Africa > Guinea-Bissau > Economy

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Agriculture > products rice, corn, beans, cassava, cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish
Aid as % of GDP	37.3%		[2nd of 129]
Debt > External	$941,500,000.00		[20th of 136]
Economic freedom	1.1		[143rd of 156]
Economy > Overview One of the five poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau depends mainly on farming and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. Rice is the major crop and staple food. However, intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999-2002. Before the war, trade reform and price liberalization were the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector had also begun to reinvigorate the economy. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. Offshore oil prospecting is underway in several sectors but has not yet led to commercially viable crude deposits. The inequality of income distribution is one of the most extreme in the world. The government and international donors continue to work out plans to forward economic development from a lamentably low base. In December 2003, the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP were forced to step in to provide emergency budgetary support in the amount of $107 million for 2004, representing over 80% of the total national budget. Government drift and indecision, however, resulted in continued low growth in 2002-06. Higher raw material prices boosted growth to 3.7% in 2007.
Exchange rates Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)
Exports	$133,000,000.00		[173rd of 189]
Exports to US	$1,800,000.00		[162nd of 224]
GDP	$304,461,700.00		[164th of 203]
GDP (purchasing power parity)	$826,400,000.00		[182nd of 187]
GDP > PPP	$1,105,000,000.00		[153rd of 163]
GDP > Real growth rate	2.7%		[156th of 198]
GDP growth > annual %	3.5 annual %		[111st of 187]
GINI index	47.05		[12th of 40]
Gross National Income	$199,264,000.00		[165th of 172]
Gross national income > constant LCU	1049772000
Human Development Index	0.348		[173rd of 178]
Income distribution > Poorest 10%	0.5%		[113rd of 114]
Income distribution > Richest 10%	42.4%		[14th of 114]
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	3.8%		[117th of 192]

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