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@Mauritania:Economy

Overview: A majority of the population still depends on agriculture
and livestock for a livelihood, even though most of the nomads and
many subsistence farmers were forced into the cities by recurrent
droughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Mauritania has extensive deposits of
iron ore, which account for almost 50% of total exports. The decline
in world demand for this ore, however, has led to cutbacks in
production. The nation's coastal waters are among the richest fishing
areas in the world, but overexploitation by foreigners threatens this
key source of revenue. The country's first deepwater port opened near
Nouakchott in 1986. In recent years, drought and economic
mismanagement have resulted in a substantial buildup of foreign debt.
The government has begun the second stage of an economic reform
program in consultation with the World Bank, the IMF, and major donor
countries. Short-term growth prospects are gloomy because of the heavy
debt service burden, rapid population growth, and vulnerability to
climatic conditions.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $2.4 billion (1993
est.)

National product real growth rate: 5% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $1,110 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10% (1993)

Unemployment rate: 20% (1991 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $280 million
expenditures: $346 million, including capital expenditures of $61
million (1989 est.)

Exports: $401 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: iron ore, fish and fish products
partners: Japan 27%, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg

Imports: $378 million (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities: foodstuffs, consumer goods, petroleum products, capital
goods
partners: Algeria 15%, China 6%, US 3%, France, Germany, Spain, Italy

External debt: $1.9 billion (1992 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate NA%; accounts for almost 30% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 110,000 kW
production: 135 million kWh
consumption per capita: 61 kWh (1993)

Industries: fish processing, mining of iron ore and gypsum

Agriculture: accounts for 25% of GDP (including fishing); largely
subsistence farming and nomadic cattle and sheep herding except in
Senegal river valley; crops - dates, millet, sorghum, root crops; fish
products number-one export; large food deficit in years of drought

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89),