e Paris Club. In the last year
the government has begun showing the political will to implement the
market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF, such as to modernize the
banking system, to curb inflation by blocking excessive wage
demands, and to resolve regional disputes over the distribution of
earnings from the oil industry. During 2003 the government began
deregulating fuel prices, announced the privatization of the
country's four oil refineries, and instituted the National Economic
Empowerment Development Strategy, a domestically designed and run
program modeled on the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
for fiscal and monetary management. GDP rose strongly in 2004.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$125.7 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
6.2% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,000 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 36.3%
industry: 30.5%
services: 33.3% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
55.67 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 70%, industry 10%, services 20% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate:
NA

Population below poverty line:
60% (2000 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 40.8% (1996-97)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
50.6 (1996-97)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
16.5% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
18% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $11.78 billion
expenditures: $11.47 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2004 est.)

Public debt:
20% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products:
cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava
(tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish

Industries:
crude oil, coal, tin, columbite, palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber,
wood, hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction
materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing,
ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair

Industrial production growth rate:
1.8% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production:
19.85 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 61.9%
hydro: 38.1%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
18.43 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
30 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)