Nairobi – Burundi’s central bank announced on Friday the reopening of foreign exchange offices after a closure of more than two years aimed at stemming the depreciation of the local currency.
The Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB) also announced it was lifting restrictions on international foreign exchange transfers in the deeply impoverished central African nation.
“In order to stabilise the economic situation and strengthen the resilience of the Burundian economy, the BRB, with the support of its international parners, is launching a series of reforms aimed essentially at modernising its monetary policy,” BRB governor Dieudonne Murengerantwari said.
In a statement announcing the measures, the bank chief said Burundi’s economy had remained “resilient despite external shocks” such as the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic.
“These decisions confirm Burundi’s economic and financial openness to the world, as well as the resumption of relations with the World Bank, the IMF and other donors,” Gilbert Niyongabo, professor of economics at the University of Burundi, told AFP.
“External aid should increase in the medium term,” he added.
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In 2020, the Burundian authorities brought in several measures to control foreign currency in a country that has been in the grip of an economic malaise since a deadly political crisis in 2015.
It has been struggling with a lack of foreign exchange and shortages of basic goods such as fuel, certain foodstuffs, building materials and medicines.
The authorities had announced the closure in February 2020 of all exchange offices for failing to abide by regulations requiring them to limit their margin on operations to 15 percent.
Only commercial banks were allowed to carry out foreign exchange transactions, but few offer the service, and the authorities clamped down on currency traders who did not use the fixed rate for the Burundian franc.
In 2015, then president Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial bid for a third term set off protests that were brutally repressed by the authorities, leaving at least 1 200 people dead and driving 400 000 into exile.
In response, the United States and the European Union slapped sanctions on Burundi, but both resumed aid earlier this year despite continuing concerns about human rights abuses.
Landlocked Burundi, which lies in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, is the poorest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita according to the World Bank, which estimates that 75 percent of its 12 million people live below the poverty line.
The economic moves announced Friday come a month after Evariste Ndayishimiye, the successor to Nkurunziza who died in June 2020, replaced his prime minister and a top aide in a high-level political purge.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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