Burundi imports up 21 pct in Jan-Sept: Central Bank

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Imports to Burundi rose 21 percent by volume in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2008, partly due to higher food imports, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The landlocked country imported 273,430 tonnes of goods worth 401.2 billion francs in the first nine months of 2009, up from 225,699 tonnes worth 348.8 billion francs during the same period last year.

"In the food index, we have imports of rice for instance which grew 176 percent," the central bank said in a report. "Wheat flour for making beer at the brewery rose 100 percent, and salt rose 5O percent for salt."

The small coffee growing central African country of 8 million people is emerging from more than a decade of civil war that killed 300,000 people.

The International Monetary Fund gave Burundi a concessionary loan of $10.2 million earlier this year to boost its import cover. It said it expects the current account deficit to improve this year despite the negative impact of lower coffee exports.

The IMF expects economic growth in Burundi to slow to 3.2 percent this year from 4.5 percent last year.