Region: Western Africa

Capital: Ouagadougou

Population: 15,264,735 (July 2008 est.)

Surface area: 274,200 sq km

Currency: CFA franc (XOF)

GDP per capita: Purchasing power parity US $1,300 (2007 est.)

Background:

Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960. Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Current President Blaise Compaore came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then. Burkina Faso's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens. Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.
Economy – Overview:

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought. Cotton is the main cash crop and the government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in the region - Mali, Niger, and Chad - to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries. Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful privatization of state-owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. While the bitter internal crisis in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire is beginning to be resolved, it is still having a negative effect on Burkina Faso's trade and employment. In 2007 higher costs for energy and imported foodstuffs, as well as low cotton prices, dampened a GDP growth rate that had averaged 6% in the last 10 years. Burkina Faso received a Millennium Challenge Account threshold grant to improve girls' education at the primary school level, and appears likely to receive a grant in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, and land reform.
Major Export Commodities: cotton, livestock, gold

 

Remittances: US $6 million (2006)

Human Development Index 2007/2008 ranking: 176 out of 177

Official Development Assistance and Major Development Partners: Net ODA in 2006 was US $ 385.79 million. Major development partners include the IDA, the African Development Fund, France, and the European Community.

Total External Debt: US $1.33 billion (2007)

United Nations membership date: 20 September 1960

New York Mission:

Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the United Nations

866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 326

New York, NY 10017
Telephone: 212-308-4720 / 4721
Fax: 212-308-4690

Sources:

CIA World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. www.cia.gov 

World Development Indicators. World Bank www.worldbank.org

Development, Recipient Aid Charts. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. www.oecd.org

Human Development Report 2007/2008.United Nations Development Programme. www.undp.org

 

Updated June 2008