Burkina Faso Economy Profile 2008

Economy - overview

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop and the government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in the region - Mali, Niger, and Chad - to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. In 2007 higher costs for energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low cotton prices, dampened a GDP growth rate that had averaged 6% in the last 10 years. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Account threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and appears likely to receive a grant in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform.

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$17.5 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate)

$6.858 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

4.2% (2007)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$1,200 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 29.4%
industry: 19%
services: 51.7% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line

46.4% (2004)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 32.2% (2004)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

0.7% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed)

20.6% of GDP (2007 est.)

Labor force

5 million
note: a large part of the male labor force migrates annually to neighboring countries for seasonal employment (2003)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 90%
industry and services: 10% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate

77% (2004)

Distribution of family income - Gini index

39.5 (2007)

Budget

revenues: $1.311 billion
expenditures: $1.764 billion (2007 est.)

Industries

cotton lint, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold

Industrial production growth rate

5.2% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production

516.2 million kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption

480.1 million kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports

0 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports

0 kWh (2005)

Oil - production

0 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - consumption

8,300 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - imports

8,158 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - exports

0 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves

0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

Natural gas - production

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - consumption

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - exports

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - imports

0 cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves

0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current Account Balance

-$752 million (2007)

Agriculture - products

cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice; livestock

Exports

$676 million f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities

cotton, livestock, gold

Exports - partners

China 41.9%, Singapore 14.4%, Ghana 5.9%, Thailand 4.9%, Niger 4.4% (2006)

Imports

$1.39 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities

capital goods, foodstuffs, petroleum

Imports - partners

Cote d'Ivoire 25.9%, France 22.8%, Togo 7.2% (2006)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$897 million (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external

$1.33 billion (2007)

Market value of publicly traded shares

$NA

Economic aid - recipient

$659.6 million (2005)

Currency (code)

Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

Exchange rates

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003)
note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro

Fiscal year

calendar year