Boaz Nimpe, Burundi

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Senior Advisor to Executive Director

African Development Bank, Central Africa Group

Public Finance Program (’01)

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Since March 2008, Mr. Boaz Nimpe has been working at the African Development Bank in Tunis, Tunisia in the Office of the Executive Director representing the?“Central Africa Group” in the Board of Directors.? He was first appointed to the position of Advisor to the Executive Director, and as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director from July 2010 onwards. The Office of the Central Africa Group represents 5 Central African countries?in the Board of Directors: Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Until his appointment at the African Development Bank, Boaz had more than 14 years experience in tax policy and administration within the Burundian Public Administration in various Departments of the Ministry of Finance.?He started his career in 1994 in the Office of The Finance Minister as Technical Advisor to the Minister. He was in charge of macroeconomic and fiscal policy. In 1998, he moved to the General Directorate of Public Expenditures where he worked as an Economist in charge of budget analysis and budget programming. In 2002, he was appointed as Director of Customs and Excises.?

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Further, Boaz Nimpe has considerable experience in public policy formulation and tax administration. To this end, from December 2004 to February 2008, he was the Public Finance Expert at the Economic Management Support Project (EMSP) called “PAGE” in French, managing the component of administrative and financial public reforms.? Prior to joining the EMSP, he was a member of the commission of experts that examined the modalities of financing the African Union (Addis Ababa May 2004).

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Please tell us about your career path thus far. What is your area of specialization and how did you come to work in this area?

After receiving my BA degree in Economics from the University of Burundi in 1994, I joined the Ministry of Finance and started my career as Technical Advisor to the Minister. In that position, I provided advice on fiscal policy and macroeconomic reforms in the office of the Finance Minister and was a member of the National Commission of Structural Adjustment Program.

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From September 1996 to July 1997, I had an opportunity to participate in a training program in taxation at the National Tax Administration School (ENI) in Clermont Ferrand (France). ?I successfully completed the program, which was sponsored under the French Government scholarship, and obtained a certificate in taxation with the qualification as Tax Inspector.

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After my return from France, I was appointed as Economist at the General Directorate of Public Expenditures and Economic Advisor to the General Director of Public Expenditures of the Burundi Ministry of Finance. My main responsibilities included providing support to the Budget Department, Treasury and Accounting Department and to support the functions of the Directorate General of Public Expenditures to develop and implement policies on budget reforms and budget planning.

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I then received a scholarship from the Belgium government for further studies and obtained a Master’s degree in International and Development Economics from the University of Namur (Belgium) in 2000.? The subsequent year I was selected by GRIPS to enroll in the Masters of Public Finance Program, sponsored under the World Bank. It is against this background that by default, my main area of specialization is public policy with a focus on public finance management and development economics.

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After my studies in Belgium and Japan, I returned to the Finance Ministry in October 2001 and was appointed as chief of Budget Expenditures Review and coordinator of public finance reforms. I was promoted to Director of Burundian Customs and Excises in September 2002 and moved on to become Economist in the Budget Department in May 2004.?During this time, I participated in various workshops and also acted as external auditor representing the state in a number of state-owned companies.

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From December 2004 to February 2008, I worked as Public Finance Expert at the Economic Management Support Project, financed by the World Bank, and coordinated the implementation of economic reforms in different ministries: the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, and the Ministry of Good Governance and Privatization.

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In addition to my position within the Ministry of Finance, I also lectured at some local private universities. Combining academic and practitioners perspectives as and Economist and university lecturer allowed me to improve on practical issues using the theoretical background.?

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In March 2008, I moved to the African Development Bank where I was appointed as an advisor to the Executive Director representing five central African countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. I subsequently became the Senior Advisor from July 2010 to present.

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You are currently posted at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tunis,?Tunisia. Please tell us about the AfDB, its mission and activities.

The African Development Bank was created in 1964 and provides both loans and grants to African governments and only loans to the private companies investing in the regional member countries in Africa.

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The Bank Group comprises the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). It is owned and funded by member governments (54 Regional African Member Countries, and 25 Non-Regional Member Countries), and has a public-interest mandate to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development.

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The overarching objective of the African Development Bank is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries, and thus contributing to poverty reduction.

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The Bank Group achieves this objective by mobilizing and allocating resources for investment in regional member countries, and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts.

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As Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, what are your main tasks and?Responsibilities?

The Board of Directors is responsible for supervising the day-to-day work of the Bank on behalf of its 79 member countries and approves policies, projects and programs. The focus is on positioning the Bank to assist its regional member countries in a number of areas.

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Our office represents 5 member countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo.?As Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, my main tasks include: providing policy advice to the Executive Director in respect of projects to be approved by the Board of Directors; providing policy guidance on the Bank operations, and assisting member countries of our constituency on policy dialogues related to the Bank operations and on developments in the fight against poverty.

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The Senior Advisor duties also cover operational and administrative matters that are presented to the Board of Directors for consideration and approval.?

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What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your work??

Countries in the constituency I represent are mainly low income, severely exposed to economic shocks, and politically fragile. They have large developmental needs that are not adequately financed with the resources made available by development partners. Our countries often need to be addressed by the African Development Bank on a case-by-case basis because the Bank’s existing rules are not always designed to address the peculiarity of their problems. I have often found it difficult convincing other Board Members about the peculiar circumstances of these fragile states.?

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What have been the most interesting or rewarding aspects of your career thus far??

The most rewarding experience was during my tenure at the Ministry of Finance as the Director of Customs. I was responsible for overseeing the performance of more than 450 staff, a very diverse group in terms of the capacity to effectively carrying out their duties as customs officials.

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Government rules and regulations (custom law) required my office to maximize the collection of more government revenues from taxpayers. I had to comply with the customs law while at the same time listen to the genuine requests of economic agents (taxpayers) regarding the difficulties they faced in complying with a set of tedious and rudimentary procedures, which were all paper-based back then.

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In order to balance the response to the two issues, I had to introduce computerization of all custom procedures, leading to higher tax collection on international trade. However, it was far from easy to implement with such as a diverse group of staff in terms of technological literacy. Ultimately, I managed to bring everyone on board, and most importantly, the Cabinet appreciated the results that cushioned against the constraints in state revenue collection.

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What led you to GRIPS? What is the most important thing you got out of your studies here, and how has your experience at GRIPS prepared you for future endeavors?

My past experience in the Ministry of Finance was the key factor to?my motivation to enroll in the Public Finance Program at GRIPS.?GRIPS is an institution with the caliber of providing the knowledge needed to further my career in Public Finance. Moreover, the collaboration of GRIPS with other Japanese government bodies makes GRIPS a knowledge institution that provides foreign students a better understanding of lessons from Japan compared to what is happening in our home countries.

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The internship at the National Tax College that was part of the Program provided the practical tools on taxation issues while field visits to taxation offices were very useful and helped us preparing for our future careers.?Finally, I appreciated GRIPS’ facilities including its excellent library, both in terms of contents and the speed with which books that were not available were ordered. ?

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What is your fondest memory of your time spent at GRIPS??And what do you?miss about Japan?

Firstly, my student life at Komaba International Student House. This facility allowed me to make friends with people from different countries around the world at the time I was not at GRIPS. I miss the Japanese metro where there is such silence that only the sound of metro itself can be heard. It was not my habit to keep quiet but my daily metro rides in Japan is a?memory I cannot forget.

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Secondly, I was selected to participate in “Japan Tent 2001”, one month before my gradation. Japan Tent, an international exchange program in Ishikawa prefecture for foreign students enrolled in Japanese universities, is one of the best memories that I kept. 350 foreign students converged in Kanazawa and I had a homestay with two Japanese families in Ishikawa prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan. It was a demonstration for me that really, the program contributes to the creation of a forum for young foreign students in Japan to interact with local people. I learned a lot from this homestay and made me better understand Japanese life and its rich culture. Shopping in Japanese supermarkets is something that I am missing and passing time in the Shibuya area, which was close to Komaba International Student House, as well as going to the Japanese karaoke around Shibuya area, and Shinjuku. These are some of the things that I miss about Japan.

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What do you like (or dislike) about living in Tunisia??

It will soon be 5 years since I moved to Tunis, Tunisia. ?I like visiting the Tunisian beaches during the summer. One thing that I consider to be difficult is the problem of understanding the Arabic language, an obstacle that prevents me from being a better communicator.

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On the professional side, I am happy to work in an environment where professionals have different nationalities, backgrounds and cultures. It creates opportunities to make a diverse lot of friends and it makes living in Tunisia very good and easy.

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How do you maintain balance between your work and the rest of your life? And what is your favourite thing to do when you are not working?

The working environment at the African Development Bank helps to have and live a balanced life. There are good facilities within the Bank allowing bank staff to take a break; many discussions and constructive meetings are taking place around coffee tables. I usually seize these opportunities to socialize with friends and colleagues for discussions on topics regarding the development of Africa. I also sometimes use additional time to learn foreign languages like Arabic and Portugese as these are the main supplementary working languages in addition to French and English commonly spoken in most of the regional member countries. I also like swimming. These activities contribute to maintaining balance between my work and the rest of my life.

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How I spend my free time depends on the season. In winter, I like doing sports, learning foreign languages and playing piano. In summer, checking out different Tunisian beaches is what I usually do. Passing time under an umbrella at the beach seems to be the best use of my time.

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What advice would you give to current GRIPS students?

In a few words, I would say that studying at GRIPS is a door to new perspectives in your future career. For foreign students, graduation from GRIPS adds value to the academic background and diversity. Study hard at GRIPS but socialize to understand the Japanese life and culture. I found the Japanese language very difficult but I encourage current GRIPS students to use their time in Japan efficiently by allocating time to learn this language while you have an opportunity to do it.?

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Exchanging languages is also something that I found interesting. Why not learn a foreign language of your classmates!!!? ?

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Do you have any suggestions on how to further utilize the GRIPS alumni Network?

I do appreciate the alumni network and I consider it?as a connection able to keep and consolidate the relations between former and current GRIPS students and GRIPS as an Institution. This was not clear for me before becoming a member of the alumni network. You need to consolidate this relation and communicate this to all members of the network. This communication will contribute to an increase in the number of potential students interested in applying to GRIPS as information posted to GRIPS in the corner of alumni shows clearly that GRIPS had contributed to consolidate the career of former GRIPS students in their respective countries and the institutions they are working.

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All former or current students at GRIPS having opportunity to come in Tunis, Tunisia, we will be happy to welcome you. The alumni network is our bridge to facilitate communication and consolidate the relations.

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I wish you all the best in this hard work of communication.?

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