l primary exports such as pineapples
and rubber, limited trade and banking liberalization, offshore oil and
gas discoveries, and generous external financing and debt rescheduling
by multilateral lenders and France. The 50% devaluation of Franc Zone
currencies on 12 January 1994 caused a one-time jump in the inflation
rate to 26% in 1994, but the rate fell to 7% in 1996 and an estimated
3.4% in 1997. Moreover, government adherence to donor-mandated reforms
led to a jump in growth rates-6.5% in GDP in 1996 and again in 1997.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$25.8 billion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 6.5% (1997 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$1,700 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 31%
industry: 20%
services: 49% (1995)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 3.4% (1997 est.)

Labor force: NA

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $2.4 billion
expenditures: $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $600
million (1996 est.)

Industries: foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining,
automobile assembly, textiles, fertilizer, construction materials,
electricity

Industrial production growth rate: 9% (first half of 1996)

Electricity-capacity: 1.173 million kW (1995)

Electricity-production: 1.875 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 127 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels,
corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar; cotton, rubber;
timber

Exports:
total value: $4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: cocoa 36%, coffee 22%; tropical woods 4%, petroleum,
cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, cotton, fish
partners: France 18%, Germany 8%, Italy 8%, Netherlands 8%, Burkina
Faso, Mali, US, UK

Imports:
total value: $3.2 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: food, consumer goods; capital goods, fuel, transport
equipment
partners: France 32%, Nigeria 20%, US 6%, Ghana, Germany, Italy

Debt-external: $16.1 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $552 million (1993)

Currency: 1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100
centimes

Exchange rates: CFA francs (CFAF) per US$1-608.36 (January 1998),
583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16
(1993)
note: beginning 12 January 1994, the CFA franc was devalued to CFAF
100 per French franc from CFAF 50 at which it had been fixed since
1948

Fiscal year: calendar year

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