raditional primary exports such as pineapples and rubber,
limited trade and banking liberalization, offshore oil and gas
discoveries, and generous external financing and debt rescheduling
by multilateral lenders and France. Moreover, government adherence
to donor-mandated reforms led to a jump in growth to 5% annually
during 1996-99. Growth was negative in 2000-03 because of the
difficulty of meeting the conditions of international donors,
continued low prices of key exports, and severe civil war. Political
uncertainty will continue to cloud the economic outlook in 2004, but
rising world prices for cocoa will help both the current account and
the government balances.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $24.51 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
-1.9% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,400 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 36.6%
industry: 19.9%
services: 43.5% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
8.7% of GDP (2003)

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:
36.7 (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.4% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
6.64 million 68% agricultural (2003)

Unemployment rate:
13% in urban areas (1998)

Budget:
revenues: $2.339 billion
expenditures: $2.749 billion, including capital expenditures of $420
million (2003 est.)

Public debt:
82.5% of GDP (2003)

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

Industrial production growth rate:
15% (1998 est.)

Electricity - production:
4.605 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
2.983 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
1.3 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
11,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
32,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
50 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
1.35 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
1.35 billion cu