Economy - overview:
Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, a landlocked Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Drought cycles, desertification, a 3.3% population growth rate, and the drop in world demand for uranium have undercut the economy. Niger shares a common currency, the CFA franc, and a common central bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), with seven other members of the West African Monetary Union. In December 2000, Niger qualified for enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program for Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and concluded an agreement with the Fund on a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). Debt relief provided under the enhanced HIPC initiative significantly reduces Niger's annual debt service obligations, freeing funds for expenditures on basic health care, primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, rural infrastructure, and other programs geared at poverty reduction. Nearly half of the government's budget is derived from foreign donor resources. Future growth may be sustained by exploitation of oil, gold, coal, and other mineral resources.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $9.716 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3.5% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $900 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 39%
industry: 17%
services: 44% (2001)
Labor force:
70,000 receive regular wages or salaries (2002 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 90%, industry and commerce 6%, government 4%
Unemployment rate:
NA (2002 est.)
Population below poverty line:
63% (1993 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.8%
highest 10%: 35.4% (1995)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
50.5 (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $320 million - including $134 million from foreign sources
expenditures: $320 million, including capital expenditures of $178 million (2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, millet, sorghum, cassava (tapioca), rice; cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry
Industries:
uranium mining, cement, brick, soap, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses
Industrial production growth rate:
NA (2001 est.)
Electricity - production:
266.2 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - consumption:
327.6 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports:
80 million kWh (2002)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
5,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA
Oil - imports:
NA
Exports:
$280 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
uranium ore, livestock, cowpeas, onions
Exports - partners:
France 47.1%, Nigeria 22.7%, Japan 8.6%, US 5.4% (2004)
Imports:
$400 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery, vehicles and parts, petroleum, cereals
Imports - partners:
France 17.4%, Cote d'Ivoire 11.3%, Italy 8.4%, Nigeria 7.3%, Germany 6.5%, US 5.5%, China 4.8% (2004)
Debt - external:
$1.6 billion (1999 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$341 million (1997)
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)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
