o keep up with rapid
population growth - Nigeria 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. 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. In 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. In
November 2005, Abuja won Paris Club approval for a debt-relief deal
that eliminated $18 billion of debt in exchange for $12 billion in
payments-a total package worth $30 billion of Nigeria's total $37
billion external debt. The deal requires Nigeria to be subject to
stringent IMF reviews. GDP rose strongly in 2006, based largely on
increased oil exports and high global crude prices.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$188.5 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$83.36 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.3% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,400 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 17.3%
industry: 53.2%
services: 29.5% (2006 est.)

Labor force:
48.99 million (2006 est.)

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

Unemployment rate:
5.8% (2006 est.)

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):
10.5% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
26.4% of GDP (2006 es