ABSTRACT
This chapter examines business and government relations in Burkina Faso. It reviews the literature on the relationship between the government and the private sector and analyses these relations from both the traditional review of economic regulation and deregulation, and the privatization of public enterprises and reforms in the private sector governance. The chapter reviews the nature of private sector responses visà-vis the government and in terms of corporate governance. The regulation governing the private sector has gone through a clear evolution in Burkina Faso, starting from the early 2000s. From 1960 to 1990, political economy was strongly influenced by the interventionism of the State. Through a service responsible for planning the development of the various sectors, many industrial units and State-owned financial institutions were created to expand the economy. Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, foreign trade in Burkina is based on the export of primary products against import of manufactured goods.
