Economy - overview: | Subsistence agriculture, together with forestry, remains the backbone of the economy of the Central African Republic (CAR), with more than 70% of the population living in outlying areas. The agricultural sector generates half of GDP. Timber has accounted for about 16% of export earnings and the diamond industry for 54%. Important constraints to economic development include the CAR's landlocked position, a poor transportation system, a largely unskilled work force, and a legacy of misdirected macroeconomic policies. Factional fighting between the government and its opponents remains a drag on economic revitalization, with GDP likely to contract in 2004. Distribution of income is extraordinarily unequal. Grants from France and the international community can only partially meet humanitarian needs. |
| GDP: | purchasing power parity - $4.183 billion (2004 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: | -7% (2004 est.) |
| GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $1,100 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 55%
industry: 20%
services: 25% (2001 est.) |
| Population below poverty line: | NA (1993) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 0.7%
highest 10%: 47.7% (1993) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 61.3 (1993) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 3.6% (2001 est.) |
| Labor force: | NA (2000 est.) |
| Unemployment rate: | 8% (23% for Bangui) (2001 est.) |
| Budget: | revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA |
| Agriculture - products: | cotton, coffee, tobacco, manioc (tapioca), yams, millet, corn, bananas; timber |
| Industries: | diamond mining, logging, brewing, textiles, footwear, assembly of bicycles and motorcycles |
| Industrial production growth rate: | 3% (2002) |
| Electricity - production: | 106 million kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - consumption: | 98.63 million kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - exports: | 0 kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - imports: | 0 kWh (2001) |
| Oil - production: | 0 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: | 2,400 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - exports: | NA (2001) |
| Oil - imports: | NA (2001) |
| Exports: | $172 million f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: | diamonds, timber, cotton, coffee, tobacco |
| Exports - partners: | Belgium 41.8%, Italy 10.7%, Spain 9.8%, France 7.4%, Indonesia 6.6% (2003) |
| Imports: | $136 million f.o.b. (2002 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: | food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals |
| Imports - partners: | France 27%, Cameroon 9.2%, US 5.3% (2003) |
| Debt - external: | $881.4 million (2000 est.) |
| Economic aid - recipient: | ODA $73 million; note - traditional budget subsidies from France (2000 est.) |
| Currency: | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible authority is the Bank of the Central African States |
| Currency code: | XAF |
| Exchange rates: | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 581.2 (2003), 696.988 (2002), 733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699 (1999) |
| Fiscal year: | calendar year
Source: CIA World Factbook
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