by
the ravages of civil war, conflict with Libya, drought, and food
shortages. In 1986 real GDP returned to its 1977 level, with cotton,
the major cash crop, accounting for 48% of exports. Over 80%
of the work force is employed in subsistence farming and fishing.
Industry is based almost entirely on the processing of agricultural
products, including cotton, sugarcane, and cattle. Chad is highly
dependent on foreign aid, with its economy in trouble and many regions
suffering from shortages. Oil companies are exploring areas north of
Lake Chad and in the Doba basin in the south.

_#_GDP: $1,015 million, per capita $205; real growth rate 0.9% (1989
est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): - 4.9% (1989)

_#_Unemployment rate: NA

_#_Budget: revenues $78 million; expenditures $127 million, not
including capital expenditures that are mostly financed by foreign
aid donors (1989 est.)

_#_Exports: $174 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.);

commodities--cotton 48%, cattle 35%, textiles 5%, fish;

partners--France, Nigeria, Cameroon

_#_Imports: $264 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.);

commodities--machinery and transportation equipment 39%,
industrial goods 20%, petroleum products 13%, foodstuffs 9%;
note--excludes military equipment;

partners--US, France, Nigeria, Cameroon

_#_External debt: $530 million (December 1990 est.)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate 12.9% (1989 est.); accounts for
nearly 15% of GDP

_#_Electricity: 38,000 kW capacity; 70 million kWh produced, 14 kWh
per capita (1989)

_#_Industries: cotton textile mills, slaughterhouses, brewery, natron
(sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes

_#_Agriculture: accounts for about 45% of GDP; largely subsistence
farming; cotton most important cash crop; food crops include sorghum,
millet, peanuts, rice, potatoes, manioc; livestock--cattle, sheep, goats,
camels; self-sufficient in food in years of adequate rainfall

_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $198
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $1.3 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $28 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $80 million

_#_Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc
(plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

_#_Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF)
per US$1--256.54 (January 1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85
(1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (19