Exports—partners: Italy 25%, Spain 20%, France 16%, Netherlands
7% (1997 est.)
Imports: $1.3 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports—commodities: machines and electrical equipment, transport
equipment, fuel, food
Imports—partners: France 25%, Nigeria 8%, US 8%, Germany 6% (1997
est.)
Debt—external: $8.7 billion (1998 est.)
Economic aid—recipient: $606.1 million (1995); note?France signed two loan agreements totaling $55 million in September 1997, and the Paris Club agreed in October 1997 to reduce the official debt by 50% and to reschedule it on favorable terms with a consolidation of payments due through 2000
Currency: 1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1—575 (January 1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995), 555.20 (1994)
Fiscal year: 1 July—30 June
Communications