From The New Times via  All Africa

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, expects to raise $22 million (about Rwf15 billion) when it issues its local currency-based bond on Rwanda Stock Exchange tomorrow.

Celestin Rwabukumba, the chief executive of Rwanda Stock Exchange, said funds raised from the bond issue are expected to continue financing developmental projects in Rwanda.

The move is expected to greatly boost government’s efforts to attract activity on the local exchange through diversified products and instruments.

There are currently three government bonds on the stock exchange and an eight-year corporate bond worth Rwf10 billion issued in 2010 by I&M Bank.

Sector analysts say the move by IFC is an effort to expand its Africa debt programme.

Bank of Kigali and Standard Bank Group Securities firms are handling the bond sale for IFC.

“We have so far received a considerable interest from investors, mainly domestic institutions. We expect the bond to be fully or oversubscribed by Thursday (tomorrow),” Lawson Naibo, the chief operations officer of Bank of Kigali, told The New Times yesterday.

He added that the bond was made available to institutional, retail and individual investors on Monday.

Read more at All Africa