Burkina Faso:
Economy

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Other pages in this profile of Burkina Faso:
Geography, People, Government, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.


Economy - overview	Definition 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)	Definition - World rank and map $17.2 billion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate)	Definition $6.977 billion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	Definition - World rank and map 4.2% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita	Definition - World rank and map $1,300 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector	Definition agriculture: 29.7% industry: 19.4% services: 50.9% (2007 est.)
Labor force	Definition 5 million note: a large part of the male labor force migrates annually to neighboring countries for seasonal employment (2003)
Labor force - by occupation	Definition agriculture: 90% industry and services: 10% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate	Definition - World rank and map 77% (2004)
Population below poverty line	Definition 46.4% (2004)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	Definition lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 32.2% (2004)
Distribution of family income - Gini index	Definition - World rank and map 39.5 (2007)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	Definition - World rank and map -0.2% (2007 est.)
Investment (gross fixed)	Definition - World rank and map 17.6% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget	Definition revenues: $1.49 billion expenditures: $1.95 billion (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products	Definition cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice; livestock
Industries	Definition cotton lint, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold
Industrial production growth rate	Definition - World rank and map 5.2% (2007 est.)
Electricity - production	Definition - World rank and map 516.2 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - consumption	Definition - World rank and map 480.1 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - consumption per capita	Definition - World rank and map 31.5 kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports	Definition 0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports	Definition 0 kWh (2005)
Oil - production	Definition - World rank and map 0 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - consumption	Definition - World rank and map 8,300 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption per 1,000 people	Definition - World rank and map 0.5 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - exports	Definition - World rank and map 0 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports	Definition - World rank and map 8,158 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves	Definition - World rank and map 0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
Natural gas - production	Definition - World rank and map 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption	Definition - World rank and map 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption per capita	Definition - World rank and map 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - exports	Definition - World rank and map 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - imports	Definition - World rank and map 0 cu m (2005)
Natural gas - proved reserves	Definition - World rank and map 0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Current account balance	Definition - World rank and map -$688 million (2007)
Exports	Definition - World rank and map $676 million f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities	Definition cotton, livestock, gold
Exports - partners	Definition China 33.3%, Singapore 15.3%, Thailand 7%, Ghana 6.3%, Niger 4.7% (2006)
Imports	Definition - World rank and map $1.332 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports - commodities	Definition capital goods, foodstuffs, petroleum
Imports - partners	Definition Cote d'Ivoire 25.7%, France 20.5%, Togo 7.1%, Belgium 4% (2006)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold	Definition - World rank and map $1.029 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external	Definition - World rank and map $1.33 billion (2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares	Definition $NA
Economic aid - recipient	Definition $659.6 million (2005)
Currency (code)	Definition Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States
Exchange rates	Definition 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	Definition calendar year

Burkina Faso: Economy

Burkina Faso:
Economy