BUJUMBURA August 26th (ABP) – On the eve of the start of the new school year, 2022-2023 edition, school materials are rare on the market and prices have risen sharply, noted the ABP on site during a field trip carried out on Monday on August 22, 2022 at the former central market of Bujumbura and at the Saint Paul bookstore.
In an interview she gave to the ABP, the director of the Saint-Paul bookstore in Bujumbura, Sister Spès Caritas congratulated Hatungimana, said that the prices of school materials for the 2022-2023 school year have risen sharply, adding that notebooks and textbooks are in short supply throughout the country.
Director Hatungimana clarified that these prices have increased from 1800 BIF for a 100-sheet notebook for the past year to 2600 BIF on the eve of the 2022-2023 school year. A notebook of 60 sheets costs 2300 BIF against 1400 BIF last year and a notebook of 48 sheets costs 1900 against 1200 BIF. She also indicated that for notebooks of 36 sheets and 24 sheets, the prices vary between 1500 and 1000 BIF against 1000 BIF and 700 BIF.
Speaking of that sharp increase in the price of school materials, Sister Hatungimana indicated that the raw material is rare and expensive on the market, adding that the transport of those goods has also increased as well as customs clearance costs and taxes.
When asked why the Saint Paul bookstore has a lot of customers when their goods are expensive compared to other booksellers, the head of the Saint Paul bookstore indicated that their products are of good quality, stressing that even the dimensions of their notebooks are not the same compared to other notebooks purchased elsewhere before explaining that the Saint Paul bookstore orders the raw material (the sheets for the manufacture of notebooks) outside the country.
The director of the Saint Paul bookstore took the opportunity to ask the ministry responsible for trade to reduce taxes for school materials so that they are available and in sufficient quantity on the local market.
A seller of school materials near the former central market in Bujumbura told ABP that prices have increased due to a lack of fuel when the machines that produce notebooks consume fuel.