Rwanda's Economy Expected to Grow Over 6% in 2015, Reports KT Press

    KIGALI, RWANDA, March 12, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Rwanda's economy is expected to surpass the projected economic growth of 6% this year, the central bank said.

The surplus projection is a result of the global economic recovery, mainly caused by the decline in fuel prices.

"The composite index of economic activities increased by 12.5% in the 4th quarter of last year, compared to 2.9% in the same quarter of 2014," said central banks Governor, John Rwangombwa.

While unveiling the country's monetary policy on Tuesday morning, Rwangombwa said the economy remained steady in 2014, with the real GDP standing firm at 7.8% in the 3rd quarter.

"This was mainly attributed by good performance in the service and industry sectors supported by accommodative monetary policy," he said.

The policy was implemented through financing of the financial sector to boost investment.

As a result, new authorized loans increased to 38.2%, up from 5.3% in 2013, representing Rwf652.9 billion and Rwf472.5 billion, respectively.

The increase in loan issuance has positively affected total turnovers from services and industry sectors, recording 15.1% growth in 2014 compared to 11.6% in 2013.

If fuel prices keep declining in global markets, Rwangombwa said, Rwanda's landlocked economy, largely dependent on imports, will grow much higher than projected.

Rwanda's exports volumes were hurt by low commodity prices in the global markets, pushing the country's trade deficit to 75%.

The deficit is largely caused by huge imports of electronics, light manufactured merchandise, petroleum products, fertilizers and construction materials.

Emmanuel Hategeka, Permanent Secretary for the Trade Ministry, told KT Press in November 2014, that the ministry is undertaking fundamental policy changes to reduce imports below 60% by 2020.

"We are hopeful to reduce expenditures on imports by at least 18% in the next 6 years," said Hategeka.

Rwanda's exports remain dominated by traditional products including coffee, tea and minerals such as tin, coltan, wolfram and cassiterite.

Mining contributed over $226m in export revenues in 2013 and the country plans to double the revenues by 2017.
Rwanda is now the world's single largest exporter of tantalum (coltan), which is only a small portion of the country's production capacity.

In 2013, Rwanda exported 2,466,025kgs of tantalum - accounting for 28% of total 8,807,232Kg of tantalum produced globally.

Total revenue from the coltan was $134.5M.

# # #