Economy - overview: Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with roughly 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Its economic health depends on the coffee crop, which accounts for 80% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports therefore rests largely on the vagaries of the climate and the international coffee market. Since October 1993 the nation has suffered from massive ethnic-based violence which has resulted in the death of perhaps 250,000 persons and the displacement of about 800,000 others. Only one in four children go to school, and one in nine adults has HIV/AIDS. Foods, medicines, and electricity remain in short supply.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $4.4 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.8% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $720 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 50%
industry: 18%
services: 32% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: 36.2% (1990 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.4%
highest 10%: 26.6% (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 22% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 1.9 million

Labor force - by occupation: NA

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $125 million
expenditures: $176 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 6.3% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 141 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 0.71%
hydro: 99.29%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 160.1 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 29 million kWh
note: supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1999)

Agriculture - products: coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides

Exports: $32 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Exports - commodities: coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides

Exports - partners: Germany 17%, Belgium 14%, US 8%, France 6%, Switzerland 4% (1999)

Imports: $110 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports - commodities: capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs

Imports - partners: Belgium 20%, Zambia 11%, Kenya 8%, South Africa 5%, France 4% (1999)

Debt - external: $1.12 billion (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $1.344 billion (1999 est.)

Currency: Burundi franc (BIF)

Currency code: BIF

Exchange rates: Burundi francs per US dollar - 782.36 (January 2001), 720.67 (2000), 563.56 (1999), 477.77 (1998), 352.35 (1997), 302.75 (1996)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Burundi on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burundi Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burundi Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.