Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm
commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable
to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along
with gold. The government has continued its successful
implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program
that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign
investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50%
devaluation of the African franc in January 1994 have pushed up
economic growth to a sturdy 5% average in 1996-2002. Worker
remittances and external trade routes have been jeopardized by
continued unrest in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $10.53 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
0.5% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $900 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 45%
industry: 17%
services: 38% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
64% average; 30% of the total population living in urban areas; 70%
of the total population living in rural areas) (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 40.4% (1994)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
50.5 (1994)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.5% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
3.93 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture and fishing 80% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
14.6% urban areas; 5.3% rural areas (2001 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $764 million
expenditures: $828 million, including capital expenditures of NA
(2002 est.)

Agriculture - products:
cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; cattle, sheep,
goats

Industries:
food processing; construction; phosphate and gold mining

Industrial production growth rate:
NA (FY96/97)

Electricity - production:
480.2 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
446.6 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh; note - recent hydropower developments may be providing
electricity to Senegal and Mauritania (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
4,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Exports:
$915 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
cotton, gold, livestock

Exports - partners:
Thaila