Economy of Togo

Economy - overview: This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton together generate about 30% of export earnings. Togo is self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs when harvests are normal, with occasional regional supply difficulties. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, although it has suffered from the collapse of world phosphate prices and increased foreign competition. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has stalled. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, jeopardized the reform program, shrunk the tax base, and disrupted vital economic activity. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of the currency by 50% provided an important impetus to renewed structural adjustment; these efforts were facilitated by the end of strife in 1994 and a return to overt political calm. Progress depends on following through on privatization, increased openness in government financial operations (to accommodate increased social service outlays), and possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of aid, along with depressed cocoa prices, generated a 1% fall in GDP in 1998, with growth resuming in 1999. Assuming no deterioration of the political atmosphere, growth should rise to 5% a year in 2000-01.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $8.6 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,700 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 42%
industry: 21%
services: 37% (1997)

Population below poverty line: 32% (1987-89 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 1.538 million (1993 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry 5%, services 30% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $232 million
expenditures: $252 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

Industries: phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement; handicrafts, textiles, beverages

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 0.09 TWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 93.33%
hydro: 6.67%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 0.434 TWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 TWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0.35 TWh (1998)
note: imports electricity from Ghana

Agriculture - products: coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), maize, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish

Exports: $400 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Exports - commodities: cotton, phosphates, coffee, cocoa

Exports - partners: Canada, Philippines, Ghana, France (1998)

Imports: $450 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products

Imports - partners: Ghana, France, Côte d'Ivoire, China (1998)

Debt - external: $1.3 billion (1997)

Economic aid - recipient: $201.1 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), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995)
note: 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 : Togo