Guinea-Bissau Economy Profile 2008

Economy - overview

One of the five poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau depends mainly on farming and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. Rice is the major crop and staple food. However, intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999-2002. Before the war, trade reform and price liberalization were the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector had also begun to reinvigorate the economy. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. Offshore oil prospecting is underway in several sectors but has not yet led to commercially viable crude deposits. The inequality of income distribution is one of the most extreme in the world. The government and international donors continue to work out plans to forward economic development from a lamentably low base. In December 2003, the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP were forced to step in to provide emergency budgetary support in the amount of $107 million for 2004, representing over 80% of the total national budget. Government drift and indecision, however, resulted in continued low growth in 2002-06. Higher raw material prices boosted growth to 3.7% in 2007.

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$901.2 million (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate)

$343 million (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

3.7% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$600 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 62%
industry: 12%
services: 26% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line

NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 42.4% (1991)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

4% (2002 est.)

Labor force

480,000 (1999)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 82%
industry and services: 18% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate

NA%

Budget

revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA

Industries

agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks

Industrial production growth rate

4.7% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production

60 million kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption

55.8 million kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports

0 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports

0 kWh (2005)

Oil - production

0 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption

2,480 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - imports

2,463 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - exports

0 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves

0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

Natural gas - production

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - consumption

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - exports

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - imports

0 cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves

0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Agriculture - products

rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish

Exports

$133 million f.o.b. (2006)

Exports - commodities

cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber

Exports - partners

India 76.1%, Nigeria 18.1%, Italy 1.4% (2006)

Imports

$200 million f.o.b. (2006)

Imports - commodities

foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products

Imports - partners

Portugal 18.7%, Senegal 16.3%, Italy 13%, Pakistan 4.5% (2006)

Debt - external

$941.5 million (2000 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares

$NA

Economic aid - recipient

$79.12 million (2005)

Currency (code)

Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

Exchange rates

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003)
note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro

Fiscal year

calendar year