Burkina Faso offers the potential to exploit the large West African francophone market. Burkina Faso is a member of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (WAEMU), which is also headquartered in Ouagadougou, and its currency is the Community of Francophone Africa (CFA) Franc. The CFA Franc, backed by the French treasury, trades at a fixed rate with the Euro, and is fully convertible.
Foreign investment in the gold mining sector has boosted Burkina Faso to become the fourth-largest gold producer in Africa. Companies involved in mining equipment manufacturing, finance and investment, geophysical mapping, and consulting are well placed to benefit from the revitalization of Burkina Faso‘s mining industry.
Burkina Faso is listed as the 151st best place to business in the 2020 World Bank “Doing Business” report. This is based upon the country’s political, economic, and legal institutions, and the relative efficiency of its regulatory processes. Effective in 2010, Burkina Faso reduced the corporate income tax rate from 30% to 27.5% (this rate is progressive both for public corporations and limited liability companies but it is unique for physical persons). The tax on dividends went from 15% to 12.5%. Investment and mining codes permit full repatriation of profits, 100% foreign ownership of companies, and many tax exemptions.
Competitively priced necessities such as generic pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, transportation services, electric machinery, fuel, cereals, and cotton-related services are also well positioned to enter the market.
In September 2022, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) terminated the US$ 500 million compact with the Government of Burkina Faso as a result of the January 2022 coup d’état. The Compact aimed to unlock economic growth by strengthening electricity sector effectiveness, energy reliability cost-effectiveness, and grid development and access, creating a more favorable investment environment for firms in the energy sector and the wider economy and spurring further foreign direct investment in Burkina Faso. On November 1, 2022, the U.S. government announced its intend to terminate Burkina Faso’s eligibility for trade incentives under the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) for lack of progress on the protection of the rule of law and of political pluralism. This AGOA ineligibility takes effect on January 1, 2023.
Information on investment opportunities is published on the Presidential Council for Investment website and the Burkinabe Agency for Investment (ABI).