World Bank and African Development Bank have identified 19 states including Burundi that fall into the fragile states criteria.
Faustin Ndikumana: “fragile states do not have access to long-term loans for dynamic internal development”
A fragile state is a low-income country characterized by week state capacity or legitimacy leaving citizens vulnerable to a range of shocks. The World Bank deems a country to be fragile if it is eligible for assistance from the International Development Organization.
According to Faustin Ndikumana, Chairman of local organization Speech and Action for the Awakening of Consciences and Mentality Change (PARCEM), a fragile state has many problems. “Fragile states are countries whose institutions do not rely on good governance and fail to exploit the natural resources they have,” says Ndikumana.
He says the population of these fragile states lives in poverty while their countries have enormous resources.
Ndikumana says fragile states do not have access to long-term loans for dynamic internal development. “Countries deemed to be fragile states are eligible for only grants because they are considered not to be able to repay the debts,” he says.
The Paris conventions reserved the financing mechanisms of fragile states, according to Ndikumana. Burundi has many times demanded to leave the group of fragile states but its request has been rejected up to now.
Ndikumana calls on Burundi authorities to promote good governance principle to leave fragile states index. “It is still possible since Burundi has enough assets,” says Ndikumana.
IWACU Open Data
