Rwanda is increasingly looking to attract investment from its nationals living abroad, who last year remitted $166 million (Rwf 99.6 billion), outstripping the government’s target of $140 million (84 billion).

The growth of remittances has been sustained over the past three years even when other external revenue flows declined sharply, because of the global financial crisis, according to the Macro Economic and Financial Management Institute, which tracks remittance inflows.

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“In terms of remittances, we see a number of Rwandans bringing back money for different purposes among them investments,” the Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda Claver Gatete, told Rwanda Today.

“At the end of this year we expect remittances to be much higher,” said Mr Gatete.

The issue of remittances was the highlight of the recently concluded second edition of Rwanda Day in Boston, US, which is shaping up as the foremost rallying platform for Rwandans living in North America.

The day is slowly gaining economic and political significance among Rwandans. A number of critics of the Kigali government live in North America.

However, it is not known yet whether Rwanda Day will be celebrated in Europe or other regions of the world where Rwanda has sizeable diaspora communities.

President Paul Kagame who was the guest of honour at the Boston celebrations of Rwanda Day, addressed his countrymen in a speech that covered economics, politics, the opposition, and what he called international injustices against the country.

He said: “I am glad that many of you are here working hard to improve your lives and those of your families and relatives back home, either as students or workers in various sectors. I am pleased that you are doing a lot to champion Rwanda’s cause through your remittances and by speaking out for your country and through many other ways. “We should not allow anybody to define us; we have the ability, we have the desire and we have the right to define ourselves. We have made good progress in this direction and it should go on,” the president added.

President Kagame admitted that the country still faced many problems, and added that neither he nor Rwanda was perfect.

“The progress we have made has been without shortcuts, without lies. We don’t tell lies about the progress we make, about the fights we have every day to make that progress. And progress invites detractors,” he said, adding, “we are also ready to own up to our imperfections and to keep working at them to improve ourselves. That is how we understand ourselves.”

The president also spoke directly about the Agaciro Development Fund, the other agenda of the day, which was formed about a month ago after some of Rwanda’s development partners suspended aid following accusations that the country was supporting M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo.

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Agaciro has quickly become as a major fundraiser from nationals both within and outside the country.

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“It is called a fund but it is really something else, bigger than just a fund; it’s a mentality, it’s an attitude, it’s a determination, it’s saying: ‘No! We can soldier on, we can fight on to be where we want to be ultimately,’” the president said.

“So... we invite everyone, every Rwandan, every friend of Rwanda, to one way or another be associated with this. And it is more than a fund; it is that desire, for us Rwandans, to say ‘we will overcome these difficulties,’” he added.

Agaciro, which has no closing date, has so far collected Rwf 18 billion (about $29 million). Most of this has been raised internally but a sizeable contribution from Rwandans in North America is expected after the president’s speech on Rwanda Day.

Although the government has promised to use the money prudently and to prosecute anyone accused of embezzling, it has yet to give any clear indication on how and where it intends to spend the money.

READ: Rwanda sets up fund to raise domestic capital

The importance of Rwanda’s diaspora to the development of the country is underserved by plans by the central bank and the Ministry of Finance to work on a Diaspora Bond, which will be launched before the end of this year, to give Rwandans abroad the opportunity to invest in the country.

“Bond issuance designed and marketed to the Rwandan diaspora could help the country accelerate its development and raise untapped or unaggregated amounts on an annual basis,” Mr Gatete explained to Rwanda Today.

The Diaspora Bond, unlike those already on the market, will be a debt instrument issued by government, and will specifically target Rwandan investors living abroad.

Diaspora bonds are typically long term securities to be redeemed only upon maturity. They are basically used to attract foreign currency inflows into a developing economy.

The Diaspora Bond will be among four other bonds the government intends to issue in the future. After obtaining a Standard and Poor’s credit rating last year, Rwanda will be able to access international capital through a sovereign bond at favourable ratings.

In May 2010, the Bank of Kigali entered into a partnership with Rwandans living abroad through the Rwanda Convention Association to assist them to remit funds back home as a way of encouraging them to save and invest in their country. The initiative will allow Rwandans in the diaspora to open bank accounts back home online.