BUJUMBURA (Realist English). In the Buterere district of Burundi’s capital, Amisia Aleko, 40, recalls the last time she and her four children ate animal protein. “We ate fish in 2019,” she said softly. “That was a good day.” Today, their only meal is a simple stew of leafy greens. Nearby, families sift through rubbish for scraps of food.
Civil wars, coups, ethnic massacres and entrenched corruption have kept the tiny landlocked nation near the bottom of global poverty rankings for two decades. With an annual GDP per capita of under $200, Burundi remains the world’s poorest country, according to the World Bank.
President Évariste Ndayishimiye, a former rebel commander who took power in 2020, insists the country is turning a corner. “Those who say Burundi is the poorest country in the world do not know Burundi today,” he told the Financial Times from his palace in Bujumbura, seated beneath golden lion motifs. “This country comes from great poverty, but it is emerging toward a resurgence.”
Ndayishimiye has promised reforms to improve governance, fight corruption and attract foreign investors after years of isolation under his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, whose authoritarian rule triggered U.S. and EU sanctions. Since the rapprochement, the IMF has resumed limited financing, and donors have pledged up to $4bn in investments — more than the nation’s annual GDP — including energy and infrastructure projects backed by the World Bank, AfDB, and Anzana Electric Group.
Yet, skepticism persists. Critics argue that the government’s anti-corruption drive remains largely cosmetic. Human Rights Watch accused the ruling party of intimidation and harassment during this year’s elections, in which it secured every parliamentary seat. “A good part of the country’s resources go into the pockets of senior officials,” said economist André Nikwigize.
Burundi’s economic crisis is deepening. The country faces severe fuel shortages, a lack of foreign currency and inflation nearing 40%. The national currency trades at less than half its official value on the informal market, creating “pervasive distortions,” the IMF said.
While Ndayishimiye speaks of unifying exchange rates and building a “modern economy,” most Burundians see little change. Nearly 63% live on less than $2.15 a day, half of all children are malnourished, and fewer than half finish primary school.
Opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, who lost the 2020 election, dismisses the president’s optimism. “Burundi is not the paradise he wants to showcase,” he said. “The situation is catastrophic — there’s no sugar, no petrol, no drinking water.”
Still, Ndayishimiye remains defiant. “I am convinced,” he said, “that soon the whole world will consider Burundi a miracle.”
