telephone: [1] (202) 342-2574

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Charles YELLIN
embassy: Avenue des Etats-Unis, Bujumbura
mailing address: B. P. 1720, Bujumbura
telephone: [257] (2) 23454
FAX: [257] (2) 22926

Flag: divided by a white diagonal cross into red panels (top and
bottom) and green panels (hoist side and outer side) with a white
disk superimposed at the center bearing three red six-pointed stars
outlined in green arranged in a triangular design (one star above,
two stars below)

Economy
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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.)

Industries: light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap;
assembly of imported components; public works construction; food
processing

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity:
capacity: 55,000 kW
production: 100 million kWh
consumptio