Economy of Guinea-Bissau

Economy - overview: Guinea-Bissau is among the world's least developed nations and one of the 20 poorest countries in the world, and depends mainly on agriculture and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. License fees for fishing provide the government with some revenue. Rice is the major crop and staple food.

Intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999. Agricultural production is estimated to have fallen by 17% during the conflict, and the civil war led to a 28% overall drop in GDP in 1998. Cashew nut output, the main export crop, declined in 1998 by an estimated 30%. World cashew prices dropped by more than 50% in 2000, compounding the economic devastation caused by the conflict.

Before the war, trade reform and price liberalization were the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector had also begun to reinvigorate the economy. Under the government’s post-conflict economic and financial program, implemented with IMF and World Bank input, real GDP recovered in 1999 by almost 8%. In December 2000 Guinea-Bissau qualified for almost $800 million in debt-service relief under the first phase of the enhanced HIPC initiative and is scheduled to submit its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper in March 2002. Guinea-Bissau will receive the bulk of its assistance under the enhanced HIPC initiative when it satisfies a number of conditions, including implementation of its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.

Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. However, unexploited off-shore oil reserves could provide much-needed revenue in the long run.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.1 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 9.5% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $900 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 54%
industry: 11%
services: 35% (1996 est.)

Population below poverty line: 50% (1991 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 42.4% (1991)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.5% (1999)

Labor force: 480,000

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 78%

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: $NA

Industries: agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks

Industrial production growth rate: 2.6% (1997 est.)

Electricity - production: 40 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 37 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: rice, maize, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish

Exports: $26.8 million (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports - commodities: cashew nuts 70%, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber (1996)

Exports - partners: India 59%, Singapore 12%, Italy 10% (1997)

Imports: $22.9 million (f.o.b., 1998)

Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products (1996)

Imports - partners: Portugal 26%, France 8%, Senegal 8%, Netherlands 7% (1997)

Debt - external: $921 million (1997 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $115.4 million (1995)

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

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 647.25 (January 2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997); Guinea-Bissauan pesos (PG) per US$1 - 26,373 (1996), 18,073 (1995)
note: as of 1 May 1997, Guinea-Bissau adopted the CFA franc as the national currency following its membership in BCEAO; since 1 January 1999, the CFAF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 CFA francs per euro

Fiscal year: calendar year

See also : Guinea-Bissau