Xifres de comerç exterior de Burkina Faso

Foreign Trade in Figures

Burkina Faso is open to foreign trade, which represents 59% of the country’s GDP (World Bank, latest available data). As part of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Burkina Faso has regulated its tariff structure. Goods produced in the Union are exempt from import tax. However, internal and external crises (in neighboring Mali), as well as the actions of radical groups in the Sahel, have had a negative impact on trade and the industrial outlook. Gold is the greatest export (74.1% of total exports in 2022). Burkina Faso is one of the largest exporters of cotton in West Africa, and its production of cotton has quadrupled in the past ten years. However, the commodity has seen its share in the exports decrease from 15.8% of total exports in 2016 to 10.1% in 2021 (Comtrade). The country’s main imports are petroleum oils (32.3%), medicaments (3.7%), cement (3.1%), rice (2.5%), electrical energy (2.4%), and petroleum gas (2.3%).

Burkina Faso's main export partners are Switzerland (68.8%), Mali (6.7%), the United Arab Emirates (4.3%), Singapore (3.8%), Ivory Coast (3.7%), and France (2.1%); whereas imports come chiefly from China (12.9%), Ivory Coast (10.6%), France (9.3%), Russia (7.8%), and India (6.3% - data Comtrade for 2022).

Burkina Faso’s trade balance is structurally negative, but the trade deficit has been decreasing gradually over the past years due to increased gold and cotton exports and lower imports. After turning positive in 2020 and 2021, the trade balance recorded a deficit estimated at 1.4% of GDP in 2022 (World Bank). In the same year, the country exported USD 4.5 billion worth of goods, against USD 5.5 billion in imports; while services exports generated USD 495 million vis-à-vis USD 1.58 billion in imports (WTO).