BUJUMBURA January 31st (ABP) – The Burundi Development Agency (ADB), has made considerable efforts to stimulate the economic and social development of the country, by facilitating strategic investments which have created employment opportunities, thus contributing to the sustainable growth of the country’s economy, indicated the director general of that agency, during a press café presenting the results of the first half of 2023-2024, organized Monday January 29, 2024, in Bujumbura.
According to Mr. Didace Ngendakumana, several actions were carried out by the ADB as part of the promotion of investments at the national level and exports. He cited among others the organization of the Public-Private dialogue called Umuzinga Day, 2nd edition, of the diaspora week 7th edition which was organized jointly by the ministry in charge of foreign affairs, of the Industrial Fair 5th edition organized with the association of industrialists of Burundi.
That agency also carried out training and awareness workshops on the role of religious denominations in the implementation of the vision Burundi 2040, emerging and developed country in 2060 as well as the experience exchange and implementation relationship of large investors and young potential entrepreneurs, with the aim of creating a framework for exchange between them and learning from their knowledge, successes and challenges.
Regarding statistics relating to the registration of companies and the advantages linked to the investment code, Mr. Ngendakumana specified that at the level of the electronic company creation window, the ADB registered 4,152 companies of legal entities, from July to December 2023 while 12,355 businesses of natural persons were registered during the same period.
As part of the implementation of the provisions of the investment code, the ADB, through its support and assistance service for investors, continued to process files related to requests for access to benefits.
Thus, for the first half of July to December 2023, 41 certificates of eligibility for the advantages of the investment code were granted, corresponding to a forecast capital of 690,727,669,970, with a projection of 1939 jobs compared to the same period of July to December 2022 where 52 certificates of eligibility for investment code benefits were granted with a growth of 67% with a projection of 5,290 jobs
During the period from January to December 2023, 83 certificates of eligibility for the benefits of the investment code were granted corresponding to a provisional capital of 1,366,954,363,425 with a projection of 4,676 jobs, indicated the director general of the ADB, specifying that among those 83 companies which received the certificate of eligibility over that period, 10 projects are foreign and represent 35% of the total forecast capital.
Thus, he added, during the period from July to December 2023, the ADB issued 94 temporary certificates of compliance with commitments under the investment code for 92 companies with an amount of 1,299,981,497 815 BIF or 100%. Out of 6,668 projected jobs, 2,086 jobs have already been created or 31.2% of projected jobs.
During that first quarter, the ADB carried out additional field visits aimed at verifying whether companies have respected their commitments to facilitate the work of processing requests for temporary certificates of compliance.