Economy (Mauritania)
====================


     Overview:
         A majority of the population still depends on agriculture and livestock for
         a livelihood, even though most of the nomads and many subsistence farmers
         were forced into the cities by recurrent droughts in the 1970s and 1980s.
         Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for almost 50%
         of total exports. The decline in world demand for this ore, however, has led
         to cutbacks in production. The nation's coastal waters are among the richest
         fishing areas in the world, but overexploitation by foreigners threatens
         this key source of revenue. The country's first deepwater port opened near
         Nouakchott in 1986. In recent years, the droughts, the endemic conflict with
         Senegal, rising energy costs, and economic mismanagement have resulted in a
         substantial buildup of foreign debt. The government has begun the second
         stage of an economic reform program in consultation with the World Bank, the
         IMF, and major donor countries. But the reform process suffered a major
         setback following the Gulf war of early 1991. Because of Mauritania's
         support of Saddam Husayn, bilateral aid from its two top donors, Saudi
         Arabia and Kuwait, was suspended, and multilateral aid was reduced.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $1.1 billion, per capita $535; real growth rate
         3% (1991 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         6.5% (1990 est.)
     Unemployment rate:
         20% (1991 est.)
     Budget:
         revenues $280 million; expenditures $346 million, including capital
         expenditures of $61 million (1989 est.)
     Exports:
         $436 million (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         iron ore, processed fish, small amounts of gum arabic and gypsum; unrecorded
         but numerically significant cattle exports to Senegal
       partners:
         EC 43%, Japan 27%, USSR 11%, Ivory Coast 3%
     Imports:
         $389 million (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         foodstuffs, consumer goods, petroleum products, capital goods
       partners:
         EC 60%, Algeria 15%, China 6%, US 3%
     External debt:
         $1.9 billion (1990)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 4.4% (1988 est.); accounts for almost 20% of GDP
     Electricity:
         190,000 kW capacity; 135 million kWh produced, 70 kWh per capita (1991)
     Industries:
         fishing, fish processing, mining of iron ore and gypsum
     Agriculture:
         accounts for 29% of GDP (including fishing); largely subsistence farming and
         nomadic cattle and sheep herding except in Senegal river valley; crops -
         dates, millet, sorghum, root crops; fish products number-one export; large
         food deficit in years of drought
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $168 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.3 billion; OPEC
         bilateral aid (1979-89), $490 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $277
         million; Arab Development Bank (1991), $20 million