Rwanda has secured €213 million ($251 million) financing through a 15- year, low-cost commercial loan from French multinational lender Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank.

 

This underscores Kigali’s shift to long-term concessional financing to manage the refinancing risks of its public debt, which surged 15 percent to $11.19 billion by June 2025.

The funds will be used to finance the government’s infrastructure projects and budget support.

The transaction builds on the country's established record in blended finance, with hopes of achieving low-cost debt, smooth repayment profile and enhanced access to stable sources of funding.“This landmark financing demonstrates Rwanda’s unwavering commitment to innovative and prudent debt management. Blend finance is at the heart of our borrowing strategy, enabling us to secure long-term funding at an exceptionally competitive cost, while maintaining a smooth repayment profile and safeguarding our debt sustainability,” Rwanda’s Finance minister Yusuf Murangwa said in a statement dated April 14, 2026.“The layered guarantee structure—combining IDA and Miga instruments through the World Bank Guarantee Platform— is a testament to the strength of our partnership with the World Bank Group and a model for future transactions.”A blended finance solution is the strategic use of development finance (grants, concessional loans) to de-risk projects and mobilise private commercial capital for sustainable development, particularly in emerging markets. It enables high-risk projects—such as infrastructure, climate mitigation, or health—to become bankable by balancing risk-return profiles.

In 2024, Rwanda closed its inaugural blended finance transaction of €200 million ($235 million) ESG loan backed by a partial credit guarantee from the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) group.

As of June 2025, Rwanda's total public debt increased to $11.19 billion equivalent to 74.8 percent of the GDP from $9.75 billion (69.6 percent of GDP) in June 2024, according to figures from Rwanda's Ministry of Finance.

Rwanda is pursuing a debt management plan that seeks to ensure that the government's financing needs and obligations are met with low borrowing costs in the medium term and ensuring that the fiscal consolidation path yields a debt-to-GDP ratio of 65 percent by 2031.

This is by maximising concessional and semi-concessional debt to reduce costs and refinancing risks. "Recent conflict de-escalation has reduced near-term uncertainty over access to concessional financing, although the risk of increased diplomatic pressure remains,” the agency said in report dated March 13, 2026.

Fitch estimates official external loan commitments at nearly $1 billion a year (5.5 percent of GDP) in the 2026/2027 fiscal year supporting budget and balance-of-payments financing, with 89 percent of public external debt concessional.

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