Rwanda back on track after 2009 turbulence-ADB report

Rwanda’s economy made a quick rebound from the kind of economic turbulence and decline it experienced in 2009, a report by the Africa Development Bank (ADB) says. Dubbed “The African Economic Outlook 2011”, the report first launched in 2002 and now in its 10th edition, has over the years become the leading review of the state of African economy by looking at critical indicators. Despite saying that Africa in the last nine years experienced growth averaging nine percent, along with a considerable resilience to deep global economic crisis of 2008/2009, the report paints a rather gloomy future picture by saying that the continent is “marching into serious headwinds, notably caused by high food and fuel prices and political upheavals in a number of countries”. However, in a section of the huge report that is dedicated to assessing individual African countries, Rwanda is listed as being among countries with a high chance of withering the vitalities and aftereffects of the global financial crisis. The “Rwanda Country Note” that forms an assessment part of Rwanda’s economy, states that Rwanda’s economy made “a quick rebound in 2009”, a situation driven partly by what it termed as “the contagion effect of the global economic and financial crisis”. Part of the crisis involved a reduction of the demand for Rwandan exports as well as liquidity constraints faced by banks in its domestic economy. In addition, the report narrates how the country rebounded. It now estimates that Rwanda’s real GDP grew at 7.4 percent in 2010. “The main drivers of the recovery in Gross Domestic Product(GDP) for Rwanda are continued growth in agriculture, recovery in the services sector, particularly telephony, construction and the export sector”, the report states. See full details of the story in the Business section Ends

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Rwanda back on track after 2009 turbulence-ADB report