Guinea-Bissau Economy 2001

Economy - overview: One of the 20 poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau depends mainly on farming and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. Rice is the major crop and staple food. However, intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999-2000. Before the war, trade reform and price liberalization were the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector had also begun to reinvigorate the economy. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. However, unexploited offshore oil reserves could provide much-needed revenue in the long run.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.1 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 7.6% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $850 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 54%
industry: 15%
services: 31% (1997 est.)

Population below poverty line: 50% (1991 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 42.4% (1991)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 480,000

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 78%

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries: agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks

Industrial production growth rate: 2.6% (1997 est.)

Electricity - production: 55 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 51.2 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish

Exports: $80 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: cashew nuts 70%, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber (1996)

Exports - partners: India 59%, Singapore 12%, Italy 10% (1998)

Imports: $55.2 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products (1996)

Imports - partners: Portugal 26%, France 8%, Senegal 8%, Netherlands 7% (1998)

Debt - external: $964 million (1998 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $115.4 million (1995)

Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States; previously the Guinea-Bissau peso (GWP) was used

Currency code: XOF; GWP

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 699.21 (January 2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997); Guinea-Bissauan pesos per US dollar - 26,373 (1996)
note: as of 1 May 1997, Guinea-Bissau adopted the CFA franc as the national currency; since 1 January 1999, the CFA franc is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 CFA francs per euro

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Guinea-Bissau on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea-Bissau Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Guinea-Bissau Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.