{"id":23974,"date":"2026-02-19T11:21:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T09:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/rwanda-hikes-policy-rate-after-inflation-rises-past-target-band\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:43","slug":"rwanda-hikes-policy-rate-after-inflation-rises-past-target-band","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rwanda-hikes-policy-rate-after-inflation-rises-past-target-band\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda hikes policy rate after inflation rises past target band"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda&#8217;s central bank hiked its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 7.25% this Thursday after inflation rose beyond its target band.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Inflation accelerated to 8.9% year on year in January from 8.0% in December. The central bank aims to keep inflation in a range of 2% to 8%.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The decision is a measured step we are taking to bring inflation back within the target band which is a necessary condition to sustain our economic growth,&#8221; Governor Soraya Hakuziyaremye told a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Monetary Policy Committee will continue to monitor inflation and economic developments and stands ready to adjust the policy if inflation pressures intensify beyond our projections.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hakuziyaremye said risks to the inflation outlook included lower agricultural output, persistent energy-related cost pressures and global and regional geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Based on the National Bank of Rwanda&#8217;s current forecasts, inflation will remain slightly above 8% in the first half of this year before returning towards the target band by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The East African country&#8217;s economy has been growing strongly, and its Finance Ministry projects annual growth will stay above 7% through to 2028.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22994,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-23974","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Rwanda's central bank hiked its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 7.25% this Thursday","published_date":"2026-02-19 13:14:14","news_description":"Rwanda's central bank hiked its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 7.25% this Thursday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26792,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23974\/revisions\/26792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}