Mali Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert and with a highly unequal distribution of income. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold. The government has continued its successful implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the African franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a sturdy 5% average in 1996-2004. Worker remittances and external trade routes have been jeopardized by continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $11 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $900 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 45%
industry: 17%
services: 38% (2001 est.)

Labor force:
3.93 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture and fishing 80% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
14.6% urban areas; 5.3% rural areas (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
64% average; 30% of the total population living in urban areas; 70% of the total population living in rural areas) (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 40.4% (1994)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
50.5 (1994)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.5% (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $764 million
expenditures: $828 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2002 est.)

Agriculture - products:
cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats

Industries:
food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining

Industrial production growth rate:
NA (FY96/97)

Electricity - production:
700 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
651 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh; note - recent hydropower developments may be providing electricity to Senegal and Mauritania (2002)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
4,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Exports:
$915 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
cotton, gold, livestock

Exports - partners:
China 32%, India 10.3%, Italy 7.6%, Bangladesh 6.8%, Thailand 5.9%, Germany 5.2%, Taiwan 4% (2004)

Imports:
$927 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Imports - commodities:
petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, textiles

Imports - partners:
France 15.4%, Senegal 7.2%, Cote d'Ivoire 6.6%, Germany 4.1% (2004)

Debt - external:
$3.3 billion (2000)

Economic aid - recipient:
$596.4 million (2001)

Currency (code):
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)