2008 Commercial Guide
Chapter 1 - Doing Business in Burkina Faso
Chapter 1-1 Market Overview
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $424. More than 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture, with only a small fraction directly involved in industry and services. Although Burkina Faso is a small country with a low per capita income and a heavy reliance on subsistence-style agriculture, the prospects for expanded U.S. trade and investment opportunities are good. The public sector is being streamlined, privatization is continuing, most trade barriers have been lifted, and prices liberalized.
The export economy consists primarily of cotton. Other cash crops are cotton, groundnuts, “karite” (shea nuts), and sesame seeds. Livestock, once a major export, has declined. Manufacturing is limited to cotton and food processing (mainly in the “economic capital,” Bobo-Dioulasso). Some factories are privately owned, while others are in the process of privatization. Burkina Faso's natural resources are limited, although the Government has liberalized the mining code, and deposits of gold, manganese, and zinc have recently attracted the interest of international mining firms.
Burkina Faso’s overall economic performance has remained basically sound despite several economic shocks during the past three years including rising oil prices and a cotton sector crisis brought on in large part because of lower world cotton prices. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was: 7.1 percent in 2005 and 5.5 percent in 2006. In 2007, higher costs of energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low cotton prices, dampened the GDP growth rate to 4.5 percent; it is projected to rise to 4.5 percent in 2008.
Burkina Faso remains committed to World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), and it has been one of the first beneficiaries of the World Bank/IMF debt-relief and poverty reduction programs for highly indebted poor countries. At least 20 percent of the governmental budget is financed from international aid, and the majority of infrastructure investments are externally financed.