ion below poverty line:
37% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.5% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
NA (1996)

Unemployment rate:
NA

Budget:
revenues: $698.9 million
expenditures: $613.2 million, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003)

Agriculture - products:
cotton, corn, cassava (tapioca), yams, beans, palm oil, peanuts,
livestock (2001)

Industries:
textiles, food processing, chemical production, construction
materials (2001)

Industrial production growth rate:
8.3% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production:
274.3 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
631.1 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
376 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
700 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
11,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
4.105 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
608.8 million cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$-112 million (2003)

Exports:
$485 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
cotton, crude oil, palm products, cocoa

Exports - partners:
China 21.1%, India 18%, Thailand 6.8%, Ghana 5.8%, Niger 4.4%,
Indonesia 4.1% (2003)

Imports:
$726 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, capital goods, petroleum products

Imports - partners:
China 29.5%, France 14.9%, UK 4.7%, Cote d'Ivoire 4.7%, Thailand
4.6% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$636 million (2003)

Debt - external:
$1.6 billion (2000)

Economic aid - recipient:
$342.6 million (2000)

Currency:
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible
authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

Currency code:
XOF

Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 581.2
(2003), 696.988 (2002), 733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699
(1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Benin

Telephones - main lines in use:
66,500 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
236,200 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: NA
domestic: fair system of open-wire, microwave radio relay, and
cellular connections
international: country code - 229; satellite ear