1. By Leonel Lionardo

2.  Located in central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of Congo.  Total area: 27,830 sq km around the size of Maryland  Land area: 25,680 sq km  Water area: 2,150 sq km  Very hot equatorial country  The terrain is hilly and mountainous, dropping to a plateau in east, some plains.

3.  Burundi is a landlocked country.  Natural resources include: nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum, vanadium, arable land, hydropower, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaolin, limestone.

4.  Population: 9,863,117  0-14 years: 46.1%, 15-64 years: 51.4%, 65 years and over: 2.5%  Life expectancy: total population: 58.29 years  Population growth rate: 3.561% (4 th highest in the world!)

5.  Languages: Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area)  Literacy: total population: 59.3%  male: 67.3%  female: 52.2  School life expectancy: 7 years

6.  41.43 births/1,000 population  9.87 deaths/1,000 population  Fertility rate: 6.25 children born/woman  Infant mortality: total: 63.38 deaths/1,000 live births  People living with aids: 110,000  food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever  vector borne disease: malaria

7.  Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural which accounts for about 35% of GDP and employs more than 90% of the population. Burundi's primary exports are coffee and tea, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, though exports are a relatively small share of GDP. Burundi's export earning - and its ability to pay for imports - rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices

8.  GDP: $3.247 billion  GDP exchange rate: $1.427 billion  GDP growth rate: 3.2%  GDP per capita is $300  GDP composition: agriculture: 33.3%, industry: 21%, services: 45.8%  Unemployment: NA%  Inflation: 14.1%

9.  Income distribution: lowest 10%: 4.1%, highest 10%: 28%  Exports: $79 million  Imports: $318 million  Net exports value is extremely low as you can see.

10.  My proposal for helping Burundi grow economically is improving infrastructure. With this improvement in infrastructure a lot more people in Burundi will be able to get around and spend more money which will increase the consumption value and increase GDP. With a small loan Burundi will be able to create roads and perhaps open up a bus transit which will help people get around and spend more money.

11.  With a $700,000,000 loan we can make this improvement in infrastructure happen. As far as estimates for revenue lets say that 20% of the people in Burundi are now able to move around and consume more. Lets say they spend about $100 more than usual. 20% of 9,863,117 is 1,972,623 times 100 is $197,262,300 which all goes to GDP with a gradual amount of money being paid back to the loaner in a couple of years we can see great improvement in GDP. We can also see increases in exports which could increase the net exports value.