Youth Investment Bank, 7% interest rate loans to Youth Projects
The Briefing Issue #73, Wednesday, April 15, 2020
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Dear Readers,
This Wednesday the activities of the Young Investment Bank (BIJE in the french acronym) were officially launched by President Pierre Nkurunziza at its head office located in the Musinzira district in the city of Gitega.
In his speech he condemned banks that impose prohibitive interest rates, he said the Youth Investment Bank will offer loans at a non-violent "7%" interest rate.
The Youth Investment Bank (BIJE in the acronym) was officially announced by Presidential Decree No 100/145 of September 23, 2019, relating to the participation of the State and the municipalities in the share capital of this bank. The State and the municipalities of the country participate in the share capital respectively at 15% and 85%.
The main objective of the Youth Investment Bank will be to contribute to the funding of economic development projects initiated by young people organized in companies, associations, or cooperatives under Burundian law.
These will benefit from funding based on the credibility of the projects presented. A project with clearly demonstrated reliability will be funded.
With an estimated unemployment rate of 65%. Lack of employment mainly undermines youth, the Burundi government believes that this bank will help to reduce unemployment by funding Youth-led projects that create opportunities for employment.
READ ALSO: Burundi Head of state officiates the Youth Investment Bank (BIJE) in Gitega.
According to a “Youth employment in Burundi” study conducted in 2016 by a local NGO called Adisco with regard to the distribution of young people by activity sector, the private sector is the largest provider of employment and employs 77.74% of young people against only 26.26% for the public sector.
In Burundi more than 70% are entirely excluded from the financial system: 3.7% hold a bank account, 8.8% in a formal non-bank financial institution while more than 14% do not yet have an account in the financial sector formal. Young people are the first category affected by this exclusion from the business finance system.
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IN THE REGION
The East African Community under the Mobile Laboratory Project has this Wednesday deployed nine (9) mobile laboratories and Coronavirus test kits to all EAC Partner States in a bid to detect and respond to highly infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and Ebola.
Speaking to the media while flagging off the mobile laboratories and equipment, EAC Secretary General, Amb Liberat Mfumukeko said that each Partner State would receive a four-wheel-drive vehicle fitted with laboratory and ICT equipment, as well as all the necessary consumables for a fully functional laboratory with the capacity to conduct tests for Ebola and the Coronavirus in addition to other pathogens.
“A total of 9 Mobile Laboratories are being deployed to the Partner States as follows: Republic of Burundi -1, Republic of Rwanda -1, Republic of South Sudan -1, Republic of Kenya - 2, Republic of Uganda - 2 and United Republic of Tanzania - 2,” said the Secretary-General.
Amb. Mfumukeko said that in addition to the Mobile Laboratories, the EAC Secretariat has also provided COVID-19 test kits, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including gloves, gown, mask goggles, and shoe protectors, and other consumables to the Partner States.
Amb Mfumukeko disclosed that the Mobile Laboratories had been equipped with modern equipment and could diagnose most pathogens in addition to providing safe, accurate and timely patient results for COVID-19, Ebola and other disease-causing pathogens.
The 18th Extraordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State which had been purposely convened to discuss the ongoing novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Wednesday, 15th April 2020 has been postponed to a later date.
The 18th Extraordinary Summit, which was to be held via Video Conferencing, had been called by the Rwandan President and Chairperson of the Summit, H.E. Paul Kagame, specifically to exchange on the regional response against COVID-19, including its fiscal, economic and social consequences on the Community.
In a letter dated 14th April 2020 to the EAC Secretary General, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, Rwanda's Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Vincent Biruta said that the Extraordinary Summit had been postponed due to a request by the Republic of South Sudan.
COMESA COVID-19 UPDATES
While the total number of reported cases is 4,610, the active cases are currently at 3,444 with 910 recoveries and 256 fatalities. Egypt leads with 589 recoveries out of 2,190 reported cases. The majority of countries in the region have recorded significant numbers in terms of new recoveries almost balancing out with the total number of new cases which increased by 922 since April 10. 2020. The high numbers of new cases were recorded in Egypt (491), Djibouti (158), Tunisia (83) and Somalia (48). Despite the increase, fatalities generally remained low at 256. A panoramic view of the regional data is summarized in the table and trend in this Report you can download here.
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