Rwanda Parliament Ratifies €17 Million IDA Loan for Digital ID, Data Hub and Cybersecurity
数字加速项目由世界银行和亚洲基础设施投资银行共同出资：2021年IDA承诺出资1亿美元，亚投行提供同等金额。项目完成期限已延长至2028年6月。据Ecofin报道，卢旺达迄今已推出或改进了258项数字公共服务。Rwanda's Parliament has ratified €17 million (about $19 million, or roughly Rwf24 billion) in financing from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) to support the Rwanda Digital Acceleration Project (RDAP), according to Taarifa and Biometric Update. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning announced the ratification on October 8; the loan agreement was signed in Kigali on July 11.
The financing will support a smart digital identity system, a government Data Hub, and cybersecurity and data-protection mechanisms. Minister of State for National Treasury Godfrey Kabera told lawmakers the additional funds would fill a financing gap caused by an earlier reduction in project funding: in 2024, the government repurposed about $20 million from IDA funding to support other operations, under an agreement with the World Bank. "Our focus remains on ensuring that financing is directed towards priorities that strengthen institutions, improve service delivery and support inclusive economic transformation," Kabera said.
Kabera said the digital ID rollout and the digitization of the civil registration and vital statistics system are 76 percent and 89 percent complete, respectively. On October 4, the National Identification Agency said nationwide biometric enrollment had covered all districts, with about 13.7 million individuals enrolled.
RDAP is cofinanced by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; in 2021, IDA committed $100 million and the AIIB provided an equivalent amount. The project completion deadline has been extended to June 2028. According to Ecofin, Rwanda has already introduced or improved 258 digital public services.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于基加利基米胡拉的卢旺达议会大厦。摄影：Emmanuelkwizera，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权，来源：Wikimedia Commons
