KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's central bank lowered its repo rate on Tuesday to 6 percent from 6.25 percent, the bank's governor said. John Rwangombwa told a news conference the move followed "trends in inflation that is reducing, less pressure on exchange rates and positive performance in the monetary aggregates." He said inflation was expected to stand between 5.5 and 6 percent by the end of the year, lower than the 7 percent the bank had forecast in March. The bank said non-performing loans in the banking sector increased to 8.1 percent from 6.2 percent in March last year and attributed this to poor project implementation and low appraisal of loan applications. Rwangombwa said the decision would encourage lenders to further support the private sector. (Reporting by Clement Uwiringiyimana; Writing by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Janet Lawrence)