Recovery after the genocide

In 1994 the genocide against the Tutsi, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed, destroyed much of Rwanda's population, institutions and productive capacity, and real GDP fell by around half in that year. The National Bank of Rwanda, working with the IMF and donors, helped rebuild the financial system, bring down inflation, which fell to low single digits after 1995, and stabilise the Rwandan franc, while aid funded much of the budget in the late 1990s. Growth then averaged about 8 percent a year from the early 2000s, helped by public investment, services and agricultural reform. The central bank moved toward a market-determined exchange rate and, from the 2010s, adopted a framework in which monetary policy aims at price stability. The 1994 collapse and subsequent catch-up explain the extreme swings at the start of Rwanda's output series.