Rwanda Stock Market Commentary – Week Ending August 23, 2013

This week’s RSE turnover was RWF 172.9m (previously 1.4bn). Bank of Kigali price closed up 1.1% at RWF 185, on value traded of RWF 118m (previously RWF 5.8m). Bralirwa’s price closed down 3.4% at RWF 860. BK was the bulk of market activity in the week with the contribution of 70% on the market turnover). The Rwanda Share Index closed down 2.4% at 222.23 from 227.77 last week.

Official information indicates that combined, the 12 insurance firms posted 26% profit growth during 1H13 from RWF 12bn to RWF 16bn largely driven by a good regulatory and legal framework. The diversification of business has greatly contributed to strong liquidity of the insurance sector. A recent monetary policy and financial stability statement highlighting the state of the economy, delivered by the National Bank of Rwanda, reports the liquidity ratio of the insurance industry has hit 350%. Personal insurance products including life, health and personal accidents have largely contributed to this growth that has been registered during 1H13. During the same period, the underwriting business also peaked, registering a 21% increase in profits from RWF 6bn in June 2012 and before settling at RWF 8bn in June this year. The total assets of the Rwandan insurance sector reached RWF 222bn, from RWF 176bn.

The government has signed strategic financing agreements with its European partners Sweden and Netherlands, which will be injected into specified development projects. Among the agreements signed included a grant of EUR 44.9m (about RWF 37.6bn) from the Kingdom of Netherlands, as well as USD 8.6m (about RWF 5.6bn) from the Swedish government. The officials in the Dutch cooperation reported that a large portion of the grant will support government’s programmes that emphasize infrastructural and economic growth at district level, while EUR 8.9m will support the Lake Kivu monitoring programme. The justice sector will also be allocated EUR 1m from the funds. Funds from the Swedish government will be channelled through the National University of Rwanda to support domestic research geared towards improving livelihoods. The Ministry for Finance reported the finance implementation will cover three years up to 2016, focusing on facilitating all districts in the country with technical and financial support to develop and maintain their infrastructure in accordance with rural transformation objectives.

Source : http://www.rwandaeye.com/featured/2829/rwanda-stock-market-commentary-week-ending-august-23-2013/

Rwanda Stock Market Commentary – Week Ending August 23, 2013