Guinea-Bissau/

One of the poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau’s legal economy depends mainly on farming and fishing, but trafficking narcotics is probably the most lucrative trade. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. Rice is the major crop and staple food. However, intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999-2002. 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. The combination of limited economic prospects, a weak and faction-ridden government, and favorable geography have made this West African country a way station for drugs bound for Europe.

$1.769 billion (2010 est.)

$1.738 billion (2009 est.)

$1.687 billion (2008 est.)

$825 million (2010 est.)

1.8% (2010 est.)

3% (2009 est.)

2.8% (2008 est.)

$1,100 (2010 est.)

$1,100 (2009 est.)

$1,100 (2008 est.)

632,700 (2007)

NA%

NA%

3.8% (2007 est.)

4.25% (31 December 2009)

4.75% (31 December 2008)

NA%

$192.1 million (31 December 2009)

$171.2 million (31 December 2008)

$209.3 million (31 December 2009 est.)

$189.2 million (31 December 2008 est.)

$42.56 million (31 December 2009)

$58.87 million (31 December 2008)

$NA

rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish

agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks

4.7% (2003 est.)

65 million kWh (2007 est.)

60.45 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

3,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

2,545 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

-$6 million (2007 est.)

$133 million (2006)

fish, shrimp; cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber

India 62.21%, Nigeria 31.28%, Portugal 1.48% (2009)

$200 million (2006)

foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products

Portugal 17.33%, Senegal 13.66%, Netherlands 9.27%, India 9.11%, Thailand 5.2%, Brazil 4.49% (2009)

$941.5 million (2000 est.)

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 506.04 (2009), 447.81 (2008), 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006)