with about 70% of
its land area desert or semidesert. Economic activity is largely
confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the
population live as nomads and some 80% of the labor force is engaged
in agriculture and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on
processing farm commodities. In consultation with international
lending agencies, the government has adopted a structural adjustment
program for 1992-95, aiming at GDP annual growth of 4.6%, inflation of
no more than 2.5% on average, and a substantial reduction in the
external current account deficit.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - 5.8 billion (1993 est.)
National product real growth rate:
-6.1% (1992 est.)
National product per capita:
$650 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2% (1992 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$376 million
expenditures:
$697 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992 est.)
Exports:
$330 million (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
commodities:
cotton, livestock, gold
partners:
mostly franc zone and Western Europe
Imports:
$682 million (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
commodities:
machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, construction materials,
petroleum, textiles
partners:
mostly franc zone and Western Europe
External debt:
$2.6 billion (1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate -1.4% (1992 est.); accounts for 13.0% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity:
260,000 kW
production:
750 million kWh
consumption per capita:
90 kWh (1991)
Industries:
small local consumer goods and processing, construction, phosphate,
gold, fishing
Agriculture:
accounts for 50% of GDP; most production based on small subsistence
farms; cotton and livestock products account for over 70% of exports;
other crops - millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; livestock -
cattle, sheep, goats
Economic aid:
recipient:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $349 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $3.02
billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $92 million; Communist
countries (1970-89), $190 million
Currency:
1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 592.05
(January 1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26
(1990), 319.01 (1989)
note:
beginning 12 January 1994, the CFA franc was devalued