|
Economy -
overview: |
One of the 10 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 1999-2002.
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. The inequality of income distribution is one of the most
extreme in the world. The government and international donors continue
to work out plans to forward economic development from a lamentably
low base. Government drift and indecision, however, have resulted in
low growth in 2002-03 and dim prospects for 2004. |
|
GDP: |
purchasing power parity
- $1.063 billion (2004 est.) |
|
GDP - real
growth rate: |
-7% (2004 est.)
|
|
GDP - per
capita: |
purchasing power parity
- $800 (2004 est.) |
|
GDP -
composition by sector: |
agriculture:
62%
industry: 12%
services: 26% (1999 est.) |
|
Population
below poverty line: |
NA |
|
Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%:
0.5%
highest 10%: 42.4% (1991) |
|
Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
4% (2002 est.)
|
|
Labor
force: |
480,000 (1999)
|
|
Labor
force - by occupation: |
agriculture 82% (2000
est.) |
|
Unemployment rate: |
NA (1998) |
|
Budget: |
revenues:
NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA
|
|
Agriculture - products: |
rice, corn, beans,
cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber;
fish |
|
Industries: |
agricultural products
processing, beer, soft drinks |
|
Industrial
production growth rate: |
2.6% (1997 est.)
|
|
Electricity - production: |
55 million kWh (2001)
|
|
Electricity - consumption: |
51.15 million kWh
(2001) |
|
Electricity - exports: |
0 kWh (2001)
|
|
Electricity - imports: |
0 kWh (2001)
|
|
Oil -
production: |
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
|
|
Oil -
consumption: |
2,500 bbl/day (2001
est.) |
|
Oil -
exports: |
NA (2001) |
|
Oil -
imports: |
NA (2001) |
|
Exports: |
$54 million
f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
|
Exports -
commodities: |
cashew nuts, shrimp,
peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber |
|
Exports -
partners: |
India 76.8%, Nigeria
12.1%, Italy 5.1% (2003) |
|
Imports: |
$104 million
f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
|
Imports -
commodities: |
foodstuffs, machinery
and transport equipment, petroleum products |
|
Imports -
partners: |
Senegal 18.1%, India
14.6%, Portugal 14.6%, China 9.7%, Italy 9%, Spain 4.9% (2003)
|
|
Debt -
external: |
$941.5 million (2000
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 - 581.2 (2003), 696.988 (2002),
733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699 (1999)
note: as of 1 May 1997, Guinea-Bissau adopted the XOF franc as
the national currency; since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc is pegged
to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro |
|
Fiscal
year: |
calendar year
|