Economy (Niger)
===============


     Overview:
         About 90% of the population is engaged in farming and stock raising,
         activities that generate almost half the national income. The economy also
         depends heavily on exploitation of large uranium deposits. Uranium
         production grew rapidly in the mid-1970s, but tapered off in the early 1980s
         when world prices declined. France is a major customer, while Germany,
         Japan, and Spain also make regular purchases. The depressed demand for
         uranium has contributed to an overall sluggishness in the economy, a severe
         trade imbalance, and a mounting external debt.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $2.4 billion, per capita $300; real growth rate
         -3.4% (1991)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         NA
     Unemployment rate:
         NA%
     Budget:
         revenues $220 million; expenditures $446 million, including capital
         expenditures of $190 million (FY89 est.)
     Exports:
         $320 million (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         uranium 75%, livestock products, cowpeas, onions
       partners:
         France 65%, Nigeria 11%, Ivory Coast, Italy
     Imports:
         $439 million (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         petroleum products, primary materials, machinery, vehicles and parts,
         electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals, chemical products, cereals,
         foodstuffs
       partners:
         France 32%, Ivory Coast 11%, Germany 5%, Italy 4%, Nigeria 4%
     External debt:
         $1.8 billion (December 1990 est.)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 0% (1989); accounts for 18% of GDP
     Electricity:
         105,000 kW capacity; 230 million kWh produced, 30 kWh per capita (1991)
     Industries:
         cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses, and a
         few other small light industries; uranium production began in 1971
     Agriculture:
         accounts for roughly 40% of GDP and 90% of labor force; cash crops -
         cowpeas, cotton, peanuts; food crops - millet, sorghum, cassava, rice;
         livestock - cattle, sheep, goats; self-sufficient in food except in drought
         years
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $380 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $3,165 million; OPEC
         bilateral aid (1979-89), $504 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $61
         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)