Economy - overview Cote d'Ivoire is among the world's largest producers and exporters ofcoffee, cocoa beans, and palm-kernel oil. Consequently, the economy is highlysensitive to fluctuations in international prices for coffee and cocoa andto weather conditions. Despite attempts by the government to diversify theeconomy, it is still largely dependent on agriculture and related activities,which engage roughly 85% of the population. After several years of laggingperformance, the Ivorian economy began a comeback in 1994, due to improvedprices for cocoa and coffee, growth in nontraditional primary exports suchas pineapples and rubber, limited trade and banking liberalization, offshoreoil and gas discoveries, and generous external financing and debt reschedulingby multilateral lenders and France. The 50% devaluation of Franc Zone currencieson 12 January 1994 caused a one-time jump in the inflation rate to 32% for1994, but this rate fell to 8% by 1996, in part as the economy adjusted tothe devaluation. Moreover, government adherence to donor-mandated reformsled to a jump in growth rates - 6.5% in GDP in 1996.

GDP purchasing power parity - $23.9 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 6.5% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $1,620 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 31%
industry: 20%
services : 49% (1994 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 8% (1996 est.)

Labor force NA

Unemployment rate NA%

Budget
revenues: $1.9 billion
expenditures: $3.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $408 million (1993)

Industries foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining, automobile assembly,textiles, fertilizer, construction materials, electricity

Industrial production growth rate 9% (first half of 1996)

Electricity - capacity 1.17 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production 1.86 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita 118 kWh (1995 est.)

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

Exports
total value: $3.7 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: cocoa 36%, coffee 22%; tropical woods 4%, petroleum, cotton, bananas,pineapples, palm oil, cotton, fish
partners : France 18%, Germany 11%, Italy 8%, Burkina Faso, Mali, US, UK, Netherlands

Imports
total value : $2.4 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: food, consumer goods; capital goods, fuel, transport equipment
partners: France 32%, Nigeria 20%, US 6.7%, Germany, Italy, Ghana

Debt - external $16.7 billion (1994)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $552 million (1993)

Currency 1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates CFA francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 541.69 (January 1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15(1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992)
note : beginning 12 January 1994, the CFA franc was devalued to CFAF 100 perFrench franc from CFAF 50 at which it had been fixed since 1948

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Cote d'Ivoire on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cote d'Ivoire Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cote d'Ivoire Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.