| Economy - overview | Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with more than 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. 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. 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 grew about 5 percent in 2006. Delayed disbursements of funds from the World Bank may add to budget pressures in 2007. Burundi will continue to remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors. |
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| GDP | 5.9% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 3.8% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 44.9%
industry: 20.9%
services: 34.1% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 68% (2002 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 32.9% (1998) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 33.3 (1998) |
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| Labor force | 2.99 million (2002) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 93.6%
industry: 2.3%
services: 4.1% (2002 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | NA% |
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| Budget | revenues: $239.9 million
expenditures: $297 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 18% (2001) |
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Electricity -
production | 137 million kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 0.6%
hydro: 99.4%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 157.4 million kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
exports | 0 kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 30 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 0 bbl/day (2004) |
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| Oil - consumption | 3,100 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
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| Agriculture - products | coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides |
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| Exports | $55.68 million f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides |
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| Exports - partners | Germany 24.6%, Belgium 11.2%, Netherlands 8.1%, Switzerland 5.9%, US 4.7% (2005) |
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| Imports | $207.3 million f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs |
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| Imports - partners | Kenya 17.1%, Tanzania 10%, Belgium 9.9%, Italy 7.7%, France 5.1%, Uganda 5%, China 4.7% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $1.2 billion (2003) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $105.5 million (2003) |
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| Currency code | BIF |
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| Exchange rates | Burundi francs per US dollar - 1,030 (2006), 1,138 (2005), 1,100.91 (2004), 1,082.62 (2003), 930.75 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | calendar year |
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