c representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Brenda Brown SCHOONOVER
embassy: Rue Pelletier Caventou and Rue Vauban, Lome
mailing address: B. P. 852, Lome
telephone: 21 77 17, 21 29 91 through 21 29 94
FAX: 21 79 52

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

@Togo: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 openness in
government financial operations (to accommodate increased social
service outlays), and possible downsizing of the military, on which
the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of aid, along with
depressed cocoa prices, generated a 1% fall in GDP in 1998, with
growth resuming in 1999. Assuming no deterioration of the political
atmosphere, growth should rise to 5% a year in 2000-01.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $8.6 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,700 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 42%
industry: 21%
services: 37% (1997)

Population below poverty line: 32% (1987-89 est.)

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