Western Sahara/

Western Sahara has a small market-based economy whose main indutries are fishing, phosphate mining, and pastoral nomadism. The territory’s arid desert climate makes sedentary agriculture difficult, and Wstern Sahara imports much of its food. The Moroccan Government administers Western Sahara’s economy and is a source of employment, infrstructure development, and social spending in the territory. Western Sahara’s unresolved legal status makes the exploitation of its natural resources a contentious issue between Morocco and the Polisario. Morocco and the EU in July 2006 signed a four-year agreement allowing European vessels to fish off the coast of Morocco, including the disputed waters off the coast of Western Sahara. Oil has never been found in Western Sahara in commercially significant quantities, but Morocco and the Polisario have quarreled over who has the right to authorize and benefit from oil exploration in the territory. Western Sahara’s main long-term economic challenge is the development of a more diverse set of industries capable of providing greater employment and income to the territory.

$900 million (2007 est.)

$NA

NA%

$2,500 (2007 est.)

144,000 (2005 est.)

NA%

NA%

NA%

fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep, goats (kept by nomads); fish

phosphate mining, handicrafts

NA%

90 million kWh (2007 est.)

83.7 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

2,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

1,702 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.)

$NA

phosphates 62%

$NA

fuel for fishing fleet, foodstuffs

$NA

Moroccan dirhams (MAD) per US dollar - 8.3619 (2009), 7.526 (2008), 8.3563 (2007), 8.7722 (2006)