the season are not doing well hence the poor performance in the season. However, Rwangombwa told the press that government had put in place measures to invest heavily in the next season. While the sector expanded by 7.2 percent in 2010, it is projected to slow down to 6 percent this year. Egypt turmoil could affect Rwanda’s economy The political unrest between anti-government protesters and pro-government supporters in Egypt might affect Rwanda and the region as a whole.According to John Rwangombwa, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, the country expects inflation to go up from 0.23 percent in December 2010 to 5.9 percent December 2011. He attributes it to the big increase expected in oil prices due to the problems in the Arab world.While releasing preliminary economic data for last year, the Minister said that the country`s economy registered a 7.4 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year, slightly higher than earlier projection of 7.2 percent, after recovering from external and domestic shocks that hit the economy in the past two years. Roger Munyampenda, the Chief Executive Officer of the Private Sector Federation (PSF), said the political unrest in Egypt, if it goes on longer, will hurt the region’s import sector. He explained that direct suppliers or importers will be hurt... If the Suez Canal can’t operate, and there could be a major crisis at global level and the East African bloc will be affected Low call rates won’t hurt gov’t revenue-RURA Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency’s (RURA), Regis Gatarayiha, said that despite the slash of call tarrifs by telecom companies, the body will this year generate high revenues to boost the government taxable income. The official said that the combined total revenues from the three mobile operators have been consistently increasing every year. He said that this therefore meant that consolidated government’s revenue increases with the increase of combined operators’ revenues.Gatarayiha noted that in the regulator’s view the low calling tariffs translate into affordability to end users, which increases on the number of subscribers. According to him, the higher the combination of subscription and usage, the higher the revenues and therefore the higher the tax collected by the government. Tourism receipts up 14%Reports from the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) indicate that the country`s tourism receipts increased to US$ 200 million (Rwf118.4billion) in 2010, up 14 percent from 2009 with 666,000 tourists visiting the country. Rica Rwigamba, Head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB said that 2010 was a successful year for the tourism industry, which exceeded its target by 7 percent.She said that the launch of a canopy walk in Nyungwe National Park, “Kwita Izina” and FESPAD strongly contributed to the 14 percent year-on-year growth of the tourism industry. Rwigamba said that the unique interactive interpretation centre was unveiled in Nyungwe and is now operational adding that visitors to the park rose by 18 percent, where about 80 percent are visitors to the canopy walk. The canopy walk was launched last year to provide a cutting edge to visitors that experience the park from a new vantage point from above 50 meters above ground and is the first of its kind in Eastern Africa. Serena sees strong recovery hospitality industry Kigali Serena Hotel said that its room occupancy will rise by 13 percentage points from 65 percent, last year, to 78 percent, a clear sign of a strong recovery of the hospitality industry that registered slow growth last year. The Hotel’s Country Manager, Charles Muia, said that the global financial crises lead tourists to cut back their spending last year some thing he said affected the hotel industry in most African countries. Reports from RDB indicate that the tourism industry in the country is growing at a fast rate and the demand for hotel rooms far outstrips supply. The country will therefore need about 6, 000 hotel rooms by 2012 to accommodate the increasing number of tourists. BNR considers withdrawal of banks’ stimulus package The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) plans to withdraw the stimulus package that was extended to banks, nearly two years since the facility was put in place to boost private sector lending. Francois Kanimba, the central bank Governor said the Bank is reviewing possibilities of unwinding the stimulus package in the course of this year. The official said that there was no need for the stimulus package based on the level of liquidity in the baking systems. He added that the need for this facility has gone because the institutions have enough liquidity in operation.However, Kanimba could not specify when the facility will be scrapped. Manufacturers demand for stable tax laws Local manufacturers called for stable tax law saying that the frequent amendments to tax laws by Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) are undermining their business operations. Manufacturers expressed the concern while meeting RRA officials saying the problem has created misinterpretation of laws, the reason why RRA and some tax payers are involved in endless legal battles. Manufacturers said that whenever RRA officials meet them for taxation or auditing, there are always disagreements due to misinterpretations of some tax laws because of the perception of the previous laws. RRA officials said the amendments are always aimed at setting the best tax law structure for the country. Kenya’s Centum to trade shares in Rwanda Kenya’s Centum, the biggest publicly traded company in East Africa, plans to cross list its shares on the Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE). The company has started a secondary trading on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) When approved by the Capital Markets Advisory (CMAC), the cross listing will make Centum the third Kenyan company to have its shares traded on the Rwanda bourse after Kenya Commercial Bank and Nation Media Group (NMG). The company’s Chief Executive Officer, James Mworia, said that by investing in one share of Centum, you don’t have to invest in many sectors because Centum invests in a diversified area of ventures Ends