Rwandan economy grew 6.1 percent last year

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's economy grew 6.1 percent last year, accelerating slightly from 5.9 percent in 2016, boosted by better performances in agriculture and other sectors, the statistics office said on Tuesday. In a statement, the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) said there was a good harvest of food crops last year which helped the agricultural sector to expand by 7 percent from the previous year. NISR said there was also a surge in production of mining and quarrying products, especially coltan and cassiterite. The manufacturing sector too recorded healthy activity as output of cereals, textiles, clothes and leather products increased. (Reporting by Clement Uwiringiyimana; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Catherine Evans)