Economy
Economic overview:
This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for more than 60% of the labor force. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton together generate about 30% of export earnings. Togo is self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs when harvests are normal. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity, although it has suffered from the collapse of world phosphate prices and increased foreign competition. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has stalled. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, has jeopardized the reform program, shrunk the tax base, and disrupted vital economic activity. Although strikes had ended in 1994, political unrest and lack of funds prevented the government from taking advantage of the 50% currency devaluation of 12 January 1994. Resumption of World Bank and IMF flows will depend on implementation of several controversial moves toward privatization and on downsizing the military, on which the regime depends to stay in power.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $4.1 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
6% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita:
$900 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
49.2%
industry:
17.7%
services:
33.1% (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
8.8% (1995 est.)
Labor force:
1.538 million (1993 est.)
by occupation:
agriculture 64%, industry 9%, services 21%. unemployed 6% (1981 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$165 million
expenditures:
$274 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1995 est.)
Industries:
phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement; handicrafts, textiles, beverages
Industrial production growth rate:
NA%
Electricity:
capacity:
34,000 kW
production:
41.004 million kWh
consumption per capita:
9 kWh (1990)
Agriculture:
coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; meat; annual fish catch of 10,000-14,000 tons
Illicit drugs:
increasingly used as transit hub by heroin traffickers
Exports:
$162.2 (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities:
phosphates, cotton, cocoa, coffee
partners:
EC 40%, Africa 16%, US 1% (1990)
Imports:
$212 million (c.i.f., 1994)
commodities:
machinery and equipment, consumer goods, food, chemical products
partners:
EC 57%, Africa 17%, US 5%, Japan 4% (1990)
External debt:
$1.3 billion (1991)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $NA
Currency:
1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates:
CFA francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 500.56 (January 1996), 499.15 (1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991)
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
