Rwanda’s economy grew by 9.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, largely buoyed by a strong rebound in strong performance of the agricultural sector.

The outlook is contained in the latest gross domestic product (GDP) update announced on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (NISR), and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

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While Rwanda’s services sector remains a key contributor to the country’s economic growth, increasing by 10 per cent in the first quarter alone, the agricultural performance has been on a downward trend in the previous two years. This is mainly attributed to effects such as climate change, and other factors related to geopolitical crises.

However, in the first quarter alone, the agricultural sector increased by 7 per cent contributing a total of 25 per cent to the overall GDP.

According to the latest report, in the first quarter of 2024, current market prices were estimated at Rwf4,486 billion, up from Rwf3,904 billion in the same period of 2023.

Yusuf Murangwa, the Minister of Finance maintained that Rwanda’s economy is projected to continue its upward trend, with the projection of 6.6 per cent growth in 2024 following a growth of 8.2 per cent realised in 2023.

"This growth is expected to be driven by a strong performance in the service and industrial sectors, alongside the recovery of the agriculture sector,” Murangwa told reporters.

"The overall performance of agriculture was 8 per cent. Within agriculture, Food crop production increased by 8 percent, mainly due to agriculture production season A of 2024," he said.

The export crop production saw no growth, remaining stagnant at 0 percent. Within export crops, the production of coffee decreased by 13 percent, and tea harvests increased by 21 percent.

Mining boosts industry performance

According to the latest figures, the overall growth of the industry was 10 percent.

The growth is attributed to good performance of mining and quarrying which increased by 22 percent, construction activities which increased by 16 percent, while manufacturing activities increased by 4 percent.

The growth in manufacturing was boosted by a 12 percent increase in the manufacturing of metal products, machinery, and equipment.

The manufacturing of wood and paper printing increased by 25 percent while the manufacturing of non-metallic minerals increased by 9 per cent.

"We continue to be optimistic about the growth in the economy, but there are also risks such as climate change and geopolitical crises that lead us to a conservatory approach,” Murangwa said reacting to this year’s projections.

Statistics indicate that private final consumption was 73 percent of GDP, while government consumption was 15 percent, and gross capital formation at 36 percent.

Also increased is the total final consumption expenditure by 23 percent, exports increased by 50 percent, imports increased by 123 percent, and gross capital formation increased by 77 percent.