Burundi : economy statistics and industry reports

Burundi's export earning - and its ability to pay for imports - rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices.

The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the coffee trade.

An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally.

Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS.

Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply.

Burundi's GDP grew around 4% annually in 2006-09.

Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms.

Burundi will continue to remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors; the delay of funds after a corruption scandal cut off bilateral aid in 2007 reduced government's revenues and its ability to pay salaries.

Burundi joined the East African Community, which should boost Burundi's regional trade ties, and received $700 million in debt relief in 2009.

Instability spilling over from eastern Congo-Kinshasa and the ban on minerals smuggled across Burundi's border will be the main challenges to economic growth.