- Economy Overview: In 1988 and 1989 the Liberian economy posted its best two years in a decade, thanks to a resurgence of the rubber industry and rapid growth in exports of forest products. Richly endowed with water, mineral resources, forests, and a climate favorable to agriculture, Liberia is a producer and exporter of basic products. Local manufacturing, mainly foreign owned, is small in scope. Liberia imports primarily machinery and parts, transportation equipment, petroleum products, and foodstuffs. Persistent budget deficits, the flight of capital, and deterioration of transport and other infrastructure continue to hold back economic progress.
GDP: $988 million, per capita $395; real growth rate 1.5% (1988)
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)
Exports: $550 million (f.o.b., 1989); commodities—iron ore 61%, rubber 20%, timber 11%, coffee; partners—US, EC, Netherlands
Imports: $335 million (c.i.f., 1989); commodities—rice, mineral fuels, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, other foodstuffs; partners—US, EC, Japan, China, Netherlands, ECOWAS
External debt: $1.7 billion (December 1989 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 1.5% in manufacturing (1987)
Electricity: 400,000 kW capacity; 730 million kWh produced, 290 kWh per capita (1989)