BUJUMBURA January 19th (ABP) – The Burundi Development Authority (ADB), organized on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 in Bujumbura, a press café to present the results of the achievements made in the first half of 2022-2023.
During the presentation of ADB’s achievements, ADB Director General Didace Ngendakumana said that the period from July to December 2022 was marked by great innovations with regard to the strategic orientation of the activities of the ADB and the tools used in investment promotion and business facilitation.
He also indicated that a 2022-2027 strategic plan has just been validated and its implementation has already begun. In addition, new methods in promoting foreign investment have been adopted. He also said that the registration of companies is done online as well as the request for certificates and other papers, related to the advantages of the investment code.
During the said period, Mr. Ngendakumana clarified that 2,511 companies were registered against 2,673 companies registered in the same previous period, i.e., July-December 2021. According to the statistics relating to the declarations of the creators of companies, 15,680 jobs are projected. He did not forget to specify that those figures relating to the number of jobs created are revealed by the investor at the time of the creation of the company. Those are therefore projections that will only be confirmed at the time of the monitoring-evaluation survey.
As part of the application of the provisions of the investment code, the ADB continued to process files related to requests for access to benefits. Thus, Mr. Ngendakumana pointed out that 45 certificates of eligibility for the advantages of the investment code were granted, corresponding to a projected capital of 411,523,359,217 BIF, with a projection of 3,902 jobs.
In order to monitor the destination of exempt goods, the statistics, strategic planning and monitoring-evaluation unit of the ADB made field visits aimed at verifying whether companies have respected their commitments to facilitate the work of processing applications of temporary certificate of conformity. Thus, during the first half of the year, the ADB issued 80 temporary certificates of compliance with commitments, within the framework of the investment code. They have already invested 274,691,132,975 BIF compared to the forecast amount of 869,385,326,267 BIF, i.e., nearly 31.6%. Moreover, out of 5,883 planned jobs, 1,284 jobs have already been created, or 21.2%.
During the question session, it was asked what the ADB intends to do to promote exports in the field of agriculture, at a time when there is a deficit in agricultural production. On this, Mr. Ngendakumana indicated that the ADB has adopted a strategy aimed at encouraging investors to produce in quantity and quality in that sector, in order to be able to sell their agricultural products locally and the surplus at the regional and international level.
The reporters also wanted to know how the ADB works with the BBN at the time when there are production units which were closed by BBN while they had authorizations from the ADB. The Director General replied that there is a memorandum that has been signed between the ADB and the BBN to facilitate the activities of the industrialists. Despite this, he said, some industrialists, after having received the documents granted by the ADB, begin to produce and sell their products, without waiting for the documents granted by the BBN, the competent body in standards and quality control to see if industrial products are not harmful to human health. Hence, he asked all manufacturers to have authorizations from the ADB and BBN before starting to produce.
Media professionals also asked if there are economic operators who promised to come and invest in Burundi, during the economic forum held in Washington DC (In the United States of America) in December 2022, in the presence of the Burundi Head of State and the ADB, towards American economic operators.
On that issue, Mr. Ngendakumana first recalled that this meeting was successful, explaining that more than 200 investors had responded to the invitation. He pointed out that subjects such as the business climate in Burundi and business opportunities were well explained to American investors, who, on their part, asked many questions in relation to those subjects.
He also indicated that online meetings have continued with the ADB and that some economic operators are planning trips to come to Burundi to see the various business opportunities, hoping that they could make their investments after those trips.
Note that the ADB’s mission is to promote and facilitate local and foreign investment as well as exports.