Economy - overview:
Cote d'Ivoire is among the world's largest producers and exporters
of coffee, cocoa beans, and palm oil. Consequently, the economy is
highly sensitive to fluctuations in international prices for these
products and to weather conditions. Despite government attempts to
diversify the economy, it is still largely dependent on agriculture
and related activities, which engage roughly 68% of the population.
After several years of lagging performance, the Ivorian economy
began a comeback in 1994, due to the 50% devaluation of the CFA
franc and improved prices for cocoa and coffee, growth in
nontraditional primary exports such as pineapples and rubber,
limited trade and banking liberalization, offshore oil and gas
discoveries, and generous external financing and debt rescheduling
by multilateral lenders and France. Moreover, government adherence
to donor-mandated reforms led to a jump in growth to 5% annually
during 1996-99. Growth was negative in 2000-02 because of the
difficulty of meeting the conditions of international donors,
continued low prices of key exports, and severe civil war fighting.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $24.03 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-1.6% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 29%
industry: 22%
services: 49% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
37% (1995)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.1%
highest 10%: 28.8% (1995)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
36.7 (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.2% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
68% agricultural (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
13% in urban areas (1998)
Budget:
revenues: $1.72 billion
expenditures: $2.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $420
million (2001 est.)
Industries:
foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining, truck and bus
assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials, electricity
Industrial production growth rate:
15% (1998 est.)
Electricity - production:
4.605 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 61.9%
hydro: 38.1%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
2.983 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
1.3 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
11,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
32,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
50 million bbl (37257)
Natural gas - production:
1.35 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
1.35 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
14.87 billion cu m (37257)
Agriculture - products:
coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc
(tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber
Exports:
$4.4 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm
oil, fish
Exports - partners:
France 14.5%, Netherlands 12.9%, US 7.6%, Germany 5.4%, Mali 4.6%,
Belgium 4.4%, Spain 4.3% (2002)
Imports:
$2.5 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs
Imports - partners:
France 22.7%, Nigeria 16.6%, China 7.9%, Italy 4.2% (2002)
Debt - external:
$10.3 billion (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
ODA, $1 billion (1996 est.)
Currency:
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible
authority is the Central Bank of the West African States
Currency code:
XOF
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 696.99
(2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.7 (1999), 589.95 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year