Economy - overview Niger is a poor, landlocked Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, reexport trade, and increasingly less on uranium, its major export since the 1970s. Terms of trade with Nigeria, Niger's largest regional trade partner, have improved dramatically since the 50% devaluation of the West African franc in January 1994; this devaluation boosted exports of livestock, cowpeas, onions, and the products of Niger's small cotton industry. The government relies on bilateral and multilateral aid for operating expenses and public investment and is strongly induced to adhere to structural adjustment programs designed by the IMF and the World Bank. The US terminated bilateral assistance to Niger after the coup of 1996. Other donors have reduced their aid.

GDP purchasing power parity - $6.3 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 4.5% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $670 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 41%
industry: 18%
services: 41% (1996)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 5.3% (1996)

Labor force
total: 70,000 receive regular wages or salaries
by occupation: agriculture 90%, industry and commerce 6%, government 4%

Unemployment rate NA%

Budget
revenues: $370 million (including $160 million from foreign sources)
expenditures: $370 million, including capital expenditures of $186 million (1998 est.)

Industries cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses, and a few other small light industries; uranium mining

Industrial production growth rate 0.5% (1994 est.)

Electricity - capacity 63,000 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 170 million kWh (1995)
note: imports about 200 million kWh of electricity from Nigeria

Electricity - consumption per capita 40 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, millet, sorghum, cassava (tapioca), rice; cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry

Exports
total value: $188 million (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: uranium ore 67%, livestock products 20%, cowpeas, onions
partners: France 41%, Nigeria 22%, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Japan 18%

Imports
total value: $374 million (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: consumer goods, primary materials, machinery, vehicles and parts, petroleum, cereals
partners: France 24%, Nigeria 19%, Cote d'Ivoire, China, Belgium-Luxembourg

Debt - external $1.3 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA; bilateral donors: France, Germany, EU, Japan

Currency 1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates CFA francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 608.36 (January 1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16 (1993)
note: beginning 12 January 1994, the CFA franc was devalued to CFAF 100 per French franc from CFAF 50 at which it had been fixed since 1948

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Niger on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niger Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niger Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.