the
country's multibillion dollar oil earnings continues to limit economic
growth and prevent an agreement with the IMF and bilateral creditors
on debt relief. The largely subsistence agricultural sector has failed
to keep up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria, once a large net
exporter of food, now must import food. Agricultural production in
1996 suffered from severe shortages of fertilizer.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $143.5 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,380 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 28%
industry: 53%
services: 19% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 57% (1996 est.)

Labor force:
total: 42.844 million
by occupation: agriculture 54%, industry, commerce, and services 19%,
government 15%

Unemployment rate: 28% (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $16.1 billion
expenditures: $16 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
billion (1995 est.)

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: -1% (1995)

Electricity - capacity: 5.88 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 14.88 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 141 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum,
millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber ; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs;
fishing and forest resources extensively exploited

Exports:
total value : $11.6 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber
partners : US 52%, EU 34%

Imports:
total value: $10 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities: machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods,
chemicals, food and animals
partners : EU 50%, US 13%, Japan 7%

Debt - external: $34 billion (1994 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 naira (N) = 100 kobo

Exchange rates: naira (N) per US$1 - 21.886 (October 1996), 21.895
(1995), 21.996 (1994), 22.065 (1993), 17.298 (1992)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Nigeria:Communications

Telephones: 492,204 (1990 est.)

Telephone system: average system limited by poor maintenance; major
expansion in progress
domestic: microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and 20 domestic
satell