Burundi’s parliament voted on Saturday to increase government spending next fiscal year by 30%, helped by revenue from the mining sector and a diversification of its exports.
Parliament adopted a budget of 7.02 trillion Burundi francs ($2.36 billion) for the 12 months starting in July, up from 5.4 trillion francs this fiscal year.
Finance Minister Alain Ndikumana had proposed spending of 6.7 trillion Burundi francs in a budget speech on Friday, but parliament voted to increase that figure in a vote early Saturday morning.
Economic growth is forecast to rise to 5.5%, up from 4.7% this year.
Faster growth will be driven by “intensification of irrigated agricultural production, … (and) a gradual increase in mineral production” among other things, Ndikumana said in his speech.
Burundi’s mineral output includes gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten.
The government will scrap import taxes on electric and hybrid vehicles as fuel shortages have been exacerbated by the Iran war, the finance minister said.
($1 = 2,969.1300 Burundi francs)
(By Clement Manirabarusha and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alexander Winning and Louise Heavens)
