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. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and signed an MCC compact that focuses on the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform in July 2008.
Agriculture Products
cotton, peanuts, shea nuts, sesame, sorghum, millet, corn, rice; livestock
Industries
cotton lint, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold
Industrial Production Growth Rate
4.5% (2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 58
Labor Force
6.668 millioncountry comparison to the world: 64 note: a large part of the male labor force migrates annually to neighboring countries for seasonal employment (2007)
Electricity production
611.6 million kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 156
Electricity Consumption
568.8 million kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 159
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Unemployment Rate
77% (2004)country comparison to the world: 197
Population Below Poverty Line
46.4% (2004)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 2.8%
Highest 10%: 32.2% (2004)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
39.5 (2007)country comparison to the world: 64 48.2 (1994)
Budget
Revenues: $1.409 billion
Expenditures: $1.786 billion (2008 est.)
Central Bank Discount Rate
4.75% (31 December 2008)country comparison to the world: 117 4.25% (31 December 2007)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Domestic Credit
$NA (31 December 2008)$905.1 million (31 December 2007)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$NA
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$926.3 million (31 December 2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 130 $1.029 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt External
$1.665 billion (31 December 2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 139 $1.33 billion (2007)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 447.81 (2008 est.), 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004) note: since 1 January 1999, the West African CFA franc (XOF) has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 CFA francs per euro; West African CFA franc (XOF) coins and banknotes are not accepted in countries using Central African CFA francs (XAF), and vice versa, even though the two currencies trade at par
