Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso's economy grew an estimated 5.3% in 2025, up from 4.8% in 2024, propelled by services, a 17.6% jump in cereal output and a record gold sector. Inflation turned slightly negative at around -0.5% in 2025 thanks to strong harvests and softer energy prices. Gold production exceeded 94 tonnes — up nearly 50% on 2024 — and mining delivered roughly CFA 776bn in budget revenue, up from CFA 548bn the year before, cementing bullion as the country's economic backbone amid high global prices.

What distinguishes Burkina Faso is its assertive resource-nationalist model under the AES junta. Since the 2022 coup that brought Captain Ibrahim Traoré to power, the state has rewritten the rules: a July 2024 Mining Code allowing 15–30% state stakes, the creation of state miner SOPAMIB, nationalization of several gold assets (including former Endeavour Mining sites and a push for a stake in West African Resources' Kiaka), a domestic refinery and the country's first locally produced gold bars in December 2024. A $64bn 2026–2030 National Development Plan aims to convert resource control into domestic value creation.

The defining risk is security and the institutional rupture it has produced. Burkina Faso topped the 2025 Global Terrorism Index with a score of 8.581 and around 1,532 attack fatalities, with roughly 2.1 million people displaced. Its January 2025 exit from ECOWAS, junta rule under an extended transition, and aggressive nationalization create deep uncertainty for foreign investors even as gold revenue surges.