Rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994 levels and regained its ability to attract private and external investment. GDP has rebounded with an average annual growth of 7.0-8.0 per cent. since 2003 and inflation has been reduced to single digits. Rwanda's nominal GDP per capita was US$519.0 in 2009, US$540.5 in 2010 (an increase of 4.2 per cent.), US$593.0 in 2011 (an increase of 9.8 per cent.) and US$644.0 in 2012 (an increase of 8.6 per cent.). Rwanda's economy is dominated by subsistence agriculture, which was employing approximately 73.0 per cent. of the workforce as of the end of 2012 and is estimated to have accounted for 33.0 per cent. of GDP in nominal terms in the year. Rwanda's export agriculture is dominated by traditional export products such as coffee and tea, which represented approximately 21.8 per cent. of total export earnings in 2012.
Domestic Public Debt
Domestic public debt (including the Government and the National Bank of Rwanda) was US$481.0 million (6.8 per cent. of real GDP) at the end of 2012, compared to US$462 million (7.3 per cent. of real GDP) at the end of 2011, and US$486 million (8.9 per cent. of real GDP) at the end of 2010. Out of total domestic debt, 3.8 per cent. of real GDP were short-term maturities at the end of 2012. 38.5 per cent. of local currency debt in 2012 was held by the NBR and the remainder was held by the domestic banking sector and the non-bank sector. Domestic debt consists of treasury bills and treasury bonds, and is mostly short and medium-term.
External Public Debt
Rwanda's Government external debt was US$1,171.0 million (16.5 per cent. of real GDP) at the end of 2012, compared to US$1,135 million (18.0 per cent. of real GDP) at the end of 2011, and US$799 million (14.6 per cent. of real GDP) at the end of 2010. At the end of 2012, multilateral creditors held more than 84.0 per cent. of all Government external debt, with the key share held by the International Development Association (IDA) and Africa Development Bank Group (ADB) for a combined 73.8 per cent.
