Browsing: Burundi

• The credit seeks to restore external sustainability, and strengthen debt management while creating fiscal space for accelerated and inclusive growth.
• The staff-level agreement is subject to IMF management approval and consideration by the Executive Board.
• Burundi’s reform program aims to support economic recovery from shocks.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to dispatch a $261.7 million loan to crisis-saddled Burundi, its first in nearly a decade, as the country moves to bolster economic recovery and reforms.

The IMF boost to the poverty-stricken nation follows “a staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms” that was struck for a new 40-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) after the lender’s Mission Chief for Burundi, Mame Astou Diouf, visited Bujumbura in February.

Burundi’s reform program aims to support economic recovery from shocks, restore external sustainability, and strengthen debt management while creating fiscal space for accelerated and inclusive growth.

Since 2015, Burundi…

• DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
• Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
• EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict

Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.

This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.

The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.

The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo …

Burundi’s future is bringing optimism via the change of the country’s health care system, despite a country that has been marred by a lack of suitable facilities as well as human resources in the health arena.

Since the civil war in 2003 that broke out in Burundi, there has been a pressing need for a strategy that is both long-term and forward-thinking in order to guarantee that the most vulnerable children and youth are not abandoned. In this light, and bearing in mind that access to health is a fundamental human right, essential to the future of the country.

Even though a truce was finally reached at the end of 2003, peace in certain parts of Burundi is more of a dream than a reality, and the aftereffects of the conflict are still very much felt. The country’s civil conflict has made the already dire economic situation much worse and …

With the recent addition of the DRC to the East African region, landlocked countries have found an alternative port of entry in the Atlantic Ocean. The swiftness of trade with two ports of entry and the region’s strategic location will be incomparable to any other region on the continent.

The East African Federation would be the fourth largest country in both population and landmass, trailing after China, India and the United States. President Uhuru Kenyatta says that the federation would have over 300 million people.

The gross domestic product for the region will sum up to US$250 billion, the fourth-largest in Africa and the 34th biggest globally. Since the beginning of the last decade, East Africa has had the fastest growing economy globally. In 2019, the region’s economy grew by about 5 per cent. If the federation continues with this growth rate, the new country would quickly become the biggest …

Tanzania Railway Investment

In the most recent development, an additional 282km of the railway are been constructed to connect Tanzania and Burundi giving the latter access to East Africa’s biggest and busiest port.

The construction is an extension of the already laid down Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Tanzania. The two governments have signed an agreement that paves way for new rail to be laid at a sum of US$900 million.

What does this extension mean for Burundi and how will it benefit Tanzania?  

Apart from the obvious economic benefits, lets first consider the small towns through which the railway snakes. From Tanzania’s little town of Uvinza in Kigoma region to the bustling capital city of Gitega in Burundi, the railway is expected to spark life, rejuvenate slowed businesses and build new people relations.

None said it better than Burundian Minister for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning Domitien Ndihokubwayo who …

The Republic of Burundi has joined other East African Community (EAC) partner states to launch her own Trade Information Portal (TIP).

The TIP is meant to map out all of Burundi’s imports, exports and transit procedures, fees and time.

According to a press statement by EAC sent to newsrooms on Wednesday July 28, the next step after mapping will be to simplify and remove unnecessary and redundant bottlenecks.

Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are the EAC partner states that have already launched and operationalised the Trade Information Portals (TIPs).

Burundi unveiled her own TIP on  the internet on Tuesday July 27, 2021 as committed by the Burundi delegation during the 38^th Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment held in Arusha on 28^th May, 2021.

Trade Transparency

The publication of Trade Information is a good sign that Burundi is committed to facilitate trade by …

African Ministers and Heads of Delegation of Ministries in charge of Housing and Urban Development, African Finance Ministers, the Directors and Management of Shelter Afrique, and representatives of international, regional and national institutions, the private sector and civil society, have agreed to enhance mechanisms for the mass production of decent and affordable housing in the continent to achieve social and economic development.

During a three-day summit at the 40^th Annual General Assembly of shelter-Afrique that was held in Yaunde Cameroon, the participants resolved to address the challenges that have hindered the efforts to provide decent and affordable housing in Africa.

In a research concluded by the Shelter-Afrique, a pan African housing finance and development institution, shows that the overall shortage of housing in Africa is estimated at 56 million housing units with out of this, more than 90 per cent are in affordable housing bracket.

The Managing Director …

The Republic of Burundi has a new president, it has taken steps to rebuild regional and international relations and its economy is starting to pull up, as such, leaders of the East African Community (EAC) are vouching in favor of the country and imploring the European Union, it is time to lift sanctions.d

The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against the Republic of Burundi back in 2015 when the late President Pierre Nkurunziza extended his tenure in office seeking a third term. At that time, army officials in the country are reported to have attempted a coupe that did not succeed.

Speaking to the press mid this week, the Secretary-General of the East African Community (EAC), Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki appealed to the European Union (EU) member states to lift sanctions against Burundi saying, ‘the country has opened a new page and was ready to move forward.’

“I appeal to …

Those with access to digital infrastructure have not been as economically affected by the pandemic as those with no access.…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approved $7.6 million debt relief for Burundi due over the next three months.

The debt relief which is under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust are due from July 21, 2020, to October 13, 2020. The International Monetary Fund will grant an additional debt relief covering the period from October 14, 2020, to April 13, 2022, which will be subject to availability of resources in the CCRT potentially bringing total relief to an equivalent of $24.97 million.

The debt relief will help free up resources for the needs of the public sector as well as other emergency spending and help ease the balance of payments shock posed by the pandemic.

Also Read: IMF boosts Kenya, Uganda virus fight with $1.23 billion

Burundi’s effects from the pandemic are through the evolving domestic outbreak and economic spillovers from the global and regional environment.

The 2020 …