Structure and Dynamic of Economy and Its Links with Population Well-being in Burkina Faso from 1990 to 2015

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the structure and dynamic of Burkina Faso’s economy during the last 25 years (1990-2015) and to know in what extent the economic growth saved during this period contributed to improve the living conditions of the population. To respond to these questions we used data of national account and data from five household surveys (EP I 1994, EP II 1998, EBCVM 2003, EICVM 2009, EMC 2014). All data are produced by National Institute of Statistic and Demography (INSD). The methodology used is descriptive analysis by conducting an univariate and bivariate analysis and the statistical approach of Kakwani.

The results indicate that during the period, the annual average growth observed varies from 1.9 percent in 2000 to 8.7 percent in 2006. However, for Gross Domestic Product, we have two main findings: (i) 2000 and 2009 have negative growth rate (-1.5% and 0.5% respectively); (ii) For the other year of the period, the growth rate varied between 1.2 percent and 5.3 percent. Globally, we observe that for all years, the annual growth rate for GDP is higher than annual growth rate for GDP per capita.

The main sector in terms of contribution to Gross domestic Product between 2000 and 2012 is the tertiary sector regardless of the year of the period. Even if, it is not easy to measure the contribution of informal sector to the economy, the analysis of available data indicates that its contribution is estimated to more than 48 percent. Despite the economic growth saved, we have not observed improvement in the living conditions of population between 1990 and 2009 according the poverty indicators. Moreover, poverty increased after 1994 and the country has not yet managed to reach level observed in 1994. After 2009, poverty rose sharply to 40% in 2014.

In the light of these findings, the implementation of economic policies and socio-economic programs that are likely to promote pro-poor economic growth would be more effective than a high growth policy if we want to improve the living conditions of the most disadvantaged. Furthermore, as the country has undertaken to have advantage of the demographic dividend, it is important to develop appropriate economic policies to achieve structural transformation of economy of Burkina Faso.