The Burundi Development Agency (ADB) organized a press café on Tuesday January 17, 2023 which is part of the agency’s habit of regularly sharing its achievements with the media, but also of raising the challenges he faces daily
The ADB’s new 2022-2027 strategic plan took into account the shortcomings of the one that preceded it.
Didace Ngendakumana, Director General of the ADB had the opportunity to present the intervention of the agency in the improvement of the business climate and the promotion of investments, its contribution to the facilitation of exports, but also to present the statistics produced relating to the registration of companies and the granting of exemptions.
In the last half of 2022 (July-December), 2,511 companies were registered compared to 2,673 in the same period of 2021, and 15,680 jobs are projected. It should be noted that these figures are revealed by investors at the time of the creation of the companies. These are therefore projections that will only be verified at the time of the monitoring-evaluation survey.
A provisional capital of more than 400 billion FBu of exemptions for the period July-December 2022
During this press café, the CEO of the ADB returned to the statistics relating to the registration of companies and the granting of exemptions. Concerning the implementation of the provisions of the Investment Code, the ADB granted 45 certificates of eligibility for the advantages of the Code, corresponding to a provisional capital of 411,523,354,217 FBu with a projection of 3,902 jobs.
Compared to the same period of 2021 (July – December), 21 certificates of eligibility for the advantages of the investment code were granted, corresponding to a projected capital of 354,865,847,713 FBu with a projection of 916 jobs.
With the introduction of the temporary certificate of compliance with commitments within the framework of investments, the agency has ensured the follow-up of the destination of exempt goods. The ADB carried out field visits aimed at verifying whether the companies have respected their commitments to facilitate the work of processing applications for temporary certificates. It thus issued 80 temporary certificates. Out of a projected amount of more than 860 billion FBu, more than 270 billion FBu have already been invested, representing a share of 31.6%.
Correcting the situation with the new strategic plan
The evaluation of the API Strategy 2017-2022 showed that overall, the API could not achieve its strategic objectives because, on the one hand, they were very ambitious compared to the financial means of the API. On the one hand, and on other parts, there has been a lack of synergy with other ecosystem structures. It was also concluded that the majority of the resources mobilized were dedicated to low impact activities in the area of investments, thus blocking a real effect on the development of the private sector.
The growth of private investment remains hampered by a lack of quality information, negative signals sent to investors, the deficit and currency rationing…. The DG of the ADB indicated that the new action plan 2022-2027 took these shortcomings into account. It is based on three pillars, namely: facilitation of private investment, capacity building for SMEs and export capacity building.
The CEO admits that not all challenges are easy to overcome. He speaks of systematic work, but remains confident about the step already taken.
