A juice production line at Inyange Industries, one of the many beverages makers in the country (Courtesy photo)
Rwanda’s total production grew by more than 23pct in third quarter of last year compared to quarter 1 – adding more than Rwf 1.2trillion to the country’s GDP in three months, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics.
By end of Q1 of 2013, Rwanda’s GDP had reached Rwf 5.4trillion ($8.7bn), but by end of the Q3, the economy was Rwf 6.7trillion. At current rate of the dollar rate, the new GDP figures translate to more than US$10billion.
The data is published in the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product bulletin released on Tuesday. It shows that in Q3 alone, the economy added Rwf1.25trillion worth of production.
The service sector remains the biggest contributor to economic growth. It contributed 43 percent of GDP compared to 33 percent by the Agriculture sector. The remainder or 16 percent was attributable to the Industry sector and 6 percent as adjustment, the data shows.
In the year 2000, Rwanda’s GDP was at Rwf 1.066trillion. Nine years later, it had grown to Rwf 2.99 trillion. In the 2010-11 period, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics, the country’s production capacity reached Rwf 3.9 trillion (approx. US$5.5billion).
GDP is the total value of the goods and services produced by all sectors of the economy; agriculture, manufacturing, energy, construction, the service sector and government. This means that when you compared Rwanda’s economy 13 years ago to today, it has expended more than 600 percent.