BUJUMBURA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide a grant of 80 million U.S. dollars to support Burundi's agricultural sector before the end of this year, an AfDB official has said.
AfDB director general for East Africa Nnenna Nwabufo made the announcement Tuesday after meeting Burundian Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca in Bujumbura, the economic capital of Burundi.
"The Burundian prime minister was happy to hear that the AfDB has mobilized about 80 million U.S. dollars that we are going to use to support the country in the agricultural sector to increase the productivity by four or five times, and also to support agro-processing to increase availability of food in the country, but also to increase availability of food for export," Nwabufo told reporters. "We discussed the support that the bank has been providing to the Burundian government for the country's social, political and economic development."
She also said the bank's board of directors in December 2023 approved the financing to enable the Burundian government to start the construction of a railway line that will connect Burundi to Tanzania and later on to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Nwabufo said that she and the Burundian prime minister also discussed how the bank can support the Burundian government in managing its debt planning so that it does not face high risk or debt distress.
In 1968, Burundi joined the AfDB Group, which has since financed a broad range of social and economic projects in Burundi. ■
