n SCHOONOVER
embassy: Rue Pelletier Caventou and Rue Vauban, Lome
mailing address: B. P. 852, Lome

Flag description: five equal horizontal bands of green (top and
bottom) alternating with yellow; there is a white five-pointed star
on a red square in the upper hoist-side corner; uses the popular
pan-African colors of Ethiopia

Economy

Economy--overview: This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily
dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which
provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Cocoa, coffee, and
cotton together generate about 30% of export earnings. Togo is
self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs when harvests are normal, with
occasional regional supply difficulties. In the industrial sector,
phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, although it
has suffered from the collapse of world phosphate prices and
increased foreign competition. Togo serves as a regional commercial
and trade center. The government's decade-long effort, supported by
the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures,
encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with
expenditures has stalled. Political unrest, including private and
public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, jeopardized the
reform program, shrunk the tax base, and disrupted vital economic
activity. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of the currency by 50%
provided an important impetus to renewed structural adjustment;
these efforts were facilitated by the end of strife in 1994 and a
return to overt political calm. Progress depends on following
through on privatization, increased transparency in government
accounting to accommodate increased social service outlays, and
possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has
depended to stay in place. However, in late 1998 the EU suspended
aid and trade preferences for Togo because of grave doubts over the
conduct of the presidential elections. The World Bank also suspended
its disbursements at yearend 1998 because Togo was unable to pay its
arrears.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$8.2 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: 3.8% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$1,670 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 32%
industry: 23%
services: 45% (1995)

Population below poverty line: 32.3% (1987-89 est.)

Household income or consumption by p