Burundi

Burundi is a landlocked country located in Central Africa. Burundi is still in a post conflict state, is resource poor, its population suffers from extreme poverty, and many of the recent economic reforms have not been fully implemented. Its landlocked location and infrastructure constraints limit transportation of goods and services. Energy demand significantly exceeds capacity and rolling blackouts are common. Years of civil conflict have created a brain drain. Scarcity of skilled labor limits growth in all sectors. The Government of Burundi (GoB) seeks to attract more foreign investment. However, inexpert fiscal governance and corruption limit foreign direct investment (FDI). The 2013 IMF estimate for FDI inflow in Burundi was USD 68 million. Since 2008, members of the executive branch have granted large discretionary exemptions to private foreign companies by presidential decree or ministerial ordinance in order to attract FDI. These direct government-to-company agreements undermine the Burundian tax law and the investment code. Following the recommendations of the IMF 5th review however, significant efforts have been made to curb these discretionary exemptions. In addition to reducing revenues for the state, these exemptions injure private companies already operating in Burundi by granting advantages to select competitors.