Overview: About 90% of the population is engaged in farming and stock rearing, activities which generate almost half the national income. The economy also depends heavily on exploitation of large uranium deposits. Uranium production grew rapidly in the mid-1970s, but tapered off in the early 1980s, when world prices declined. France is a major customer, while Germany, Japan, and Spain also make regular purchases. The depressed demand for uranium has contributed to an overall sluggishness in the economy, a severe trade imbalance, and a mounting external debt.

GDP: $2.0 billion, per capita $270; real growth rate - 3.3% (1989 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): - 2.8% (1989)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $220 million; expenditures $446 million, including capital expenditures of $190 million (FY89 est.)

Exports: $308 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.); commodities--uranium 75%, livestock products, cowpeas, onions; partners--France 65%, Nigeria 11%, Ivory Coast, Italy

Imports: $386 million (c.i.f., 1989 est.); commodities--petroleum products, primary materials, machinery, vehicles and parts, electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals, chemical products, cereals, foodstuffs; partners--France 32%, Ivory Coast 11%, Germany 5%, Italy 4%, Nigeria 4%

External debt: $1.8 billion (December 1990 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 3.0% (1989 est.); accounts for 18% of GDP

Electricity: 102,000 kW capacity; 225 million kWh produced, 30 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses, and a few other small light industries; uranium production began in 1971

Agriculture: accounts for roughly 40% of GDP and 90% of labor force; cash crops--cowpeas, cotton, peanuts; food crops--millet, sorghum, cassava, rice; livestock--cattle, sheep, goats; self-sufficient in food except in drought years

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $380 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $3.0 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $504 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $61 million

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

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1--256.54 (January 1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 October-30 September

NOTE: The information regarding Niger on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niger Economy 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niger Economy 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.