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Nigeria - Economy (Facts)

Economy - overview: Oil-rich Nigeria, long hobbled by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and poor macroeconomic management, is undertaking some reforms under a new reform-minded administration. Nigeria's former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from its overdependence on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues. The largely subsistence agricultural sector has failed to keep up with rapid population growth - Nigeria is Africa's most populous country - and the country, once a large net exporter of food, now must import food. Following the signing of an IMF stand-by agreement in August 2000, Nigeria received a debt-restructuring deal from the Paris Club and a $1 billion credit from the IMF, both contingent on economic reforms. Nigeria pulled out of its IMF program in April 2002, after failing to meet spending and exchange rate targets, making it ineligible for additional debt forgiveness from the Paris Club. In the last year the government has begun showing the political will to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF, such as to modernize the banking system, to curb inflation by blocking excessive wage demands, and to resolve regional disputes over the distribution of earnings from the oil industry. In 2003, the government began deregulating fuel prices, announced the privatization of the country's four oil refineries, and instituted the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy, a domestically designed and run program modeled on the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility for fiscal and monetary management. In November 2005, Abuja won Paris Club approval for a debt - relief deal that eliminated $18 billion of debt in exchange for $12 billion in payments - a total package worth $30 billion of Nigeria's total $37 billion external debt. The deal requires Nigeria to be subject to stringent IMF reviews. GDP rose strongly in 2006, based largely on increased oil exports and high global crude prices. GDP - real growth rate: 5.3% (2006 est.) GDP (purchasing power parity): $191.4 billion (2006 est.) GDP (official exchange rate): $83.36 billion (2006 est.) GDP - per capita (PPP): $1,500 (2006 est.) GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 17.3% industry: 53.2% services: 29.5% (2006 est.) Population below poverty line: 60% (2000 est.) Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.6% highest 10%: 40.8% (1996-97) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10.5% (2006 est.) Labor force: 48.99 million (2006 est.) Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 70% industry: 10% services: 20% (1999 est.) Unemployment rate: 5.8% (2006 est.) Budget: revenues: $17.86 billion expenditures: $19.05 billion; including capital expenditures of NA (2006 est.) Industries: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair Industrial production growth rate: -1.6% (2006 est.) Electricity - production: 19.06 billion kWh (2004) Electricity - consumption: 17.71 billion kWh (2004) Electricity - exports: 20 million kWh (2004) Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004) Oil - production: 2.451 million bbl/day (2005 est.) Oil - consumption: 290,000 bbl/day (2004 est.) Oil - exports: NA bbl/day Oil - imports: NA bbl/day Oil - proved reserves: 36.25 billion bbl (2006 est.) Natural gas - production: 21.8 billion cu m (2004 est.) Natural gas - exports: 12.59 billion cu m (2004 est.) Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2004 est.) Agriculture - products: cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish Exports: $59.01 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) Exports - commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber Exports - partners: US 49.9%, Spain 8.1%, Brazil 6.3%, France 4.3% (2006) Imports: $25.1 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) Imports - commodities: machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals Imports - partners: China 10.6%, US 8.3%, Netherlands 5.9%, UK 5.7%, France 5.5%, Germany 4.5%, Brazil 4.4% (2006) Debt - external: $6.278 billion (2006 est.) Economic aid - recipient: $250 million (1998) Currency: Nigerian Naira (NGN) Currency code: NGN Exchange rates: nairas per US dollar - 127.38 (2006), 132.59 (2005), 132.89 (2004), 129.22 (2003), 120.58 (2002) Fiscal year: calendar year