Burkina Faso - International trade

Burkina Faso's trade deficit fluctuates, rising in poor harvest years. The trade deficit reached a high point in 1990 at US$262 million but was reduced to US$164 million in 1994, mainly due to the CFA franc's devaluation. As imports recovered, the gap grew again to US$330 million in 1996 before receding in 1998 to US$261 million, primarily due to improved cotton exports.

Principal exports in 1998 were cotton (66 percent), livestock (8 percent), hides and skins (6 percent), and

Trade (expressed in billions of US$): Burkina Faso
	Exports	Imports
1975	.044	.151
1980	.090	.359
1985	.071	.332
1990	.152	.536
1995	.160	.455
1998	N/A	N/A
SOURCE : International Monetary Fund. International Financial Statistics Yearbook 1999.

gold (5 percent). The main destinations of exports were France (15 percent), Cote d'Ivoire (10 percent), Indonesia (6 percent), Taiwan (3 percent), and Ghana (3 percent).

Principal imports in 1998 were machinery and transport equipment (29 percent), food products (13 percent), and petroleum products (12 percent). Most of the remaining imports were other types of consumer manufactures. The main origins of imports were France (28 percent), Cote d'Ivoire (19 percent), Japan (5 percent), and Italy (4 percent).