uling agreements with official and private creditors.
Devaluation of its Francophone currency by 50% on 12 January 1994
sparked a one-time inflationary surge, to 35%; the rate dropped to
6% in 1996. The IMF provided a one-year standby arrangement in
1994-95 and a three-year Enhanced Financing Facility (EFF) at near
commercial rates beginning in late 1995. Those agreements mandate
progress in privatization and fiscal discipline. France provided
additional financial support in January 1997 after Gabon had met IMF
targets for mid-1996. In 1997, an IMF mission to Gabon criticized
the government for overspending on off-budget items, overborrowing
from the central bank, and slipping on its schedule for
privatization and administrative reform. Growth in 1999 will depend
mainly on how world oil prices move.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$7.7 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: 1.7% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$6,400 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 8%
industry: 67%
services: 25% (1997 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (1998 est.)

Labor force: NA

Labor force--by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry and
commerce, services

Unemployment rate: 21% (1997 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.5 billion
expenditures: $1.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $302
million (1996 est.)

Industries: food and beverage; textile; lumbering and plywood;
cement; petroleum extraction and refining; manganese, uranium, and
gold mining; chemicals; ship repair

Industrial production growth rate: 2.3% (1995)

Electricity--production: 930 million kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fuel: 22.04%
hydro: 77.96%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)

Electricity--consumption: 930 million kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 0 kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 0 kWh (1996)

Agriculture--products: cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber;
cattle; okoume (a tropical softwood); fish

Exports: $2.1 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Exports--commodities: crude oil 81%, timber 12%, manganese 5%,
uranium (1996)

Exports--partners: US 67%, China 9%, France 8%, Japan 3% (1997)

Imports: $890 million (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Imports--commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs,
che