"We want to go back to the high growth of 8 percent," he told Reuters, citing last year's third quarter growth, which was 8 percent. "We are coming out of the woods."The International Monetary Fund said last November it expected Rwanda to grow by around 6-7 percent this year. Gatete said exports jumped 43.7 percent in the first 11 months of last year, while imports declined 1.4 percent, leading to a 21.3 percent reduction of the trade deficit. "There is a trend ... We are seeing the economy going the right direction," he said. Tax collection improved by 14.8 percent to 582.7 billion francs ($694.41 million) in the second half of last year, the revenue authority said on Wednesday.-REUTERS
Growing exports to help Rwanda regain higher growth rate: finance minister
By Respect Gwenzi, Feb 02, 2018
Rising exports are expected to help Rwanda's economy to soon expand by its long term annual average of about 8 percent, its finance minister said on Wednesday.
Claver Gatete said the economy had expanded by an average of 8 percent per year since 2000, but it had dipped to an estimated 5.2 percent last year due to sluggish growth in the construction sector and other challenges.
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