Overview: Subsistence agriculture, including forestry, remains the backbone of the CAR economy, with more than 70% of the population living in the countryside. In 1990 the agricultural sector generated about 42% of GDP. Timber accounted for about 26% of export earnings and the diamond industry for 54%. Important constraints to economic development include the CAR's landlocked position, a poor transportation system, and a weak human resource base. Multilateral and bilateral development assistance, particularly from France, plays a major role in providing capital for new investment.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $2.5 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: -3% (1990 est.)

National product per capita: $800 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): -3% (1990 est.)

Unemployment rate: 30% (1988 est.) in Bangui

Budget:
revenues: $175 million
expenditures: $312 million, including capital expenditures of $122 million (1991 est.)

Exports: $123.5 million (f.o.b.1992)
commodities: diamonds, cotton, coffee, timber, tobacco
partners: France, Belgium, Italy, Japan, US

Imports: $165.1 million (f.o.b.1992)
commodities: food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, industrial products
partners: France, other EC countries, Japan, Algeria

External debt: $859 million (1991)

Industrial production: growth rate 4% (1990 est.); accounts for 14% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 40,000 kW
production: 95 million kWh
consumption per capita: 30 kWh (1991)

Industries: diamond mining, sawmills, breweries, textiles, footwear, assembly of bicycles and motorcycles

Agriculture: accounts for 42% of GDP; self-sufficient in food production except for grain; commercial crops - cotton, coffee, tobacco, timber; food crops - manioc, yams, millet, corn, bananas

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $52 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-90), $1.6 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $6 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $38 million

Currency: 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 592.05 (January 1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989)
note: beginning 12 January 1994, the CFA franc was devalued to CFAF 100 per French franc from CFAF 50 at which it had been fixed since 1948

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Central African Republic on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Central African Republic Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Central African Republic Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.