Economy ———-
Economic overview: Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country in an early stage of economic development. The economy is predominately 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. As part of its economic reform agenda, launched in February 1991 with IMF and World Bank support, Burundi is trying to diversify its agricultural exports, attract foreign investment in industry, and modernize government budgetary practices. Since October 1993 the nation has suffered from massive ethnic-based violence which has resulted in the death of perhaps 100,000 persons and the displacement of a million others; production has fallen sharply, and an impoverished and disorganized government can hardly implement these needed reform programs.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $4 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate: 2.7% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $600 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector: agriculture: 54.1% industry: 16.8% services: 29.1% (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10% (1993 est.)
Labor force: 1.9 million (1983 est.) by occupation: agriculture 93.0%, government 4.0%, industry and commerce 1.5%, services 1.5%
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget:
revenues: $318 million
expenditures: $326 million, including capital expenditures of $150
million (1991 est.)