• Cane sugar and electrical transformers
• More than 800 tonnes of goods in 2022
• New agreements between the two countries
Lhe Prime Minister, Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambèla, made a 72-hour stay in Nicaragua. An official visit to Managua, the capital, where he took part in the official ceremony of the 44e anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista revolution.
The head of government did not return empty-handed from this outing. According to the Prime Minister’s press release, dated July 23, 2023, several cooperation agreements have been signed between the two countries. These agreements cover, among other things, the economy and finance, trade, industry, scientific and technological research, professional training, health, tourism, etc.
Furthermore, both parties encouraged cooperation between institutions, public and/or private companies in their respective countries, in accordance with their respective national legislation.
Burkina Faso and Nicaragua have also decided to create a Joint Cooperation Commission between them. This is responsible for the application and monitoring of the Framework Cooperation Agreement. The Joint Cooperation Commission is made up of representatives of the two governments.
Its coordination falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Nicaragua. It meets every 2 years, alternately in Burkina Faso and the Republic of Nicaragua, on dates agreed by the parties. The icing on the cake, the two countries also expressed the mutual wish to open an Embassy in their respective territories.
These agreements come at the right time and will help revive economic exchanges between these two countries. Certainly, the last export from Burkina Faso to Nicaragua dates from 2016. At that time, according to the National Statistics Council, the transactions had represented 26.4 million FCFA for the benefit of the country of upright men.
Conversely, Burkina continues to import goods from Nicaragua. For 2022 alone, the National Institute of Statistics and Demography noted that more than 886 tonnes of Nicaraguan products passed through Burkina Customs. The customs value of these purchases is 1.95 billion FCFA. This is the highest value of imports from this country over 5 years. In 2016, Burkina’s bill was 961 million for products coming from Nicaragua. This amount fell to 5.8 million in 2018, rising to more than 760 million in 2019.
So what is Burkina buying?
Two products are listed in the INSD documents. These are, first of all, cane sugar, or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose, in the solid state. It is the product most imported by Burkina from the country of Daniel Ortega. More than 800 tonnes of sugar, with a customs value of 1.9 billion, were introduced into Faso.
And according to INSD data, for the first quarter of 2023, the bill is likely to increase. Indeed, for the first quarter of 2023, imports increased, both in volume and in value. Burkina purchased goods worth 843.9 billion FCFA. An amount up 9.7% compared to the same period in 2022. The volume of goods imported by the country has also increased, i.e. 11.8% compared to the start of 2022. More than 2,000 tonnes of goods crossed the country’s borders in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 1,900 tonnes in 2022.
One of the imported products whose evolution has undergone a significant increase (+213.7%) is the compound “Sugar and honey”. For the first quarter of the year, Burkina imported 14.8 billion FCFA, compared to 4.7 billion FCFA last year. After the sugar import ban in 2019, in order to encourage local consumption, the flow of imported sugars has grown since 2021.
For 2022, we have consumed just over 19 billion FCFA worth of sugar and honey. For the first quarter of 2023 alone, the bill amounted to 14.8 billion. Note that the majority of sugar imported by Burkina Faso comes from France. In 2022, more than 2 billion FCFA were spent by Burkina on sugar from this country.
The second batch of products imported from Nicaragua is composed of electrical transformers, static electrical converters, reactors and chokes. Customs value of this imported batch, 2.7 million FCFA for the year 2022.
This is an electrical machine used to modify the effective voltage delivered by an alternative electrical energy source. It is thanks to the presence of transformers in the network that electricity can be transported and then distributed without risk or loss.
Thus, for last year, the customs value of products imported by Burkina Faso via Nicaragua amounted to 1.952 billion FCFA. Note that these imports took place during the first 3 quarters of the year. o
NK
