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 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: | -1.9% (2004 est.) |
| GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 36.6%
industry: 19.9%
services: 43.5% (2004 est.) |
| Investment (gross fixed): | 8.7% of GDP (2004 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): | 3.4% (2004 est.) |
| Labor force: | 6.64 million 68% agricultural (2004 est.) |
| Unemployment rate: | 13% in urban areas (1998) |
| Budget: | revenues: $2.339 billion
expenditures: $2.749 billion, including capital expenditures of $420 million (2004 est.) |
| Public debt: | 82.5% of GDP (2004 est.) |
| Agriculture - products: | coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber |
| 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 - consumption: | 2.983 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - exports: | 1.3 billion kWh (2001) |
| Electricity - imports: | 0 kWh (2001) |
| Oil - production: | 11,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: | 32,000 bbl/day (2001 est.) |
| Oil - exports: | NA (2001) |
| Oil - imports: | NA (2001) |
| Oil - proved reserves: | 50 million bbl (2004) |
| 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 (2004) |
| Current account balance: | $501 million (2004 est.) |
| Exports: | $5.299 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: | cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, fish |
| Exports - partners: | France 19.1%, Netherlands 17.7%, US 7.1%, Spain 5.6% (2003) |
| Imports: | $2.781 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: | fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs |
| Imports - partners: | France 32.7%, Nigeria 14.4%, UK 7% (2003) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: | $2.005 billion (2004 est.) |
| Debt - external: | $11.85 billion (2004 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), 696.988 (2002), 733.039 (2001), 711.976 (2000), 615.699 (1999) |
| Fiscal year: | calendar year
Source: CIA World Factbook
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