Overview: A landlocked, resource-poor country in an early stage of economic development, Burundi is predominately agricultural with only a few basic industries. Its economic health depends on the coffee crop, which accounts for 80% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports therefore continues to rest largely on the vagaries of the climate and the international coffee market. As part of its economic reform agenda, launched in February 1991 with IMF and World Bank support, Burundi is trying to diversify its agricultural exports and attract foreign investment in industry. Several state-owned coffee companies were privatized via public auction in September 1991.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $4.4 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: -3.8% (1991)

National product per capita: $700 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.7% (1992 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $318 million
expenditures: $326 million, including capital expenditures of $150 million (1991 est.)

Exports: $40.8 million (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
commodities: coffee 81%, tea, cotton, hides, and skins
partners: EC 57%, US 19%, Asia 1%

Imports: $188 million (c.i.f., 1992 est.)
commodities: capital goods 31%, petroleum products 15%, foodstuffs, consumer goods
partners: EC 45%, Asia 29%, US 2%

External debt: $970 million (1991)

Industrial production: growth rate 11% (1991 est.); accounts for about 15% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 55,000 kW
production: 105 million kWh
consumption per capita: 20 kWh (1991)

Industries: light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing

Agriculture: accounts for 50% of GDP; 90% of population dependent on subsistence farming; marginally self-sufficient in food production; cash crops - coffee, cotton, tea; food crops - corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc; livestock - meat, milk, hides and skins

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $71 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $10.2 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $32 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $175 million

Currency: 1 Burundi franc (FBu) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Burundi francs (FBu) per US$1 - 247.94 (November 1993), 208.30 (1992), 181.51 (1991), 171.26 (1990), 158.67 (1989), 140.40 (1988)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Burundi on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burundi Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burundi Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.