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 is dependent on the coffee crop, which accounts for an average 90% of foreign exchange earnings each year. The ability to pay for imports therefore continues to rest largely on the vagaries of the climate and the international coffee market. vagaries of the climate and the international coffee market.

GDP: $1.3 billion, per capita $239; real growth rate 4% (1986)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7.3% (1987)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $252 million; expenditures $295 million, including capital expenditures of $143 million (1986)

Exports: $84 million (f.o.b., 1987); @m5commodities--coffee 88%, tea, hides and skins; @m5partners--EC 83%, US 5%, Asia 2%

Imports: $212 million (c.i.f., 1987); @m5commodities--capital goods 31%, petroleum products 15%, foodstuffs, consumer goods; @m5partners--EC 57%, Asia 23%, US 3%

External debt: $745 million (December 1988)

Industrial production: real growth rate 5.1% (1986)

Electricity: 51,000 kW capacity; 46 million kWh produced, 10 kWh per capita (1988)

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

Agriculture: major cash crops--coffee, cotton, and tea; food crops--rice, corn, palm oil, sugar, bananas, manioc, pulses; livestock-meat, milk, hides, and skins

Aid: NA

Currency: Burundi franc (plural--francs); 1 Burundi franc (FBu) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: Burundi francs (FBu) per US$1--148.20 (December 1988), 140.40 (1988), 123.56 (1987), 114.17 (1986), 120.69 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Burundi on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burundi Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burundi Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.