Economy (Togo)
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Overview:
The economy is heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture, which accounts
for about 35% 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, that is, actively encouraging foreign
investment and attempting to bring revenues in line with expenditures.
Political unrest throughout 1991, however, has jeopardized the reform
program and has disrupted vital economic activity.
GDP:
exchange rate conversion - $1.5 billion, per capita $400; real growth rate
2% (1990 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.0% (1990)
Unemployment rate:
2.0% (1987)
Budget:
revenues $330 million; expenditures $363 million, including capital
expenditures of $101 million (1990 est.)
Exports:
$396 million (f.o.b., 1990)
commodities:
phosphates, cocoa, coffee, cotton, manufactures, palm kernels
partners:
EC 70%, Africa 9%, US 2%, other 19% (1985)
Imports:
$502 million (f.o.b., 1990)
commodities:
food, fuels, durable consumer goods, other intermediate goods, capital goods
partners:
EC 61%, US 6%, Africa 4%, Japan 4%, other 25% (1989)
External debt:
$1.3 billion (1990 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 4.9% (1987 est.); 6% 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:
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 (FY70-89), $132 million; Western (non-US)
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.9 billion; OPEC
bilateral aid (1979-89), $35 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $51
million
Currency:
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural - francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF)
= 100 centimes
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