Sugar in Burundi has become a luxury good only affordable by the rich in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Moso Sugar Company recently unilateraly increased the price of sugar forcing retail prices to shoot up from BIF3200/kg to BIF8000/kg (U$1.08/kg – U$2.7/kg) representing a 150% increase.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye is said to have been angered by this monstrous rise in sugar price.
“Sosumo revised the price of sugar upwards, a decision that saddened many citizens and did not please the Head of State,” said Rosine-Guilène Gatoni the spokesperson of the President.
Gatoni said that President Ndayishimiye “asked the Ministry of Commerce to set up a commission to study sugar price which the government can set based on price of imported sugar, the profit margin, and the means used by Sosumo in the production of sugar.”
Onésime Niyukuri,the Spokesperson of Commerce Ministry was quoted by local press saying, “the commission responsible for finding a reasonable sugar price acceptable to all parties is in its final phase of collecting all the data.”
According to Niyukuri, Sosumo produces between 12 and 15 tonnes per year which has to be served to a population of 13.2 million people.
The International Monetary Fund projects a stronger economic recovery for 2024, with real GDP expanding by 4.3 percent, driven by agricultural production, investment, and reforms; rebounding from the estimated 2.7 percent growth in 2023.