Economy Overview
Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural which accounts for about 35% of GDP and employs more than 90% of the population. Burundi's primary exports are coffee and tea, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, though exports are a relatively small share of GDP. Burundi's export earning - and its ability to pay for imports - rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the coffee trade. An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Burundi's GDP grew around 4% annually in 2006-09. Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms. Burundi will continue to remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors; the delay of funds after a corruption scandal cut off bilateral aid in 2007 reduced government's revenues and its ability to pay salaries. Burundi joined the East African Community, which should boost Burundi's regional trade ties, and received $700 million in debt relief in 2009. Instability spilling over from eastern Congo-Kinshasa and the ban on minerals smuggled across Burundi's border will be the main challenges to economic growth.
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
7% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 40
Labor Force
4.245 million (2007)country comparison to the world: 85
Electricity production
92 million kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 191
Electricity Consumption
125.6 million kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 185
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity Imports
40 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2007 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
68% (2002 est.)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 4.1%
Highest 10%: 28% (2006)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
42.4 (1998)country comparison to the world: 52
Central Bank Discount Rate
10% (31 December 2009)country comparison to the world: 44 10.08% (31 December 2008)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$329.3 million (31 December 2010 est)country comparison to the world: 166 $293.6 million (31 December 2009 est)
Stock of Broad Money
$568.3 million (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 170 $506.7 million (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$465.7 million (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 164 $415.2 million (31 December 2009 est.)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$NA
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$320 million (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 121 $323 million (31 December 2009 est.)
Debt External
$1.2 billion (2003)country comparison to the world: 147
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
Burundi francs (BIF) per US dollar - 1,250.75 (2010), 1,230.18 (2009), 1,198 (2008), 1,065 (2007), 1,030 (2006)
