Guest article from Banque de la République du Burundi
The 2024 National Survey shows that Burundi has made significant progress in financial inclusion, with the rate of financial inclusion rising from 23.7% in 2012 to 78.7% in 2024. A significant gap remain however between urban and rural populations, and there is limited access to certain financial products and services for women and young people.
Despite the strong growth in digital financial services (44% of adults are using mobile payment wallets), the majority of the population prefers to use cash as a means of payment. This is mainly due to the low interoperability of payment systems, the high costs of digital transactions and the low uptake of digital currency.
BurundiPay: a solution for increasing financial inclusion
On 23 April 2026, the Bank of the Republic of Burundi officially launched BurundiPay, Burundi’s instant payment system – a centralised platform enabling interoperability between all payment systems operated by commercial banks, microfinance institutions and payment institutions.
- Interoperability among all stakeholders
Whilst the financial ecosystem previously had limited interoperability, BurundiPay provides a solution that facilitates real-time transfers and payments, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, connecting banks, microfinance institutions and payment institutions. Customers can carry out transactions in a simple, fast and secure manner using their mobile phones.
- Use of digital payments
BurundiPay is transforming the mere holding of an account into actual usage, by enabling person-to-person (P2P) money transfers, merchant payments (P2B), business-to-business (B2B) payments and B2P payments. Consequently, financial inclusion can move beyond mere access to encompass meaningful and regular use of financial services.
- Financial inclusion in rural areas
As BurundiPay relies on digital channels rather than physical branches, it helps to reduce travel costs associated with accessing banking services, facilitates transactions via mobile devices, and improves access to financial services in underserved regions.
- Financial inclusion for women and youth
Women and youth often face greater barriers to accessing formal financial services, due to mobility constraints, requirements for supporting documentation and a lower level of financial literacy. In response to these challenges, BurundiPay offers a solution by providing convenient digital transaction channels, promoting low-cost transactions, reducing the need to visit a branch and facilitating access to digital savings and payment products.
Take-up and adoption indicators
Four commercial banks, nine microfinance institutions and one payment institution have already made the solution available to their customers, whilst other financial institutions are continuing integration tests, with a view to integrating BurundiPay by 5 September 2026.
With regard to the use of the system, in June 2026, 463 transactions were carried out, totalling 924,668,398 BIF, compared with 776 transactions totalling 178,450,843 BIF in April 2026.
BurundiPay: a tool for realising the 2040-2060 Vision
BurundiPay is not only a solution for financial inclusion, but also a tool for realising the Vision of Burundi as an emerging country by 2040 and a developed country by 2060.
Indeed, this vision holds that the development of ICT and digital technology will transform the financial sector and improve access to savings, credit, payments, insurance and money transfers. As such, BurundiPay constitutes the national infrastructure capable of making these services more accessible and widely used, with the aim of achieving a financial inclusion rate of 98% 2040 and 99% by 2060.
How will we optimize BurundiPay?
The optimization of BurundiPay will be based on the strategic trio of Infrastructure (BurundiPay), Financial Inclusion, and Financial Education:
- BurundiPay provides interoperability, instant payments, connections between banks, microfinance institutions and payment service providers, and reduced transaction costs
- The second-generation National Financial Inclusion Strategy (SNIF II 2026–2030) will create a favourable environment (institutional framework), enabling BurundiPay to be used on a large scale
- The National Financial Education Strategy (SNEF) will build sufficient user capacity by addressing the low level of financial literacy amongst the Burundian population.