The Development Bank of Rwanda: Contributions and Challenges

The aim of the study is to provide an overview of the activities, contributions, and challenges of the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD). Specifically, it presents the political economy and institutional context, corporate governance arrangement, regulation and supervision, monitoring and evaluation, impact evaluation practices, business models, contributions and challenges, and financial performance of BRD. It shows that BRD operates within a strong governance structure and regulatory framework designed by the government of Rwanda and the central bank. Although the Bank is established in a fragmented political system with frequent political interventions, the Bank is praised for its professional independence. BRD commits to working with development partners and stakeholders to design programs in priority sectors in order to attract blended finance to support agriculture, energy, housing, and SME development. Despite the significant benefits reaped by the government, and the many contributions to the social and economic development of Rwanda, the Bank is faced with resource constraints and many project implementation challenges. BRD’s performance has increased due to its ability to effectively manage capital adequacy, its management efficiency, and internal liquidity coverage while the non-performing loan ratio of the Bank has reduced its profitability.