Central bank sees growth at 7.6pc: Rwanda

KIGALI: Rwanda's economy may expand 7.6 percent in 2012 after 8.8 percent growth this year, the central bank governor said on Saturday, as the euro zone debt crisis, higher oil prices and a weaker dollar weigh, while inflation is likely to come to 7.5 percent.

Claver Gatete, whose central African country has benefited from single-digit inflation and a stabler currency than most of its struggling east African neighbours, also said he was looking at issuing 7- and 10-year bonds next year and a Eurobond in 2013.

"We are projecting economic growth of 7.6 percent by the end of 2012 and projecting annual inflation not to exceed 7.5 percent by end of 2012," Gatete told Reuters in an interview.

"We still have the euro zone crisis which is part of Rwanda's trade destination. We had the Arab uprising which had and still has an impact on oil prices and even the prevailing US deficit which is affecting the value of the dollar and many currencies of trade," he said.

The landlocked central African nation's structural reforms, such as regional specialisation of crops and increased use of fertiliser and irrigation as well as large investments in agriculture by the government, have boosted Rwanda's growth in 2011 to 8.8 percent.

Gatete said Rwanda plans to issue longer-term bonds, helping it fill out its yield curve.

"We have had a 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 5-years and next year a 7-year and 10-year bond," he said, adding that Rwanda also planned to issue a Eurobond in 2013, though he declined to give a size for the issues.

Gatete also said he was designing a 'Diaspora bond' so that Rwanda's many nationals living abroad can invest without competing with others on the market.

Copyright Reuters, 2011