Economy of Burkina Faso: gold, agriculture and foreign trade
What the economy of Burkina Faso covers
The economy of Burkina Faso rests on agriculture and on extractive activities, in particular gold, the country's leading export. A member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the country uses the West African CFA franc (XOF), issued by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and remains landlocked, hence dependent on corridors to neighbouring ports.
Economic growth and sectors of activity
According to the World Bank, real gross domestic product growth reached 4.8% in 2024 and then 5.3% in 2025, with inflation of -0.5% in 2025.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD) measured, compared with the same period of 2024, an increase of 8.3% in the primary sector, 8.3% in the secondary sector and 2.7% in the tertiary sector. Agriculture excluding cotton ginning grew by 9.2%, helped by a good farming season. The deflator of the extractive sector jumped by 72.3%, reflecting the rise in the price of gold.
Foreign trade and gold exports
In 2024, Burkinabè exports reached 3,421.3 billion CFA francs, up 26.2%, against 3,901.1 billion in imports, a trade deficit of 479.8 billion, compared with 863.5 billion in 2023. Non-monetary gold accounts for 2,815.0 billion, or 82.3% of sales abroad, ahead of cotton, with 201.8 billion and 5.9%.
Switzerland takes 56.2% of exports, the United Arab Emirates 26.2% and Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) 2.9%. On the import side, China supplies 18.1%, Ivory Coast 17.4% and Ghana 10.2%. Petroleum oils, essential for transport and electricity generation, account for 36.5% of purchases, followed by medicines, cement and imported electricity.
Investment, energy and the development plan
Energy is both a brake on growth and a priority project. The World Bank finances a power sector support project including a 7.5-megawatt thermal power plant at Fada N'Gourma, the electrification of rural communities and distribution lines. Two solar power plants covered by a guarantee from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, at Ziniaré and Zano, total 54 megawatts-peak.
In January 2026 the government adopted the RELANCE Plan, a development framework covering 2026-2030, costed at 36,000 billion CFA francs, nearly two-thirds of it from national resources. It is organised around four pillars: security and social cohesion, state reform and governance, human capital, and infrastructure and structural transformation of the economy.
Challenges of economic diversification
The large share of gold in export earnings exposes external accounts to swings in the world price of the metal. Cotton, the second export product in 2024, completes this picture on the agricultural side. The World Bank describes an economy dominated by the extractive and agricultural sectors, which puts local processing of products at the heart of public policy.