Cote d'Ivoire Economy - 2004

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 heavily 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 2000-03 because of the difficulty of meeting the conditions of international donors, continued low prices of key exports, and severe civil war. Political uncertainty will continue to cloud the economic outlook in 2004, but rising world prices for cocoa will help both the current account and the government balances.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $24.51 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
-1.9% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2003 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):
4.1% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
68% agricultural (1996 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

Oil - imports:
NA

Oil - proved reserves:
50 million bbl (1 January 2002)

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 (1 January 2002)

Agriculture - products:
coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber

Exports:
$5.299 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, fish

Exports - partners:
France 13.7%, Netherlands 12.2%, US 7.2%, Germany 5.3%, Mali 4.4%, Belgium 4.2%, Spain 4.1% (2002)

Imports:
$2.781 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs

Imports - partners:
France 22.4%, Nigeria 16.3%, China 7.8%, Italy 4.1% (2002)

Debt - external:
$10.7 billion (2003 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 - 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.7 (1999)