"Land of honest and upright people"

Burkina Faso is a landlocked nation in West Africa and is ranked the 4th poorest country by the United Nation and relies heavily on cotton and gold exports for revenue. The country has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. Approximately 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought.

Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual privatisation of state-owned enterprises and in 2004 revised its investment code to attract foreign investment. As a result of this new code and other legislation favouring in the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production. By 2010, gold had become the main source of export revenue.

Formerly the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on 4th August 1984 by President Thomas Sankara to mean "the land of upright people" (or "upright land") in Mossi and Dioula, the major native languages of the country. Full independence was attained in 1960. In 1987, a coup led by Blaise Compaore (Sankara's colleague) along with twelve men executed Sankara, citing deterioration of relations with foreign countries.

Since 1987, Blaise Compaore has been leading the country.

Gold Potential

Burkina Faso hosts about 22 percent (by area) of the highly prospective Birimian Greenstone belts and has yielded just 12 million ounces to date from limited, modern day exploration. A total of 178 million ounces of gold have been discovered in the Birimina Greenstone belts over the past century, which includes 110 million ozs in adjoining Ghana (19% of the belt), 33 million ozs in Mali (10%), and 12 million ozs in Guinea (11%).

Infrastructure

The government is undertaking a US$360 million World Bank program to create a coherent policy and a regulatory framework for infrastructure, rehabilitate the road and rail network, and restructure the state transport system.