lower triangle is red; uses the
popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

*Congo, Economy

Overview:
Congo's economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, a
beginning industrial sector based largely on oil, supporting services, and a
government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. A reform
program, supported by the IMF and World Bank, ran into difficulties in
1990-91 because of problems in changing to a democratic political regime and
a heavy debt-servicing burden. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay
of the economy, providing about two-thirds of government revenues and
exports. In the early 1980s rapidly rising oil revenues enabled Congo to
finance large-scale development projects with growth averaging 5% annually,
one of the highest rates in Africa. During the period 1987-91, however,
growth has slowed to an average of roughly 1.5% annually, only half the
population growth rate. The new government, responding to pressure from
businessmen and the electorate, has promised to reduce the bureaucracy and
government regulation but little has been accomplished as of early 1993.
National product:
GDP - exchange rate conversion - $2.5 billion (1991 est.)
National product real growth rate:
0.6% (1991 est.)
National product per capita:
$1,070 (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.6% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues $765 million; expenditures $952 million, including capital
expenditures of $65 million (1990)
Exports:
$1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1990)
commodities:
crude oil 72%, lumber, plywood, coffee, cocoa, sugar, diamonds
partners:
US, France, other EC countries
Imports:
$704 million (c.i.f., 1990)
commodities:
foodstuffs, consumer goods, intermediate manufactures, capital equipment
partners:
France, Italy, other EC countries, US, Germany, Spain, Japan, Brazil
External debt:
$4.1 billion (1991)
Industrial production:
growth rate 1.2% (1989); accounts for 33% of GDP; includes petroleum
Electricity:
140,000 kW capacity; 315 million kWh produced, 135 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries:
petroleum, cement, lumbering, brewing, sugar milling, palm oil, soap,
cigarette
Agriculture:
accounts for 13% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); cassava accounts
for 90% of food output; other crops - rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables; cash
crops include coffee and cocoa; forest products importa