Rwanda’s economic growth slows to 5.4 pct in Q2

KIGALI, Capital Markets in Africa: Rwanda’s economy grew by 5.4 percent in the second quarter of the year, down from an expansion of 7.2 percent in the same period last year, the statistics office said on Tuesday.

The country has had a stellar run in recent years, posting faster growth than other East African economies, but it has been curbed by a weakening of the currency this year, after imports surged.

Yusuf Murangwa, the director general of the statistics office, attributed the slower growth to a drop in farm produce exports, a fall in mining output and a 6 percent contraction in the construction sector.

“Those three factors are the ones that accumulatively reduced the speed of growth from what we have been seeing around 7 per cent, 6 percent,” he told a news conference.

The Rwandan franc has depreciated 7 percent against the dollar this year.

 Source: Reuters Africa News