Central Bank Governor John Rwangombwa, deputy governor Monique Nsanzabaganwa and BNR chief economist Thomas Kigabo address media in Kigali on May 6, 2019.
Kigali: The National Bank of Rwanda on Monday announced the decision by the Monetary policy committee (MPC) to cut the Central Bank Rate (CBR) by 50 basis points (from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent) to sustain growing domestic demand, as the economic performance remains consistent with the projection of 7.8 percent growth in 2019.
The decision followed an observation by MPC that the domestic demand continued to improve in the first quarter of 2019, supported by growing credit to the private sector, with a low inflation environment.
The Bank noted that the outstanding credit to private sector and new authorised loans increased at a higher pace, growing at 16.2 percent and 24.9 percent in 2019Q1 respectively, from 7.3 percent and 7.4 percent recorded in 2018Q1. The trend is expected to continue through 2019, supported by the more accommodative policy stance.
According to the Central Bank’s figures, Rwanda’s good economic performance is expected to continue in 2019. The composite index of economic activities points to sustained good economic performance in 2019Q1, consistent with projection of 7.8 percent growth in 2019. The Real GDP grew by 8.6 percent in 2018, resulting from the good performance in agriculture (6 percent), service (9 percent), and industry (10 percent) sectors. (End)