Over the recent past, Burkina Faso has registered solid economic growth and poverty levels have been lowered, suggesting that growth has been pro-poor. Yet, poverty remains widespread despite high levels of labor market participation and employment. In practice, life for many in the country...

This joint World Bank/IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) has been prepared in the context of the 2018 Article IV consultation and first review of the three-year program supported by the IMF's Extended Credit Facility (ECF). It is based on end-2017 debt data and the latest methodology...

A small landlocked economy in the heart of West Africa's French-speaking Sahel, Burkina Faso is characterized by its modest economic size, with a rapid population growth, with one of the highest per capita birth rates in the world. Burkina Faso needs to create 300,000 jobs annually to match its...

Regional integration and international connectivity via economic corridors play an essential role in reducing the isolation of West Africa's landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso's main international corridors are the Ouagadougou-Lome road corridor connecting it to Togo, the...

The government of Burkina Faso has a strong interest in strengthening its social safety nets provision to better support the country's poorest and most vulnerable households. It has demonstrated this commitment through past investments in social protection. Against a backdrop of limited public...

Financial market imperfections remain pervasive in developing countries, constraining potentially profitable investment decisions, especially for rural smallholder farmers. Warrantage is an innovative model of rural finance with the potential to overcome credit, storage, and commitment...

Can democratic elections reduce rent extraction by public decision makers? Existing research suggests that reelection incentives can reduce the embezzlement of public funds. This paper examines three additional mechanisms through which democratic elections could have an impact on embezzlement,...

Burkina Faso is a West African Sahelian landlocked country covering 274,200 square kilometers. In January 2015, the population was estimated at just over 17.9 million. The capital city is Ouagadougou. The country has a tropical climate with two very distinct seasons: dry and rainy. In the rainy...

This report aims to assess the spatial disparities in economic development along four important dimensions: (i) It provides stylized facts of the underlying forces behind within-country inequality, namely natural endowment, agglomeration economies, and market access. These are the three building...