Salient Features: Economy oriented toward private enterprise with extensive government participation through parastatals, investment, and tax policies. Foreign investment welcomed multinational corporations heavily involved in two-thirds of largest thirty businesses dealing in commodity exports, food processing, oil refining, textiles, beverages, construction, and commercial wholesaling and retailing. Country's principal resource agricultural land. Major food crops yams, cassava, rice, maize, and plantains.

Agriculture: Thirty-four percent of population engaged in subsistence farming. Cash cropping on small plots (coffee, cocoa, and cotton) and large plantations (bananas, palm oil, pineapples, rubber, and sugar). Agriculture second largest contributor to gross domestic product (GDP--see Glossary) and main source of exports. In late 1990s, not self-sufficient in food production.

Manufacturing: Import substitution consumer goods, some intermediate inputs for domestic markets, and food processing-- coffee, cocoa, and sugar--for export. Most industry required imported intermediate materials.

Mining: Some diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite, copper, nickel, colombo-tantalite, ilmenite, and gold, but none in significant amounts offshore oil met about two-thirds of local needs.

Energy: Rural population heavily dependent on wood urban population, on electric power, natural gas, and kerosene.

Foreign Trade: Principal exports cocoa, coffee, and timber other exports cotton, sugar, rubber, palm oil, and pineapples. Principal imports petroleum products, machinery, and transport equipment.

Currency: African Financial Community (Communauté Financière Africaine) franc (CFAF) equal in 1988 to 315 per dollar and freely convertible to French francs (FF).

Fiscal Year: January 1 through December 31.

Data as of November 1988