Kagame’s Rwanda Drowning In Debt — Kigali Convention Center And RwandAir Have Pushed Debt to 50% Of GDP

Rwanda’s ANNUAL ECONOMIC REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2017/2018 issued in January 2019 indicates that the public debt has risen to RWF3.9 trillion (US$4.4 billion) or 50% of GDP. There is more bad news. Although cheap concessional loans provided by multilateral lenders such as the World Bank still constitute the bulk of public debt, commercial loans have increased sharply. The commercial loans were acquired for building the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), as well as loans and leases contracted by RwandAir. As these loans mature, principal and interest payments become an issue. Already, serving debts has become a headache. The government admits that some of the domestic debts ”have been rolled over due to the cash flow needs.” Welcome to Kagame’s Banana Republic.