ia is Africa's most populous country - and the
country, once a large net exporter of food, now must import food.
Following the signing of an IMF stand-by agreement in August 2000,
Nigeria received a debt-restructuring deal from the Paris Club and a
$1 billion credit from the IMF, both contingent on economic reforms.
Nigeria pulled out of its IMF program in April 2002, after failing
to meet spending and exchange rate targets, making it ineligible for
additional debt forgiveness from the Paris Club. The government has
lacked 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, however, the government deregulated fuel
prices and announced the privatization of the country's four oil
refineries. GDP growth probably will rise marginally in 2004, led by
oil and natural gas exports.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $114.8 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
7.1% (2003 est.)

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

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 30.8%
industry: 43.8%
services: 25.4% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
27.7% of GDP (2003)

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):
13.8% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
54.36 million (2003 est.)

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

Unemployment rate:
NA (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $8.026 billion
expenditures: $11.09 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003 est.)

Public debt:
28.6% of GDP (2003)

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

Industrial production growth rate:
2.3% (2003 est.)

Electricity - productio