Mauritania Economy - 2024

Economic overview

lower middle-income West African economy; primarily agrarian; rising urbanization; poor property rights; systemic corruption; endemic social and workforce tensions; wide-scale terrorism; foreign over-fishing; environmentally fragile

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$24.494 billion (2021 est.)
$23.909 billion (2020 est.)
$24.136 billion (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real GDP growth rate

2.45% (2021 est.)
-0.94% (2020 est.)
5.3% (2019 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$5,300 (2021 est.)
$5,300 (2020 est.)
$5,500 (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$706 million (2018 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

3.57% (2021 est.)
2.39% (2020 est.)
2.3% (2019 est.)

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 27.8% (2017 est.)

industry: 29.3% (2017 est.)

services: 42.9% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 64.9% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 21.8% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 56.1% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: -3.2% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 39% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -78.6% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

rice, milk, goat milk, sheep milk, sorghum, mutton, beef, camel milk, camel meat, dates

Industries

fish processing, oil production, mining (iron ore, gold, copper)

note: gypsum deposits have never been exploited

Industrial production growth rate

-6.61% (2021 est.)

Labor force

1.197 million (2021 est.)

Unemployment rate

11.46% (2021 est.)
11.27% (2020 est.)
10.39% (2019 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 23% (2021 est.)

male: 20.8%

female: 27.9%

Population below poverty line

31% (2014 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

32.6 (2014 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2.5%

highest 10%: 29.5% (2000)

Remittances

2.01% of GDP (2020 est.)
0.8% of GDP (2019 est.)
0.81% of GDP (2018 est.)

Budget

revenues: $1.617 billion (2019 est.)

expenditures: $1.407 billion (2019 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-0.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

96.6% of GDP (2017 est.)
100% of GDP (2016 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

27.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

-$807.862 million (2021 est.)
-$576.175 million (2020 est.)
-$831.106 million (2019 est.)

Exports

$3.18 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$2.784 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$2.525 billion (2019 est.)

Exports - partners

China 32%, Switzerland 13%, Spain 9%, Japan 9%, Italy 5% (2019)

Exports - commodities

iron ore, gold, mollusks and shellfish, frozen fish, copper ore (2021)

Imports

$4.312 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$3.675 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$3.683 billion (2019 est.)

Imports - partners

China 26%, France 6%, Spain 6%, Morocco 6%, United Arab Emirates 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

ships, aircraft, wheat, raw sugar, refined petroleum (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$2.039 billion (31 December 2021 est.)
$1.493 billion (31 December 2020 est.)
$1.029 billion (31 December 2019 est.)

Debt - external

$4.15 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
$3.899 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Exchange rates

ouguiyas (MRO) per US dollar -

Exchange rates:
36.063 (2021 est.)
37.189 (2020 est.)
36.691 (2019 est.)
35.678 (2018 est.)
35.794 (2017 est.)