Economy (Burundi)
=================


     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 depends 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. As part of its economic reform
         agenda, launched in February 1991 with IMF and World Bank support, Burundi
         is trying to diversify its export agriculture capability and attract foreign
         investment in industry. Several state-owned coffee companies were privatized
         via public auction in September 1991.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $1.13 billion, per capita $200; real growth rate
         3.4% (1990 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         7.1% (1990 est.)
     Unemployment rate:
         NA%
     Budget:
         revenues $158 million; expenditures $204 million, including capital
         expenditures of $131 million (1989 est.)
     Exports:
         $74.7 million (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         coffee 88%, tea, hides, and skins
       partners:
         EC 83%, US 5%, Asia 2%
     Imports:
         $234.6 million (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         capital goods 31%, petroleum products 15%, foodstuffs, consumer goods
       partners:
         EC 57%, Asia 23%, US 3%
     External debt:
         $1.0 billion (1990 est.)
     Industrial production:
         real growth rate 5.1% (1986); accounts for about 10% of GDP
     Electricity:
         55,000 kW capacity; 105 million kWh produced, 20 kWh per capita (1991)
     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
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $71 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $10.2 billion; OPEC
         bilateral aid (1979-89), $32 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $175
         million
     Currency:
         Burundi franc (plural - francs); 1 Burundi franc (FBu) = 100 centimes
     Exchange rates:
         Burundi francs (FBu) per US$1 - 193.72 (January 1992), 181.51 (1991), 171.26
         (1990), 158.67 (1989), 140.40 (1988), 123. 56 (1987)
     Fiscal year:
         calendar year




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