Togo--Economy
CIA FactbookThe World Factbook 1993: Togo Economy

Overview: The economy is heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture, which accounts for about 33% of GDP and provides employment for 78% of the labor force. Primary agricultural exports are cocoa, coffee, and cotton, which together account for about 30% of total export earnings. Togo is self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs when harvests are normal. In the industrial sector phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, with phosphate exports accounting for about 40% of total foreign exchange earnings. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. The government, over the past decade, with IMF and World Bank support, has been implementing a number of economic reform measures to encourage foreign investment and bring revenues in line with expenditures. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1991 and 1992, has jeopardized the reform program and has disrupted vital economic activity.

National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $1.5 billion (1991 est.)

National product real growth rate: 0% (1991 est.)

National product per capita: $400 (1991 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0.5% (1991 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2% (1987)

Budget: revenues $284.8 million; expenditures $407 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991 est.)

Exports: $512 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.) commodities: phosphates, cotton, cocoa, coffee partners: EC 40%, Africa 16%, US 1% (1990) Imports: $583 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.) commodities: machinery and equipment, consumer goods, food, chemical products partners: EC 57%, Africa 17%, US 5%, Japan 4% (1990)

External debt: $1.3 billion (1991)

Industrial production: growth rate 9.0% (1991 est.); accounts for 20% of GDP

Electricity: 179,000 kW capacity; 209 million kWh produced, 60 kWh per capita (1990)

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

Agriculture: accounts for 33% of GDP; cash crops - coffee, cocoa, cotton; food crops - yams, cassava, corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock production not significant; annual fish catch, 10,000-14,000 tons

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $142 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-90), $2 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $35 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $51 million

Currency: 1 CFA franc (CFAF)=100 centimes

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 274.06 (January 1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988)

Fiscal year: calendar year