Rwanda gets new $12m loan from OPEC

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), a financial arm of the petroleum group, has approved a supplementary $12million loan (about Rwf7.3billion) to the Government of Rwanda that will be used to expand electricity to rural Rwanda.

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) is an inter-governmental financial institution established by the 12 OPEC member states. The latest loan to Rwanda is only one among several others, and grants over the past years for infrastructure.

The Rwanda electricity project will also target extending the power grid to priority public institutions such as schools and health centers in urban and peri-urban areas. Densely populated rural areas presently unconnected to the grid will also be on the menu of the project. In total, about 310,000 households have access to electricity in Rwanda. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Water and Energy, about 14 percent of the country’s population currently has access to electricity. Government wants that up to more than 16 percent by 2015.

At the moment, there is a Tunisian company that has been extending the power grid to rural areas – mainly in the east.