Part 204

Flag description: divided diagonally from the lower hoist side by a yellow band; the upper triangle (hoist side) is green and the lower triangle is red; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

Economy

Economy - overview: The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based largely on oil, support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing about 90% of government revenues and exports. In the early 1980s, rapidly rising oil revenues enabled the government to finance large-scale development projects with GDP growth averaging 5% annually, one of the highest rates in Africa. Subsequently, falling oil prices cut GDP growth by half. Moreover, the government has mortgaged a substantial portion of its oil earnings, contributing to the government's shortage of revenues. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of Franc Zone currencies by 50% resulted in inflation of 61% in 1994 but inflation has subsided since. Recent efforts to implement economic reforms have begun to show progress; the government and the IMF signed an aid agreement in mid-1996.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $4.9 billion (1995 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 0.9% (1995 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,960 (1995 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 11.4% industry: 35.2% services: 53.4% (1993)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 3% (1996 est.)

Labor force: NA

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues : $870 million expenditures: $970 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

Industries: petroleum extraction, cement kilning, lumbering, brewing, sugar milling, palm oil, soap, cigarette making

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - capacity: 165,000 kW (1995)

Electricity - production: 440 million kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 223 kWh (1994 est.)

Agriculture - products: cassava (tapioca) accounts for 90% of food output, sugar, rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables, coffee, cocoa; forest products

Exports: total value: $952 million (f.o.b., 1994) commodities: crude oil 90%, lumber, plywood, sugar, cocoa, coffee, diamonds partners: Belgium-Luxembourg 24.3%, Taiwan 20.2%, US 14.9%, Italy 14.8% (1995 est.)

Imports: total value: $559 million (f.o.b. 1994) commodities : intermediate manufactures, capital equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, petroleum products partners: France 31.2%, Netherlands 24.6%, Italy 11.4%, US 6.9% (1995 est.)

Debt - external: $5.3 billion (1996)

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: CFA francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 541.69 (January 1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992) 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

@Congo, Republic of the:Communications

Telephones: 18,000 (1983 est.)

Telephone system: services barely adequate for government use; key exchanges are in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, and Loubomo; inter-city lines frequently out of order domestic: primary network consists of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable international : satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 4, FM 1, shortwave 0