IMF: Rwanda economy to grow by 7.8% in 2019

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday highlighted key targets and structural reforms they believe will support Rwanda’s growth projections in the medium term.

The announcement came following the conclusion of a two-week mission of the Fund’s team to Rwanda, which aimed at helping the country lay out a new three-year economic programme to support growth plans.

The delegation projected Rwanda’s economic growth at 7.8 per cent in 2019.

According to Laure Redifer, who led the mission to Rwanda, there were about four pillars laid down jointly by the team and the Government that will enable Rwanda achieve its growth plans.

“We have reached agreement with the Rwandan Government and Central Bank. We reached a preliminary agreement that we hope will support implementation of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST) while maintaining macroeconomic stability,” she told the media in Kigali.

She highlighted, among other pillars, a medium-term fiscal path that allows for more spending to reach the NST goals while maintaining public debt at a sustainable level.

The team also highlighted another aspect of the programme that is critical – the mobilisation of domestic resources to support development goals, including broadening tax base and strengthening tax compliance.

Redifer also spoke of the need to further enhance fiscal transparency (publication of information on how governments raise, spend, and manage public resources), as well as supporting the implementation of central bank’s new forward-looking monetary policy operational framework, including through development of financial markets.

This year, the National Bank of Rwanda started implementing a new monetary policy framework, the price-based monetary policy, and the bank said this would promote interbank market and other economic activities.

New Times