Igihe

Category: Business

  • Rwanda: 3rd Easiest Economy to Do Business in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Rwanda’s performance in the Doing Business Rankings in recent years has been exemplary, drawing attention from international observers and investors alike. Improvements have been made across the board.

    The 2013 World Bank Doing Business Report has ranked Rwanda 52nd out of 185 countries. In the overall performance, Rwanda is still the best performing country in the East African region as well as 3rd easiest place to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa (1st is Mauritius which ranks 19th globally, 2nd is South Africa which ranks 39th globally, 3rd is Rwanda which ranks 52nd globally, 4th is Botswana at 59th globally and 5th is Ghana which ranks 64th globally.

    A non-Sub-Saharan African country that also performed well was Tunisia at the 50th position globally.

    According to the survey; 185 Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high rank on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.

    The report, Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises found that from June 2011 to June 2012, 28 of 46 governments in Sub-Saharan Africa implemented at least one regulatory reform making it easier to do business-a total of 44 reforms.

    Rwanda particularly stands out as having consistently improved since 2005. A case study in this year’s report features Rwanda, which since 2005 has implemented 26 regulatory reforms (over half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s annual reforms) as recorded by Doing Business.

    Rwanda has been recognized for making improvements in two areas of regulations: Enforcing Contracts (39th) and Getting Electricity (49th).

    The country made enforcing contracts easier by implementing an electronic filing system for initial complaints whereas the country eased getting electricity by reducing the cost of obtaining a new connection by 30%. Rwanda’s ranking per indicator has improved.

    Looking at areas where Rwanda is still strong, the Starting a Business rank has remained the 8th easiest in the world, with Company registration taking only two procedures and the whole process of incorporation is concluded in just 6 hours. In ease of Paying Taxes, Rwanda is 25th easiest place globally.

    Rwanda recognizes that the momentum to reform should be maintained if not doubled and in particular where we have challenges.

    This is precisely why Rwanda managed to improve over the last ten years. Rwanda has moved from 150th in the 2008 report to now 52nd in the 2013 report with consistent reforms every single year.

    In comparison to her neighbors in the East African region, Rwanda still leads her partner states. Uganda is the second in EAC ranked at 120th globally, Kenya the third in EAC and ranked at 121st globally, Tanzania is fourth and ranked at 134th globally whereas Burundi comes fifth in EAC and ranked at 159th globally.

    Outside the EAC, but neighboring Rwanda is the DRC ranked at 181st globally.

    Beyond the Doing Business index, Rwanda’s performance is consistent with the World Economic Forum (WEF) Competitiveness index where for the second year running, Rwanda emerged among the top countries (3rd) in Sub-Sahara Africa.

    The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) is based on 12 indicators that include the strength of the economy, education and social welfare, innovation among others.

    The Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Kanimba Francois welcomed the report. “We have seen consistent improvement, both in competitiveness and ease of doing business. Rwanda continues to be one of the top places to invest in Africa,” he affirms.

    “For all these records, Rwanda’s performance in this year’s index is a sign of the country’s commitment to achieving its economic goals,” said Clare Akamanzi, the Chief Executive Officer at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

    “This demonstrates Rwanda’s commitment and consistency in its vision of economic development. We will work very hard to address remaining challenges to make Rwanda even more attractive as a business destination,” she added.

  • RwandAir Recieves New CRJ900 Jet

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    Rwandair has added to its fleet a brand new CRJ900 Bombadier aircraft. Now Rwandair owns seven planes.

    It arrived at Kigali International Airport October 22.

    The CRJ900 aircraft is the first of its kind to operate in the east and central Africa.

    RwandAir Chief Executive Officer, John Mirenge, says the new plane will concentrate on regional routes.

    “We want to increase our destinations and by the end of this year we shall be operating in South Sudan, Cameroon, Zambia and Zanzibar,” he said.

    in the next six years, the National Carrier targets to expand its fleet to 18 planes.

    Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva says, “The purpose of purchasing more planes is also to attract other airline companies.

    Besides, the number of passengers coming to Rwanda is increasing because of different destinations that RwandAir makes.”

  • Citadel Capital Voted Africa’s Leading Private Equity Firm

    Citadel Capital, the lead investor in Rift Valley Railway (RVR), has been voted Africa’s leading private equity firm for the fourth year in a row.

    The annual Private Equity International 300(PEI 300) ranked Citadel Capital top in Africa on the basis of the $3.5b it raised for investment projects on the continent between 2007 and 2012.

    The PEI 300 ranks similar equity funds globally and is in its sixth year.

    “Africa is long on opportunities but short on capital and management expertise. Since inception, we have focused on creating platform investments that offer solutions to pressing national challenges,” said Ahmed Heikal, the chairman of Citadel Capital.

    “With investments such as RVR of Kenya and Uganda and the Egyptian Refining Company, we are creating companies that will solve challenges and multiply trade flows.”

    Egyptian-based Citadel has raised and invested more than $4.9b in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa since its inception in 2004.

    It has recently completed the finanacing for a five-year turnaround programme at RVR worth more than $330m.

  • Rwanda, Tanzania Sign Deal to Boost Cross-Border Trade

    Rwanda and Tanzania have signed an agreement to boost cross border trade by eliminating trade barriers.

    The deal was signed on October 17 in Kigali by Rwanda’s trade and Industry minister François Kanimba and the deputy minister for Industry and Trade in Tanzania, Gregory Teu.

    The agreement marked the climax of a bilateral meeting on elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTB’s) and the promotion of cross-border trade between the two countries.

    Mr Kanimba observed that Rwanda and Tanzania were important trading partners with a firm commitment to increasing trade and cooperation.

    “I hope with these relations, Rwanda and Tanzania will cooperate to further increase small trader cross-border business,” he said.

    Kanimba added that the agreement will further help the two countries remove barriers to trade and create a favourable business environment to facilitate trade.

    “It is important to eliminate all reported trade barriers and refrain from introducing new ones in order to cut the high cost of doing business and take advantage of all the benefits of regional integration,” he said.

    According to statistics, Tanzania was Rwanda’s seventh largest trading partner in 2011, accounting for four per cent of Rwanda’s international trade and 17 per cent of regional trade.

    Teu said “We expect from this bilateral relations, our citizens from the two countries to trade among themselves easily,” he said, adding that the elimination of non-tariff barriers will reduce the costs of doing business between the two countries.

    The Executive Secretary of Rwanda Long Distance Truckers Association, Theodore Murenzi, said: “I am happy that the two countries have agreed to eliminate NTBs which have been affecting us, especially because we lose money and time along the corridor which impacts on our businesses.”

  • Rwandair Expecting New Planes

    National Carrier Rwandair will recieve two new planes on Monday adding to its fleet with two new aircrafts from Bombardier Aerospace of Canada.

    Following a handover ceremony held at Bombardier’s Mirabel, Québec facility, on Friday, CRJ900 NextGen regional jets will touch ground in Rwanda at Kigali International Airport.

    John Mirenge, Chief Executive Officer of RwandAir,says, “This means a lot to us. It is an addition of two brand new aircrafts that have been added to our existing fleet of five, making it seven in total.”

    “This will give us more capacity in terms of seats that we can offer to our customers and it opens up capacities for us to extend our reach into further destinations within the African continent.”

  • Nigeria’s Domestic Debt Hits US$39.5Billion

    The Nigerian Debt Management Office ( DMO) has disclosed that at end June this year, the nation’s External debt stood at US$6.035Billion and Domestic debt at US$39.456Billion.

    It added that of the US$6.035 billion foreign debt commitment, the Federal Government’s portfolio is US$3.820 billion, while the balance of US$2.214 billion was the portion being held by States representing 63.30% and 36.70% respectively with total debt / GDP Ration of 18.32% far below the 40% threshold approved for countries in Nigeria category.

    The Director-General of the Agency, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo revealed this October 18, when the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts visited the Agency on an oversight mission.

    Dr. Nwankwo added that the body had concluded the debt reconstruction exercise in all the 36 States of the Federation,including the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), aimed at ascertaining their debt commitments.

  • Google Shares Drop 9%

    Google suffered an embarrassing gaff when its third quarter financial results were accidentally released early, which ultimately led to its stock price falling by more than $60 a share Oct. 18 while the markets remained open.

    Times got a bit rocky for Google Oct. 18 as the search company announced that its third-quarter profit totaled $2.18 billion, down from $2.73 billion a year ago.

    However, that wasn’t the worst of it – Google also suffered an embarrassing early release of its third-quarter Form 8-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Web site, which meant the financial data was accidentally available four hours before the stock market was set to close.

    That accidental report release triggered an early selloff in Google shares, with share prices dropping by about 9 percent before the sale of shares were eventually halted, according to a report by Barron’s.

    Google’s third-quarter revenue for the period ending Sept. 30, 2012, totaled $11.33 billion, which is lower than the expectations of a survey of financial analysts, who expected revenue of $11.87 billion.

    In his opening remarks during the earnings call with analysts, Google CEO Larry Page said the early report at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time was accidentally caused by the company’s financial printer.

    “I’m sorry for the scramble early today,” said Page. “Our printers have said that they sent out the release just a bit early.”

    Google’s revenue for the third-quarter is listed by the company at $14.1 billion, which is before the deduction of traffic acquisition costs totaling $2.77 billion. Q3 revenue for the same period one year ago totaled $9.72 billion.

    This was Google’s second quarterly earnings report since acquiring its Motorola Mobility unit in May for $12.5 billion. In its second quarter earnings report this past July, Google posted revenue of $12.2 billion, which was a 35 percent year-over-year increase from 2011.

    “We had a strong quarter,” said Page. “Revenue was up 45 percent year-on-year, and we cleared our first $14 billion revenue quarter. Not bad for a teenager,” alluding to the 14 years since Google was incorporated.

  • Burundi Revenue Collection up by 9.1%

    Burundi has recorded a huge leap in revenue collection rising by 9.1% annually at US$257.5 million tax collection in the nine months to September.

    The anti Corruption efforts are paying off in a largely corrupt East African country.

    Burundi Revenue Authority says, “The tax base grew with a registration of 5,000 new contributors who were in the informal sector and who didn’t pay tax before.”

    Monthly tax revenues collected in September this year fell to 41 billion francs from 44.5 billion francs in September 2011.

    The board said this was due to the government’s decision to suspend tax on basic food imports to the landlocked central African country, to ease the impact of soaring prices of essential commodities.

    The decision came into effect in May and will last until the end of December.

    In order to plug a US$64 million revenue deficit on the current 2012 budget, the government has raised taxes on beer, liquors, mineral water and other beverages.

  • Trade Volumes Record Slight Drop

    The Rwanda Stock Exchange market October 16, slightly went down in traded volumes and turnover compared to yesterday’s trading session.

    The total turnover for the day was Rwf 21,702,600 from 115,900 BK shares and 15,100 BRALIRWA shares traded in fifteen deals compared to yesterday’s trading session which recorded a turnover of Rwf 24,504,000 from 136,400 BK shares and 15,400 Bralirwa shares traded in seven deals.

    BK shares traded at Rwf 130 and Rwf 131 and closed at Rwf 131, registering an increase of Rwf 1 compared to yesterday’s closing price while BRALIRWA shares traded between Rwf 435 and Rwf 440 and closed at Rwf 440; unchanged from yesterday’s closing price.

    KCB and NMG shares prices last transacted at Rwf 154 and Rwf 1,200 respectively.

    At the end of formal trading hours, there were outstanding bids of 1,000,000 BK shares at Rwf 130 and outstanding offers of 24,900 shares at Rwf 131 and Rwf 132.

    On Bralirwa counter, there were outstanding bids of 41,700 shares between Rwf 425 and Rwf 435 and no outstanding offers.

  • Rwanda, Uganda Traders Demand Frw1.6Billion From Kenya

    Rwanda and Uganda business communities are demanding compensation from the Kenyan Government of damage caused following the 2008 Post Election related violence.

    The two landlocked countries are demanding about Frw1.6 Billion as compensation for the destruction of their trucks and goods along the Northern Corridor (Nairobi-Eldoret-Kampala highway).

    They argue that it is four years since Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki promised to compensate them in a meeting held in January at Harambee House.

    The matter is threatening to disrupt harmonious relations between Kenya and the two greatest trade partners of Uganda and Rwanda, according to Kenyan Standard.

    Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) and Rwanda’s Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) have raised concern over the issue. Ugandan business community is planning to hold a peaceful demonstration in Kampala if the matter is not resolved by end of this month.

    “We express concern and fear that our people lost properties during the 2008 election violence in Kenya. It is part of this concern that Ugandan traders are now planning to divert their goods through the Dar es Salaam port for fear of election violence next year,” Kacita spokesman Issa Sekitto, said.

    “We want assurance from the Kenyan Government in the form of a compensatory note that the traders will be compensated by end of this month failure to which we shall mobilise our members to demonstrate at the Kenyan High Commission offices in Kampala.”

    In a letter written to President Kibaki and seen by the Standard, Rwanda’s Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) want the President to intervene and have them compensated before next year’s elections.

    “Your Excellency’s kind attention is drawn to January 29th 2012 at Harambee House where you issued a directive to the Deputy Prime Minister and former minister of Finance Uhuru Kenyatta and Minister of East Africa Community affairs Musa Sirma to settle the claims of the traders affected by the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya,” Bosco Rusagara, the then president of FEAFFA writes.

    “You are issued a two-week deadline to put closure to the long standing saga. The minutes of that meeting were considered and a resolution to the effect passed.”

    But East African Community Minister Musa Sirma said the matter is being looked into and assured the private sectors of both Uganda and Rwanda of an amicable resolution to the matter.

    “The Government under the then Trade Minister Chirau Mwakwere formed a committee which was later handed over to the Permanent Secretaries. The PS’ in turn are expected to prepare a cabinet memo for discussion and action. The matter is expected to be brought before the cabinet for a solution,” Sirma explained.