Jean-Baptiste NTAHOKAJA/Marc BARENGAYABO
note: adopted 1962
Economy ::Burundi
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.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$3.418 billion (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 172 $3.29 billion (2009 est.)
$3.178 billion (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):
$1.469 billion (2010 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3.9% (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 85 3.5% (2009 est.)
4.5% (2008 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$300 (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 228 $300 (2009 est.)
$300 (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 31.6%
industry: 21.4%
services: 47% (2010 est.)
Labor force:
4.245 million (2007) country comparison to the world: 85
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 93.6%
industry: 2.3%
services: 4.1% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
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
Investment (gross fixed):
25.1% of GDP (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 42
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
7.2% (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 181 10.7% (2009 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
10% (31 December 2009) country comparison to the world: 44 10.08% (31 December 2008)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
14.08% (31 December 2009 est.) country comparison to the world: 36 16.52% (31 December 2008 est.)
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
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
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.)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2009 est.) country comparison to the world: 200
Oil - consumption:
3,000 bbl/day (2009 est.) country comparison to the world: 176
Oil - exports:
0 bbl/day
