RWANDA is maintaining its economic growth projection for this year and it expects earnings from exports to rise 24 percent to $240 million, its finance and economic planning minister said on Friday.

John Rwangombwa said the coffee producing nation, due for a presidential election on August 9, will grow by 7.6 percent despite concerns about the momentum of global rebound.

"There has been some better projections of our economic growth from the IMF but it is not that big. Our projection is still 7.6 percent. We have challenges within the Euro zone but that doesn’t affect the entire economic outlook,” he said.

The International Monetary Fund expects Rwanda growth to average 6 percent every year in the medium-term.
The minister cited a robust export performance this year for his optimism.

"We are projecting 25 percent increase in export earnings to reach $240 million in 2010. Up to the end of June 2010 the increase in export earnings is about 15 percent higher than in the same period in 2009,” he said.

"Increased exports of tea are leading the way.”
Coffee and tea brought in $85 million last year, accounting for nearly half of all export proceeds.  

The landlocked nation is rebuilding the economy, after the 1994 genocide of Tutsi, through focusing on tea, coffee, financial services, energy, and transport and telecommunications.

The nascent mining sector was still struggling after it declined 40 percent last year as a result of the global financial crisis that led to lower international prices of minerals.

"We are seeing a better performance in tin, but wolfram and coltan are still stagnant. Tin has a performance of 13 percent in the last six months. But we project a growth of 20 percent by the end of 2010 and we think that is still achievable,” he said.

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