Overview: Civil war since 1990 has destroyed much of Liberia's economy, especially the infrastructure in and around Monrovia. Businessmen have fled the country, taking capital and expertise with them. Many will not return. Richly endowed with water, mineral resources, forests, and a climate favorable to agriculture, Liberia had been a producer and exporter of basic products, while local manufacturing, mainly foreign owned, had been small in scope. Political instability threatens prospects for economic reconstruction and repatriation of some 750,000 Liberian refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. The political impasse between the interim government and rebel leader Charles Taylor has prevented restoration of normal economic life, including the re-establishment of a strong central government with effective economic development programs.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $2.3 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 1.5% (1988)

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12% (1989)

Unemployment rate: 43% urban (1988)

Budget:
revenues: $242.1 million
expenditures: $435.4 million, including capital expenditures of $29.5 million (1989 est.)

Exports: $505 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.)
commodities: iron ore 61%, rubber 20%, timber 11%, coffee
partners: US, EC, Netherlands

Imports: $394 million (c.i.f., 1989 est.)
commodities: rice, mineral fuels, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, other foodstuffs
partners: US, EC, Japan, China, Netherlands, ECOWAS

External debt: $2.1 billion (September 1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate NA% (1993-94); much industrial damage caused by factional warfare

Electricity:
capacity: 410,000 kW
production: 750 million kWh
consumption per capita: 275 kWh (1991)

Industries: rubber processing, food processing, construction materials, furniture, palm oil processing, mining (iron ore, diamonds)

Agriculture: accounts for about 40% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); principal products - rubber, timber, coffee, cocoa, rice, cassava, palm oil, sugarcane, bananas, sheep, goats; not self-sufficient in food, imports 25% of rice consumption

Illicit drugs: increasingly a transshipment point for heroin and cocaine

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $665 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $870 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $25 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $77 million

Currency: 1 Liberian dollar (L$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: Liberian dollars (L$) per US$1 - 1.00 (officially fixed rate since 1940); unofficial parallel exchange rate of L$7 = US$1, January 1992 (unofficial rate floats against the US dollar)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Liberia 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 Liberia Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Liberia Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.