Industries: textiles, cigarettes, construction materials, beverages, food, petroleum
Agriculture: accounts for 35% of GDP; small farms produce 90% of agricultural output; production is dominated by food crops - corn, sorghum, cassava, yams, beans, rice; cash crops include cotton, palm oil, peanuts; poultry and livestock output has not kept up with consumption
Illicit drugs: transshipment point for narcotics associated with
Nigerian trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for
Western Europe and the US
Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $46 million;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-89), $1.3 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $19 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $101 million
Currency: 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1
- 529.43 (January 1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992),
282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990)
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
@Benin:Transportation
Railroads: total: 578 km (single track) narrow gauge: 578 km 1.000-m gauge
Highways:
total: 8,435 km
paved: 1,038 km
unpaved: crushed stone 2,600 km; improved earth 1,530 km; unimproved
earth 3,267 km