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.

GDP: $1.3 billion, per capita $255; real growth rate 2.8% (1988)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.4% (1988 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $213 million; expenditures $292 million, including capital expenditures of $131 million (1988 est.)

Exports: $128 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--coffee 88%, tea, hides and skins; partners--EC 83%, US 5%, Asia 2%

Imports: $204 million (c.i.f., 1988); commodities--capital goods 31%, petroleum products 15%, foodstuffs, consumer goods; partners--EC 57%, Asia 23%, US 3%

External debt: $795 million (December 1989 est.)

Industrial production: real growth rate 5.1% (1986)

Electricity: 51,000 kW capacity; 105 million kWh produced, 19 kWh per capita (1989)

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

Agriculture: accounts for 60% 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

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $68 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $10 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $32 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $175 million

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

Exchange rates: Burundi francs (FBu) per US$1--176.20 (January 1990), 158.67 (1989), 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 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burundi Economy 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burundi Economy 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.