By Ebi Kesiena
In a bid to bolster economic recovery and reforms, the International Monetary Fund says it has agreed a $261.7 million loan for Burundi, its first in eight years.
The “staff-level agreement” for a 40-month credit facility for the poverty-stricken central African nation followed a visit by an IMF team to Burundi’s economic capital Bujumbura in February.
It aims to “support a push to restore external sustainability, strengthen debt sustainability, while supporting economic recovery from shocks and creating fiscal space for accelerated and inclusive growth,” the IMF said in statement late Monday.
Burundi has been suffering economic malaise since a deadly political crisis in 2015, with a lack of foreign exchange and shortages of basic goods.
The crisis in the country, where farming forms the backbone of the economy, has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war.
Real GDP growth is estimated to have slowed to 1.8 percent last year from 3.1 percent in 2021, the IMF said, but is projected to rebound to 3.3 percent this year.
Inflation meanwhile was running at an average of 18.9 percent last year and at 28.6 percent year-on-year at the end of January, driven by food prices, the fund said.
