Overview: Togo is one of the least developed countries in the world with a per capita GDP of about $400. The economy is heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture, which accounts for about 35% of GDP and provides employment for 80% of the labor force. Primary agricultural exports are cocoa, coffee, and cotton, which together account for about 30% of total export earnings. Togo is self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs when harvests are normal. In the industrial sector phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, with phosphate exports accounting for about 40% of total foreign exchange earnings.

GDP: $1.35 billion, per capita $405; real growth rate 4.1% (1988 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (1987 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2.0% (1987)

Budget: revenues $354 million; expenditures $399 million, including capital expenditures of $102 million (1988 est.)

Exports: $344 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--phosphates, cocoa, coffee, cotton, manufactures, palm kernels; partners--EC 70%, Africa 9%, US 2%, other 19% (1985)

Imports: $369 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--food, fuels, durable consumer goods, other intermediate goods, capital goods; partners--EC 69%, Africa 10%, Japan 7%, US 4%, other 10% (1985)

External debt: $1.3 billion (December 1988)

Industrial production: growth rate 4.9% (1987 est.)

Electricity: 117,000 kW capacity; 155 million kWh produced, 45 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement, handicrafts, textiles, beverages

Agriculture: cash crops--coffee, cocoa, cotton; food crops--yams, cassava, corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum, fish

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $121 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.6 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $35 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $46 million

Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1--287.99 (January 1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Togo on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Togo Economy 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Togo Economy 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.