Rwanda recorded a 3.6% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2020, according to the National Institute of Statistics (RNIS).
The RNIS said on Friday evening that the growth was considered a decline and is blamed on #COVID-19.
Compared to 9.4% growth in 2019 of the same period, the results for 2020, at current market prices was estimated to be Frw 2.5 trillion, up from Frw 2.2 trillion in Q1 2019.
In this quarter, the services sector contributed 48% of GDP, agriculture sector contributed 25% of the GDP, the industrial sector contributed 19% of the GDP, and 8% was attributed to adjustment for taxes and subsidies on products.
Growth rate by kind of activity
In this quarter, estimates calculated in 2017 prices show that GDP was 3.6 percent higher compared to the same quarter of 2019.
Agriculture
Agriculture decreased by 1% and reduced 0.1 percentage points to overall GDP growth. Within agriculture, food crop production decreased by 2%. Export crops decreased by 16% mainly due to a decrease of 38% in the production of Coffee. On the other hand, tea production increased by 21%.
Industry
Industry growth was 2% and contributed 0.3 percentage points to GDP growth. The main contributors in the industry sector were Construction activities which grew by 5% and Manufacturing activities which grew by 6%. Mining and Quarrying activities however decreased by 26%.
Manufacturing activities grew by 6%, due to an increase of 11% in food processing; 11% in textiles, clothing & leather and 5% in the production of chemicals and plastic products boosted by the increase in the production of soaps and other cleaning products. However, Wood & paper printing and Nonmetallic mineral products declined by 11% and 6% respectively.
Services
The service sector grew by 6 percent and contributed 2.6 percentage points to overall GDP growth. The growth in Services sector is due to an increase of 11% in wholesale & retails trade activities of locally made and imported products, 34% in Information & communication services, 14% increase in public administration and defense, 32% increase in human health and social work activities, 3% increase in hotel and restaurant services and 1% increase in administrative and support services. On the other side, professional, scientific, and technical activities decreased by 1%, and education decreased by 4%.
Taarifa
20/06/2020
