Rwanda’s gross domestic product grew by 3.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 buoyed by manufacturing and industry sectors, the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) has said.

This is the first time the economy has recorded a positive growth rate since the first quarter of last year when the first coronavirus case was reported in the country.

Due to the economic hardships that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy slumped to -12.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, moved to -3.6 per cent in the third quarter and -0.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2020.

But in the first quarter of 2021, the national GDP reached Rwf2,579 billion from Rwf2,410 billion in quarter one of 2020.

The services sector which contributed 46 per cent of the GDP, agriculture 27 per cent, industry 20 per cent whereas 8 per cent was attributed to the adjustment for taxes as well as subsidies on products.

Concerning sector growth, statistics body said that industrial activities grew by 10 per cent and contributed 1.7 percentage points to GDP growth.

Growth of the industry sector was driven by construction which grew by 14 per cent and manufacturing which grew by 8 per cent.

The agriculture sector grew by 7 per cent and contributed 1.7 percentage points to the overall GDP growth.

Both the production of exports and food crops rose by 7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the service sector maintained its pace mainly due to the suspension of some services or reduction of others.

 For example, hotel and restaurant services decreased by 34 per cent as their operations have been mostly hit by Covid-19.

The development comes after different economic recovery strategies were rolled out by the government to revive businesses worst hit by Covid-19.