Economic overview: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing account for about half of GDP and nearly all exports. Subsistence farming predominates. Although pre-independence Equatorial Guinea counted on cocoa production for hard currency earnings, the deterioration of the rural economy under successive brutal regimes has diminished potential for agriculture-led growth. A number of aid programs sponsored by the World Bank and the IMF have been cut off since 1993 because of the government's gross corruption and mismanagement. Businesses, for the most part, are owned by government officials and their family members. Undeveloped natural resources include titanium, iron ore, manganese, uranium, and alluvial gold. Oil exploration, taking place under concessions offered to US, French, and Spanish firms, has been moderately successful. In 1995, exports responded to the devaluation of 12 January 1994, apparently resulting in a sizable surplus and strong GDP growth. Increased production from recently discovered oil and natural gas fields will provide a greater share of exports in 1996-97.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $325 million (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate: 10% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $800 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector: agriculture: 47% industry: 26% services: 27% (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 41% (1994 est.)
Labor force: 172,000 (1986 est.) by occupation: agriculture 66%, services 23%, industry 11% (1980) note: labor shortages on plantations
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget:
revenues: $32.5 million
expenditures: $35.9 million, including capital expenditures of $3
million (1992 est.)
Industries: fishing, sawmilling