The National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) has banned the unauthorised use of foreign currencies—including the US Dollar —in local transactions, as part of renewed efforts to stabilise the Rwandan franc (RWF), according to agency reports.
Under a new law—Regulation No. 89/2025—published in the Official Gazette on May 30, 2025, the bank has rolled out a framework that imposes financial sanctions on businesses and individuals who conduct transactions, price goods, or reference foreign currencies in Rwanda without its prior approval.
According to a public notice by the bank Governor Soraya M. Hakuziyaremye targets are both direct and indirect use of foreign currencies in Rwanda’s domestic economy.
The Rwandan franc has been under pressure from stronger currencies such as the US dollar, Kenyan shilling, and Ugandan shilling for sometime now.
The move mirrors similar actions in Tanzania, where a ban on foreign currencies—even among tourists—helped the Tanzanian shilling recover from one of the worst-performing to one of the strongest African currencies as of June 2025.
The new directive applies to businesses quoting prices foreign currencies, issuance of invoices in foreign currencies to local customers and use of foreign currency references during price negotiations.
It also applied to online listings, advertisements, or verbal mentions of foreign currency values targeted at Rwandan residents.
Exemptions exist for sectors dealing primarily with non-residents, such as hotels, casinos, duty-free shops, international schools, and tourism agencies, as well as imports and exports. Even then, transactions must follow NBR’s licensing guidelines.
The Steep Penalties for Non-Compliance include hefty fines of RWF 5 million for a first offence of pricing in foreign currency without authorisation, RWF 10 million for subsequent offences, and 50% of the transaction value for unauthorised foreign currency transactions on first offence.
Other penalties are 100% of the transaction value for repeat offenders, 50% of the total auctioned amount for illegal participation in foreign currency auctions.
The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) will support the enforcement of these penalties.
