Overview: Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with about 70% of its land area desert or semidesert. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population live as nomads and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. In consultation with international lending agencies, the government has adopted a structural adjustment program for 1992-95, aiming at GDP annual growth of 4.6%, inflation of no more than 2.5% on average, and a substantial reduction in the external current account deficit.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - 5.8 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: -6.1% (1992 est.)

National product per capita: $650 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2% (1992 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $376 million
expenditures: $697 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992 est.)

Exports: $330 million (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
commodities: cotton, livestock, gold
partners: mostly franc zone and Western Europe

Imports: $682 million (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, construction materials, petroleum, textiles
partners: mostly franc zone and Western Europe

External debt: $2.6 billion (1991 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate -1.4% (1992 est.); accounts for 13.0% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 260,000 kW
production: 750 million kWh
consumption per capita: 90 kWh (1991)

Industries: small local consumer goods and processing, construction, phosphate, gold, fishing

Agriculture: accounts for 50% of GDP; most production based on small subsistence farms; cotton and livestock products account for over 70% of exports; other crops - millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts; livestock - cattle, sheep, goats

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $349 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $3.02 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $92 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $190 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 Mali 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 Mali Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Mali Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.