Government to punish traders speculating on food price

The government warns traders who take advantage of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic to exorbitantly increase price of some products.

Prosper Ntahogwamiye, Government Secretary General: “This speculation by traders pushes the population to buy a large quantity of food products to carry stocks whereas activities continue normally,”

Since the Minister of Health has announced the first two cases of COVID-19, residents of Bujumbura have been buying large quantities of food to keep at home. They think that the government will take the lockdown measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Some traders take advantage of this situation to increase the price of products especially basic foodstuffs such as rice, beans and cooking oil. This situation worries inhabitants of Bujumbura. 1 kg of beans called ‘Kinure’ which cost 1600 BIF before the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak increased to BIF 2300. The price of yellow beans which was BIF 2, 200 BIF is currently BIF 2,700 BIF per kilo.

The variety of beans called ‘Kirundo’ is now sold at BIF 2,000 per kilo, whereas they were bought for BIF 1,600 per kilo before the COVID-19 outbreak in Burundi. “In just one night, the price of 5 liters of cooking oil increased from BIF 22, 000 to 27, 000,” said a young woman met at Buyenzi City Market commonly called ‘Kwa Sioni’

“This speculation by traders pushes the population to buy a large quantity of food products to carry stocks whereas activities continue normally,” said Prosper Ntahogwamiye, Secretary General of the Government in a statement released on 2 April. He calls on the Ministry of Commerce, Public Security and Justice to contribute to the fight against this speculation.