Economy Overview
Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with roughly 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. Since October 1993 an ethnic-based war has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced 800,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 525,000 others internally. Doubts about the prospects for sustainable peace continue to impede development. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in ten adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply.
Agriculture Products
coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides
Industries
light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing
Industrial Production Growth Rate
18% (2001)
Labor Force
2.99 million (2002)
Electricity production
155.4 million kWh (2001)
Electricity Consumption
177.5 million kWh (2001)
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity Imports
33 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001)
Currency
Burundi franc (BIF)
Population Below Poverty Line
68% (2002 est.)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 1.8%
Highest 10%: 32.9% (1998)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
42.5 (1998)
Budget
Revenues: $179.4 million
Expenditures: $209 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2003)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
Debt External
$1.133 billion (2002)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
Burundi francs per US dollar - 1,082.62 (2003), 930.75 (2002), 830.35 (2001), 720.67 (2000), 563.56 (1999)
