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In Burkina Faso, the inflation rate has reached an unprecedented level. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Development, it has been 13.5% since October 2022. To alleviate the suffering of populations, the government is continuing its price control policy.
On the markets of Ouagadougou, labels waltz and consumers stamp their feet. A bowl of maize, which sold for 500 CFA francs (0.75 euros) just a few months ago, is now trading at 700 or even 800 FCFA. Customers are unhappy. “ The last few years, it was not like that. Now everything has increased. Corn is at 700 (CFA francs editor’s note). We think it’s expensive “protests one of them. “ Before, the bean dish was 750 or 800, but now it has increased to 1250. Even the rice is expensive. If you want good rice, it’s 600 CFA francs per kilo “Laments another.
Since October 2022, the inflation rate has reached 13.5%. Highest among members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, according to consumer price specialist Paul Tiendrebeogo: “ In the history of the evolution of inflation rates, all I know is that in 2008 we had a double digit rate. But we were around 10%. I can say that this must be the first time that the rate has reached this level. »
This record inflation can be explained by several factors, according to Boureima Ouédraogo, the director general of the National Institute of Statistics and Development: Already the Covid. And then the seasonal campaign which has not been good. There is also the Ukrainian crisis which increases the cost of transport due to the increase in fuel prices. Here, there are the two factors, internal and external, which influence. »
Curb inflation
Under pressure from consumers, the government has adopted several measures: price regulation, reduction of taxes on certain imported products such as rice, sugar and edible oil, subsidies for bakeries to contain the price of baguettes, or ban on the export of cereals and their products.
« With the checks that took place, we were able to seize more than a hundred trucks, indicates Mamadou Yameogo, head of the investigation and control department at the Ministry of Commerce. With a total of 45 600 tons of cereals recovered. Anyone who wanted to export grain was deterred. And they didn’t do it anymore. The government has also requested that there be a special control of storage places. And we put it in place to avoid there being a form of speculation here too. The government intends to further increase these controls in order to enforce prices and the ban on grain exports. »
The government intends to further increase these controls in order to enforce prices and the ban on grain exports.
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Burkina Faso: the roots of the crisis [1/2]
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