Rwanda’s GDP grows by 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018

Kigali, 18 September 2018 – Rwanda’s GDP at current market prices was estimated at Frw 2,000 billion in the second quarter of 2018, up from Frw 1,869 billion in Q2 2017, data released on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) show.

Rwanda’s GDP in the second quarter of 2018 was 6.7 percent higher compared to the second quarter of 2017. This growth was driven by Agriculture which grew by 6 percent, Industry by 10 percent and Services by 5 percent.

Agriculture contributed 1.8 percentage points to the overall GDP growth rate, industry contributed 1.7 percentage while services contributed 2.6 percentage.

The growth in agriculture is attributed to food crops and export crops which grew by 6 percent each and livestock which grew by 13 percent. The growth of food crops is attributed to harvest of Season A of 2018 while the increase in export crops is due to an increased production of coffee and tea by 13 percent and 16 percent respectively.

The growth in industry sector was mainly attributed to growth in manufacturing and construction activities of 12 percent and 11 percent respectively. Food processing increased by 19 percent mainly due to an increase of 32 percent in the processing of cereals and 6 percent in the processing of tea, coffee and sugar. Also, the production of textiles, clothes and leather goods increased by 13 percent while production of construction material such as metallic products increased by 37 percent.

The growth in service sector was due to growth of several activities including the wholesale and retail trade which increased by 11 percent and transport activities which increased by 13 percent boosted by air transport that increased by 17 percent. Information and Communication increased by 18 percent; Financial services increased by 7 percent while Public administration increased by 4 percent.

In the second quarter of 2018, total final consumption expenditure increased by 3 percent, with household final expenditures increasing by 4 percent. Exports increased by 5 percent while imports increased by 7 percent. Gross capital formation increased by 21 percent mainly due to imports of capital goods.

Fore more details about the growth in the second quarter of 2018, please follow this link