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 and dim prospects for 2003.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $901.4 million (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-4.3% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $700 (2002 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
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 82% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries:
agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks
Industrial production growth rate:
2.6% (1997 est.)
Electricity - production:
55 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
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)
Agriculture - products:
rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm
kernels, cotton; timber; fish
Exports:
$71 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber
Exports - partners:
India 51.5%, Uruguay 19.5%, Thailand 19.4% (2002)
Imports:
$59 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products
Imports - partners:
Senegal 19.6%, Portugal 19.1%, India 15.3%, Taiwan 5.1% (2002)
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 - 696.99
(2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.7 (1999), 589.95 (1998)
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