Burundi’s annual-average inflation rate fell to 14.3% in August, down from 16.2% in July, the country’s statistics agency said, even as households continued to face steep increases in clothing, housing, fuel and restaurant prices.
The Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of Burundi (INSBU) reported that clothing and footwear recorded the largest annual-average increase among major categories, up 41.5%. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 18.5%. Restaurant and hotel prices climbed 22.7%, and alcohol and tobacco prices rose 23.4%.
Fuel and clothing markets saw some of the sharpest year-on-year price movements. Fuel prices rose 21.8% compared with a year earlier, while clothing and footwear increased 38.8%. Within that category, the price of children’s shoes rose 143.4% year-on-year, according to the INSBU report.
Inflation measures diverge sharply
INSBU’s data showed a wide gap between its different inflation measures for August. Year-on-year inflation stood at 8.4%, while monthly inflation fell 0.7%, driven in part by a 2.5% monthly decline in food prices. The annual-average measure, which tracks price changes over a longer rolling period, remained considerably higher at 14.3%.
Food prices showed a similar divergence. Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 2.6% year-on-year but climbed 10% on an annual-average basis. Rice prices were up 26.7% annual-average, and bread and cereals rose 15.1%. Non-food prices, by comparison, rose 16.3% year-on-year in August.
IMF, World Bank cite persistent price pressures
The International Monetary Fund’s June 2026 assessment projected that Burundi’s average consumer prices would rise 14.5% in 2026, before easing to 11.5% by 2031. “Inflation is projected to rise to 14.5 percent in 2026 before easing to 11.5 percent by 2031,” the IMF said in its June report.
INSBU’s annual-average figure and the IMF’s full-year projection are measured over different time windows and using different methodologies, and neither institution has said whether the two figures should be read together.
The World Bank has separately said inflationary pressures in Burundi remain significant, citing supply-side constraints, fuel shortages and the gap between official and parallel foreign-exchange markets. The Bank said average inflation stayed elevated through 2025, despite some easing toward the end of the year.
Some figures still under review
INSBU’s category-level data included sharp outliers, including the 143.4% year-on-year jump in children’s shoe prices, within a broader clothing category already up 38.8%. The agency’s report presented its annual-average, year-on-year and monthly inflation measures separately, without reconciling why they diverge as sharply as they do this month.
Households continue to feel the squeeze
Even as headline inflation slows, the cost of transport, rent, fuel, clothing and prepared food continues to weigh on household budgets across Burundi. Non-food prices rose more than six times faster than food prices on a year-on-year basis in August, INSBU said.
