| Economy - overview: Niger is a poor, landlocked Sub-Saharan
nation, whose economy centers on subsistence agriculture, animal
husbandry, reexport trade, and increasingly less on uranium, because of
declining world demand. The 50% devaluation of the West African franc in
January 1994 boosted exports of livestock, cowpeas, onions, and the
products of Niger's small cotton industry. The government relies on
bilateral and multilateral aid - which was suspended following the April
1999 coup d'etat - for operating expenses and public investment. In 2000,
the World Bank approved a structural adjustment loan of $35 million to
help support fiscal reforms. However, reforms could prove difficult given
the government's bleak financial situation. GDP:
purchasing power parity - $10 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.5% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,000 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 40%
industry: 18%
services: 42% (1998)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.8%
highest 10%: 35.4% (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.8% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 70,000 receive regular wages or salaries
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 90%, industry and
commerce 6%, government 4%
Budget:
revenues: $377 million, including $146 million from foreign sources
expenditures: $377 million, including capital expenditures of $105 million (1999
est.)
Industries: uranium mining, cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals,
slaughterhouses
Electricity - production: 200 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 401 million kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, millet, sorghum, cassava
(tapioca), rice; cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry
Exports: $385 million (f.o.b., 1999)
Exports - commodities: uranium ore 65%, livestock products, cowpeas, onions
(1998 est.)
Exports - partners: France
45%, Nigeria 27%, UK 11% (1999)
Imports: $317 million (f.o.b., 1999)
Imports - commodities: consumer goods, primary materials, machinery, vehicles
and parts, petroleum, cereals
Imports - partners: France 22%, Cote d'Ivoire 15%, Nigeria 8%, US
3% (1999)
Debt - external: $1.3 billion (1999 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $341 million (1997)
note: the IMF approved a $73 million poverty reduction and
growth facility for Niger in 2000 and announced $115 million in debt
relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note -
responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States.
SOURCE: The World Factbook |