Rwanda's central bank on Thursday raised its key interest rate to 7.0%, up from 6.5%.

The National Bank of Rwanda said pressures from inflation, which hit 20.7% in January, were expected to remain in the short term before inflation falls to below 8% by the end of the year.

The war in Ukraine pushed up commodity prices last year, causing average headline inflation to leap to 13.9% in 2022, up from 0.8% the previous year, the bank said. (Reporting by Philbert Girinema; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Alexander Winning)