Economy - overview:
This small, poor island economy has become increasingly dependent on cocoa since independence in 1975. Cocoa production has substantially declined in recent years because of drought and mismanagement. Sao Tome and Principe has to import fuels, most manufactured goods, consumer goods, and a substantial amount of food, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in global commodity prices. Over the years, it has had difficulty servicing its external debt and has relied heavily on concessional aid and debt rescheduling. Sao Tome and Principe benefited from $200 million in debt relief in December 2000 under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program, which helped bring down the country's $300 million debt burden. In August 2005, the government signed on to a new 3-year IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) program worth $4.3 million. In April 2011 the country completed a Threshold Country Program with The Millennium Challenge Corporation to help increase tax revenues, reform customs, and improve the business environment. Considerable potential exists for development of a tourist industry, and the government has taken steps to expand facilities in recent years. The government also has attempted to reduce price controls and subsidies. Potential exists for the development of petroleum resources in Sao Tome and Principe's territorial waters in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, which are being jointly developed in a 60-40 split with Nigeria, but any actual production is at least several years off. The first production licenses were sold in 2004, though a dispute over licensing with Nigeria delayed the country's receipt of more than $20 million in signing bonuses for almost a year. Maintaining control of inflation, fiscal discipline, and increasing flows of foreign direct investment into the oil sector, are the major economic problems facing the country.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Sao Tome and Principe on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sao Tome and Principe Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sao Tome and Principe Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$306 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 211
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$200 million (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
5% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 72
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$2,000 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 187
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 14.6%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 23.8%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 61.7% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
52,490 (2007)
country comparison to the world: 188
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
note: population mainly engaged in subsistence agriculture and fishing; shortages of skilled workers
NA%
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
54% (2004 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: NA%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: NA%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
41.8% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 10
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $44.62 million
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $52.77 million (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
22.3% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 139
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-4.1% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 127
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
12% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 200
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
16% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 5
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
18% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$19.33 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 190
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$67.88 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 190
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$21.38 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 189
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
cocoa, coconuts, palm kernels, copra, cinnamon, pepper, coffee, bananas, papayas, beans; poultry; fish
light construction, textiles, soap, beer, fish processing, timber
7% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
41 million kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 204
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
38.13 million kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 205
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 136
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
1,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 196
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 135
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
889 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 194
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 134
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 191
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 134
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 198
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$90 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 73
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$16.6 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 210
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
cocoa 80%, copra, coffee, palm oil
Netherlands 47.6%, Belgium 17.4%, France 5.9%, Thailand 4.9% (2010)
$119.5 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 209
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
machinery and electrical equipment, food products, petroleum products
Portugal 61%, Malaysia 7.4%, Netherlands 5.3%, Gabon 4.6% (2010)
$52.6 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 174
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$185.9 million (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 180
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
dobras (STD) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12