Donors applaud 1st semester economic performance

Rwanda has made remarkable progress in implementing its national development strategy- the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction (EDPRS) in the first six months of this year, a cross section of development partners have said. The donors include; African Development Bank, Belgium, European Commission, Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the World Bank. “Regarding our assessment we came jointly to the conclusion that- we have seen good progress during the first half of the year. We have seen sound macro –economic management in difficult times internationally putting into consideration the on-going global financial crisis,” said Dr. Heike Henn, the head of German Development Cooperation on behalf of the development partners. He was addressing a press briefing on Thursday at the end of the three day joint review meeting between the development partners and government at the Ministry of Finance. Henn commended progress made in fast tracking 9 year basic education, providing immunization services country wide and improving the business environment referring to Rwanda’s ranking as a top reformer by the World Bank “Doing Business” Report this year. “This is a very important sign that the whole population sees some progress especially in the rural areas. We suppose that this will have an impact on poverty reduction in Rwanda and this is really appreciated, because this is the rationale for us as budget support partners,” she said. Henn also noted that Aid to the country through budget support has not been and will not be negatively affected by the global financial crisis. “We give firm commitments to government ahead of the fiscal year to come,” she said. Six weeks after this review development partners will make commitments for next fiscal year in mid December. Specifically the development partners were impressed by the strong performance of the economic cluster in particular private sector development. Despite the impact of the global financial crisis the economic cluster registered an impressive 78 percent target in this year’s EDPRS report. The strong performance of the agricultural sector was also commended as it led to relatively high growth figures in the first semester. The good performance of the agricultural sector propelled 9 percent economic growth recorded in the first semester of this year. “It has been a culture to have an open discussion with our development partners, this spirit should continue because we have reaped much from it,” said James Musoni, the Finance Minister on behalf of government. “This has helped government implement its medium term economic development strategy.” he said. Ends

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Donors applaud 1st semester economic performance