Rwanda's economy to grow 6.5 percent in 2018: central bank

Good climate conditions are expected to help Rwanda’s economy grow 6.5 percent this year, up from a projected 5.2 percent last year, the central bank governor said on Tuesday.

John Rwangombwa while presenting a monetary policy and financial stability statement said the country this year expect to perform much better than last year.

For Rwanda, we project growth of 6.5 percent,” he said .

“In Rwanda we all see better climate conditions this year that will impact positively on our economic performance,” he said.

At least 70 percent of Rwandans are farmers, the national statistics body says, growing crops like maize and vegetables for local use and tea and coffee for export.

The central bank said inflation is expected to be around 5.0 percent in 2018, slightly up from 4.9 percent last year.

Rwangombwa said that the east African nation was still collating figures, but would most likely hit or surpass predicted 5.2 percent growth for 2017.