Liberty in Burundi
Work is underway to bring freedom and prosperity to one of the poorest countries in the world
The Whetstone Freedom Fund (WFF) is an international initiative founded by the Institute of Economic Affairs in honour of the late Linda Whetstone, to support classical liberal ideas around the world. Each month on Insider we take a deep dive into the countries and partnerships which are being supported by the WFF.
Burundi is among the poorest countries in the world. After decades spent under extractive and oppressive Belgian colonial rule and a brutal civil war between 1993 and 2005, the small east African nation has one of Earth’s least developed economies.
Centre for Development and Enterprises-Great Lakes is working to change that. By increasing economic liberty, opening the country to trade, and solidifying the rule of law, CDE’s work is vital to establishing freedom and prosperity in one of the least free and prosperous nations on the planet. CDE is one of the IEA’s closest international partners through the Initiative for African Trade & Prosperity and the Whetstone Freedom Fund.
Burundi is heavily dependent on subsistence farming and the agriculture industry more broadly. Over 85% of its workers are employed in the sector and agricultural production makes up over 25% of its GDP. This makes Burundi acutely sensitive to trade restrictions.
Trade barriers make Burundians worse off in the same way as any other country. The prices of everyday essential goods like food and clothing are artificially high, and the supply artificially low. Low trade volumes also reduce Burundi’s ability to build up a reserve of foreign currency, further perpetuating the cycle of weak imports, particularly of key commodities like fuel. These artificial supply constraints are an acute problem when the country’s GDP per capita is just over $900 per year. In the West, we talk about free trade as benefitting the poorest because lower-income households spend disproportionate shares of their income on food and clothing. In Burundi, most of the population is exposed to that reality.
But closed trade also has catastrophic second-order effects – it means that surplus agricultural products cannot be easily sold to foreign markets which in turn undermines investment in capital that would increase productivity in Burundi’s agricultural sector. Burundi’s annual agricultural yields are strongly influenced by the weather, with the risks of floods and landslides ever-present. In particularly bad seasons, it is incredibly difficult for Burundians to import goods from a diverse international market, further pushing people into poverty and destroying any capital that farmers are able to build.
CDE has influenced policy reforms to halt and reverse Burundi’s protectionism to free up the potential of its agricultural workers. In 2021 and 2022, CDE successfully campaigned for the reversal of import bans on fertiliser and seeds, allowing Burundi’s farmers to increase their output and diversify their production. Later in 2022, CDE was part of a successful push to reduce and abolish a series of import taxes and bans on essential goods like flour, sugar, and cement. These reforms immediately increased the supply of all the affected goods and reduced both food prices and production costs across the country.
CDE’s work goes far beyond international trade. Their ‘Why Women’ initiative resulted in stronger protections for the private property rights of women who often faced barriers or even outright bans from owning and inheriting property. The initiative not only strengthened legal protections for women but worked on the ground in rural communities to educate women about their rights and challenge entrenched social bias against female participation in the economy.
CDE has also successfully advocated for reforms to reduce barriers to doing business in Burundi. They influenced reforms to eliminate regulations mandating a minimum capital threshold for personal bank accounts, expanding access to finance for people across Burundi. They have also worked on a series of incremental reforms to reduce the paperwork and regulatory compliance necessary to start and operate new businesses.
These improvements are just the beginning of the path towards a freer, wealthier Burundi. That is why the Whetstone Freedom Fund continues to support CDE’s annual Freedom Week, an intensive week-long series of seminars and roundtables aimed at a plethora of audiences from policymakers and civil servants to businesspeople and students. Freedom Week has been an essential forum to begin vital conversations about some of the vital reforms achieved in Burundi’s recent history. It attracts well over 1,000 participants from across Burundian society, demonstrating the strength and variety of CDE’s reach.
IEA publications on trade and globalisation and economic inequality played a central role in previous Freedom Weeks and that trend continues this year. CDE will use the French translation of Eamonn Butler’s An Introduction to Entrepreneurship as part of their work to educate Burundian business people about their rights and the state-imposed barriers to doing business. The book’s ideas will also be used as the basis of events with policymakers on business regulation and a wider social media campaign that will emphasise the role of entrepreneurs in powering economic growth.
CDE’s story is one of the main motivations to continue the legacy of Linda Whetstone and her Network for a Free Society. In 2015, Linda supported CDE’s founder Aimable Manirakiza with $125 to host a small event. After the event was successful, Linda continued to mentor Aimable until her passing, even as political instability forced Aimable to temporarily flee to Kenya before returning to Burundi.
In recent years, CDE has turned into one of Africa’s most effective think tanks, leading the way on educating Burundians about economic freedom and influencing tangible policy changes that have improved their lives. By working to continue Linda’s work, we hope to play our small part in producing more success stories like CDE-Great Lakes and provide beacons of hope for freedom and prosperity in the countries that need them the most.
How You Can Help
With the WFF's support our partners are spreading the foundational ideas of a free society right across the globe. In Burundi and beyond, the WFF continues Linda Whetstone's legacy of supporting organisations to defend and expand liberty in the places that need it the most. None of this work would be possible without your support. If you would like to support the Whetstone Freedom Fund or find out more about the work we do, visit our website.