Rwanda’s economy grew by 8.2 percent to Rwf13,716 billion in 2022, up from Rwf10,930 billion in 2021.

This was announced during the launch of the country’s GDP in 2022 by the National Institute of Statistics (NISR), on March 16.

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Gross domestic product, or GDP, is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country, generally without double counting the intermediate goods and services used in the process of production.

The growth announced by the national statistical agency was mainly buoyed by the service sector which contributed 47 percent to total GDP, followed by agriculture with 25 percent and industry with 21 percent.

This, according to Yusuf Murangwa, Director General of NISR, is derived from 7.9 percent registered growth in the first quarter, 7.5 percent in the second quarter, 10 percent in the third quarter, and 7.3 percent the fourth quarter.

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In the services sector, hotel and restaurant services increased by 87 percent, transportation activities increased by 22 percent, technology and communication services by 20 percent, education by 17 percent, and tourism and retail by 14 percent.

In the industrial sector, output rose due to a 15% increase in mining and quarrying and an 11% increase in manufacturing output.

The output of the food processing industry increased by 13 percent, the output of the clothing and footwear processing industry increased by 21 percent, and the output of the metal processing industry increased by 7 percent.

Industrial production could have risen above this level but it was not the case due to the decline in construction activities which decreased by 6 percent.

Agriculture sector growth decreased by 1 percent due to poor production performance across all seasons for the lack of inputs and unfavorable weather conditions in the year.

On the other hand, private final consumption expenditure was 74 percent of GDP in 2022 while government final consumption expenditure was 17 percent. Gross capital formation was estimated at 24 percent of GDP.

In the year under review, imports of goods and services increased by 30 percent while exports of goods and services increased by 16 percent against an indicator of constant 2017 prices.

Minister of Finance and Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana, said the published figures are a general indicator of overall activities carried out during the year, and changes may be reflected depending on different measures taken.

"What a household sees is a reflection of different activities that took place. If we say that the industry has gone up or hotels have risen at the rate of 47 percent, when you go out and find that they are all full it means that the life there has been better compared to the times of Covid-19,” he explained.

The new GDP figures exceed the previously projected 6.9 percent growth, given the effects of high inflation felt on an individual level and across all sectors, globally.

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Amidst the economic challenges, the government put in place measures to tame it, by tweaking factors within its control such as providing subsidies, and using the monetary policy instrument of increasing the central bank rate.

Ndagijimana said that concerned institutions are carrying out studies that will review economic projections of 2023 upwards or downwards, depending on these GDP figures.