Economy (Mali)
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     Overview:
         Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with about 70% of its land
         area desert or semidesert. Economic activity is largely confined to the
         riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population live as
         nomads and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture and
         fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $2.2 billion, per capita $265; real growth rate
         2.2% (1990 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         -1.6% (1990)
     Unemployment rate:
         NA%
     Budget:
         revenues $329 million; expenditures $519 million, including capital
         expenditures of $178 (1989 est.)
     Exports:
         $285 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.)
       commodities:
         livestock, peanuts, dried fish, cotton, skins
       partners:
         mostly franc zone and Western Europe
     Imports:
         $513 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.)
       commodities:
         textiles, vehicles, petroleum products, machinery, sugar, cereals
       partners:
         mostly franc zone and Western Europe
     External debt:
         $2.2 billion (1989 est.)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 19.9% (1989 est.); accounts for 7% of GDP
     Electricity:
         260,000 kW capacity; 750 million kWh produced, 90 kWh per capita (1991)
     Industries:
         small local consumer goods and processing, construction, phosphate, gold,
         fishing
     Agriculture:
         accounts for 50% of GDP; most production based on small subsistence farms;
         cotton and livestock products account for over 70% of exports; other crops -
         millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; livestock - cattle, sheep, and
         goats
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $349 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $3,020 million; OPEC
         bilateral aid (1979-89), $92 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $190
         million
     Currency:
         Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural - francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF)
         = 100 centimes
     Exchange rates:
         Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 269.01 (January
         1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54
         (1987)
     Fiscal year:
         calendar year