costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral
resources is not a near-term prospect. However, unexploited offshore
oil reserves could provide much-needed revenue in the long run. The
inequality of income distribution is one of the most extreme in the
world. The government and international donors continue to work out
plans to forward economic development from a lamentably low base. In
December 2003, the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP were forced to step in
to provide emergency budgetary support in the amount of $107 million
for 2004, representing over 80% of the total national budget.
Government drift and indecision, however, have resulted in continued
low growth in 2004.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$1.008 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2.6% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $700 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 62% industry: 12% services: 26% (1999 est.)
Labor force:
480,000 (1999)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 82% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA (1998)
Population below poverty line:
NA
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 0.5% highest 10%: 42.4% (1991)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA
Agriculture - products:
rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm
kernels, cotton; timber; fish
Industries:
agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks
Industrial production growth rate:
2.6% (1997 est.)
Electricity - production:
55 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 100% hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - consumption:
51.15 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
2,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA
Oil - imports:
NA
Exports:
$54 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber
Exports - partners:
India 52.1%, US 22.2%, Nigeria 13.2% (2004)
Imports:
$104 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products
Imports - partners:
Senegal 44.6%, Portugal 13.8%, China 4.2% (2004)
Debt - external:
$941.5 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$115.4 million (1995)
Currency (code):
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible
authority is the Central Bank of the West African States; previously
the Guinea-Bissau peso (GWP) was used
Currency code:
XOF; GWP
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 528.29
(2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)
note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc is pegged to the euro at a
rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Guinea-Bissau
Telephones - main lines in use:
10,600 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
1,300 (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment: small system
domestic: combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines,
radiotelephone, and cellular communications
international: country code - 245
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2002)
Radios:
49,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
NA (1997)
Televisions:
NA
Internet country code:
.gw
Internet hosts:
2 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
2 (2002)
Internet users:
19,000 (2003)
Transportation Guinea-Bissau
Highways: total: 4,400 km paved: 453 km unpaved: 3,947 km (1999 est.)
Waterways:
4 largest rivers are navigable for some distance; many inlets and
creeks give shallow-water access to much of interior (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim
Airports:
28 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 25
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 20 (2004 est.)
Military Guinea-Bissau
Military branches:
People's