Country says eyeing $200M worth of short-term facility from IMF

Pulse Staff 06:12 - 09 June 2016

A photographer takes pictures through a glass carrying the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo during a news conference in Bucharest, file.

"The IMF facility is actually to help us not going into problems and that facility is $200 million," Finance Minister Claver Gatere said at a post-budget press briefing in the capital Kigali.

Rwanda said on Wednesday it had asked the International Monetary Fund to offer it a short term facility worth $200 million to help fend off foreign exchange risks in case the country's reserves dwindled.

The central African state has previously said it had approached the IMF for help but had not revealed the amount involved.

Gatere said Rwandan authorities expected the IMF to announce a decision on their request "tonight" (Wednesday).

In the budget speech, Gatere said Rwanda's overall expenditure in 2016/17 fiscal year would rise to 1.95 trillion francs ($2.60 billion) from 1.81 trillion francs in the year ending this June.