Home Business & TechEconomy Rwanda Registers 10.6% GDP Growth

Rwanda Registers 10.6% GDP Growth

by Dan Ngabonziza
5:12 pm

Rwanda has adopted Irrigation to improve agriculture production and food security. Agriculture contributed 2.4 points to the GDP Growth Rate

Rwanda’s economy registered Growth Domestic Product increase of 10.6% in the first quarter of 2018, with services sector growth of 12%, National Institute of Rwanda announced on Monday.

The increase was calculated based on the 2014 prices which showed higher growth in real terms compared to the same quarter of 2017.

“This is our second consecutive double digit growth. We registered 10.5% growth in the fourth quarter of 2017. Going forward we hope to keep the momentum,” Finance and Economic Planning Minister Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana said this afternoon.

The GDP growth has been triggered by services sector which grew by 12%, Agriculture which grew by 8% and Industry which grew by 7%, according to Yusuf Murangwa, Director General of National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR).

In the first quarter of 2018, said Murangwa, GDP at current market prices was estimated to be Rwf1, 985 billion, up from Rrw1, 816 billion in Q1 2017.

Announcing the results this afternoon at Finance Ministry headquarters, Murangwa told journalists that Services sector contributed 47% of GDP while agriculture sector contributed 31% to the GDP.

Industry sector contributed 15% to the GDP while 7% growth was attributed to adjustment for taxes and subsidies on products.

In the same quarter, Agriculture – the backbone of country’s economy which employs more than 85% of Rwanda’s 11.3 million population increased by 8 percent and contributed 2.4 percentage points to the overall GDP growth rate.

The growth was due to increase in food crops by 6% due to good harvest of Season A of 2018 compared to the growth of 4% realized in same season of 2017.

Meanwhile, locally made products such as textile and leather products increased by 24%, while chemicals, rubber and plastics grew by 8% but beverages and tobacco products decreased by 2%.

On another hand, manufacturing activities increased by 7% boosted mainly by an increase of 9% in food processing activities.

Construction activities covered the gap created by the phase out of big projects in 2015 and 2016. They grew by 8%.

Meanwhile, other contributors to the GDP growth include wholesale and retail trade which increased by 26% due to an increase of traded agricultural and manufactured products, transport services by 28%, Information and Communication by 24%.