2011, the year of great achievements in Rwandas economic growth

 
The World Bank, in its 2011 report: ‘Resilience in the Face of Economic Adver­sity: Policies for Growth with Focus on Household Enterprises,’ said that Rwanda’s economy was projected to post a higher growth rate despite severe draught that hit the region, high fuel prices and the looming crisis in the Euro zone. Rwanda’s economy is expected to grow by 8.8%, well above the na­tional target of 7% and the highest in the east Africa. Rwanda’s 2011 growth will be stronger than forecast growth for all Sub-Saharan Africa countries, and greater than for the countries in the East Afri­can Community (EAC), the reports states.

Bigger economies such as Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have seen their growth forecasts lowered with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projecting Uganda’s growth at 5.5%, down from 6.5%. Kenya’s economy, the region’s largest, saw its growth forecast re­vised downwards by the IMF from 5.7% to 5.4% due to the effects of draught, rising oil and food prices.

Inflation in Kenya accelerated to 18.9% in October from 17.3 % in September. Uganda contin­ues to experience the highest inflation in the region, jump­ing to 30.5% in October (the highest since 1993) against the backdrop of alleged fiscal reck­less government spending that has seen the shilling lose value against the US dollar by about 19% since January.

Rwanda has however kept inflation at a single digit; rising to 7.6% in October and the development quickly moved the central bank into action to increase its loans rate to 7% from 6.5% in a bid to stop prices from rising. According to the World Bank report, Rwanda’s positive out­look has been helped by recov­ery in agricultural production that declined during the first half of the year due to poor rains. “Food production in 2011 increased by 10.6% higher than in 2010, due to plenti­ful rainfall, but also because of government’s concerted efforts to modernize the agricultural sector,” the report says.