BUJUMBURA, February 7th (ABP) – The President of the Republic, Evariste Ndayishimiye said he was surprised to note that some partners and friends of the country do not have or do not want to open foreign currency accounts in Burundi even though they work there. He revealed that on Friday 31 January 2025, during the ceremony to exchange greetings with the diplomatic and consular corps accredited to Burundi.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, President Ndayishimiye deplored the fact that certain diplomatic representations were making fun of Burundi and denigrating it, even though they were perfectly aware of their complicity in the country’s situation. “Here (among you), there are some who know about their complicity,” he insisted.
The President of the Republic reassured his audience that he had investigated the irregular situation of certain partners and friends of the country. “There are some who do not want to open (foreign currency) accounts.
Where do you get the operating funds if you haven’t brought in the foreign currency? Aren’t you complicit in that situation? If you are not complicit, why don’t you bring in the currency?
He also revealed that they receive operating funds in Burundian franc accounts, although there is no trace of the amounts of foreign currency exchanged, nor of the corresponding intermediary banks or other entities that exchanged the currency. According to him, there are banks that give them Burundi francs even though they have no counterparts.
According to Ndayishimiye, it is deplorable to note that some entities prefer to make massive withdrawals and payments in cash instead of using secure means of payment by electronic transfer, and all that without justifying the valid need to hold large amounts of cash. “And yet we know that, even in your respective countries, that practice is banned. Why do you do it here if it is banned in your countries?”.
The Head of State then pointed out to the diplomatic and consular corps accredited to Burundi that some of Burundi’s partners and friends were providing contracts for the supply of existing goods in Burundi, contracts for the provision of services under contracts launched locally, consultancy firms with local branches, house and building rentals, and were doing so in foreign currency, even though the contracts were not of international quality, completely ignoring the country’s regulations. “That is what is being done. I have completed the investigations. Whoever wants to, I’ll show them what I’ve found in their organization,” he promised.
Some partners even negotiate the terms of sale of their currency with Burundian commercial banks (which are also complicit), with the intention of concealing the terms of purchase and sale of the currency. “But then you come to me and talk about the discrepancies between the exchange rate on the black market and the official rate, when it is you who are doing it,” he lamented.
The President of the Republic also indicated that there were stocks of foreign currency in Burundi and that those were brought in by the country’s partners and friends. “After accounting for imports into Burundi, we found that the foreign currency that had officially left the country was around 800 million, while the unofficial amount was 1 billion 181 million (1,181,000,000 USD), which was here in Burundi but which had been smuggled out”, he explained, concluding that the black market was being supplied and managed by the latter because, he explained, they were the ones in possession of a lot of foreign currency.
As for the strategy used, President Ndayishimiye pointed out that when those partners and friends of the country receive funds in foreign currency by transfer in their banks, instead of carrying out the exchange operation in the same bank where they have an account in local currency, they make another transfer of those currencies to another commercial bank where they negotiate the (exchange) rate they want (higher rate).
“Imagine, you don’t have a foreign currency account in a particular bank, you deposit the currency in that bank, and you ask it to transfer the money to another bank to negotiate the higher rate,” he added, describing that as an economic crime.
According to him, even if they say they are protected by the Vienna Convention, that does not allow them to sabotage the country economically. “Instead of helping us to remedy the situation, it is you yourselves who are accomplices in money laundering”, he pointed out, pointing out that that situation will be remedied.