Imports - partners: France 38%, China 16%, UK 9%, Cote d'Ivoire 5% (1999)
Debt - external: $1.6 billion (1998 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $274.6 million (1997)
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States
Currency code: XOF
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 699.21 (January 2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996); note - from 1 January 1999, the XOF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF per euro
Fiscal year: calendar year
Benin Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: 36,000 (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 4,295 (1997)