Economy of Cote d'Ivoire
| Economy - overview: | Cote d'Ivoire is among the world's largest producers and exporters of coffee, cocoa beans, and palm oil. Consequently, the economy is highly sensitive to weather conditions and to fluctuations in international prices for these products. Despite government attempts to diversify the economy, it is still heavily dependent on agriculture and related activities, engaging roughly 68% of the population. Growth was negative in 2000-03 because of the difficulty of meeting the conditions of international donors, continued low prices of key exports, foreign divestment and civil war. Political turmoil has continued to damage the economy since 2004, with a rising risk premium associated with doing business in the country, foreign investment shriveling, transportation costs increasing, French businesses fleeing, and criminal elements that traffic in weapons and diamonds gaining ground. The government will continue to survive financially off of the sale of cocoa, which represents 90% of foreign exchange earnings, but the government will probably lose between 10% and 20% of its cocoa harvest to northern rebels who smuggle the cocoa they control to neighboring countries where cocoa prices are higher. The government remains hopeful that ongoing exploration of Cote d'Ivoire's offshore oil reserves will result in significant production that could boost daily crude output from roughly 33,000 barrels per day (b/d) to more than 200,000 b/d by the end of the decade. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity): | $29.05 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP (official exchange rate): | $17.19 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: | 1.2% (2006 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP): | $1,600 (2006 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 27% industry: 18.5% services: 54.5% (2006 est.) |
| Labor force: | 6.738 million (68% agricultural) (2006 est.) |
| Unemployment rate: | 13% in urban areas (1998) |
| Population below poverty line: | 37% (1995) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 3.1% highest 10%: 28.8% (1995) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 45.2 (1998) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 3.2% (2006 est.) |
| Investment (gross fixed): | 11.8% of GDP (2006 est.) |
| Budget: | revenues: $2.837 billion expenditures: $3.154 billion; including capital expenditures of $420 million (2006 est.) |
| Public debt: | 69.4% of GDP (2006 est.) |
| Agriculture - products: | coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber |
| Industries: | foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining, truck and bus assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials, electricity, ship construction and repair |
| Industrial production growth rate: | 15% (1998 est.) |
| Electricity - production: | 4.625 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity - production by source: | fossil fuel: 61.9% hydro: 38.1% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) |
| Electricity - consumption: | 3.202 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity - exports: | 1.1 billion kWh (2004) |
| Electricity - imports: | 0 kWh (2004) |
| Oil - production: | 32,900 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: | 23,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
| Oil - exports: | NA bbl/day |
| Oil - imports: | NA bbl/day |
| Oil - proved reserves: | 220 million bbl (2006 est.) |
| Natural gas - production: | 1.3 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural gas - consumption: | 1.3 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural gas - exports: | 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural gas - imports: | 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
| Natural gas - proved reserves: | 28.32 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) |
| Current account balance: | $460 million (2006 est.) |
| Exports: | $7.832 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: | cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, fish |
| Exports - partners: | France 18.3%, Netherlands 9.7%, US 9.1%, Nigeria 7.2%, Germany 4.2% (2006) |
| Imports: | $5.548 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: | fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs |
| Imports - partners: | Nigeria 27.6%, France 25.4%, China 4.3% (2006) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: | $1.4 billion (2006 est.) |
| Debt - external: | $11.96 billion (2006 est.) |
| Economic aid - recipient: | ODA, $1 billion (1996 est.) |
| Currency (code): | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States |
| Currency code: | XOF |
| Exchange rates: | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 522.89 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002) |
| Fiscal year: | calendar year |