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Comoros - Trade & Marketing Information
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ALIGN="RIGHT" SRC="/cgtd/global/africa/comoros.gif"> Comoros - key economic data 


Economy Overview:
    One of the world's poorest countries, Comoros is made up of several islands
    that have poor transportation links, a young and rapidly increasing
    population, and few natural resources. The low educational level of the
    labor force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high
    unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical
    assistance. Agriculture, including fishing, hunting, and forestry, is the
    leading sector of the economy. It contributes 40% to GDP, employs 80% of the
    labor force, and provides most of the exports. The country is not
    self-sufficient in food production; rice, the main staple, accounts for 90%
    of imports. The government is struggling to upgrade education and technical
    training, to privatize commercial and industrial enterprises, to improve
    health services, to diversify exports, and to reduce the high population
    growth rate. Continued foreign support is essential if the goal of 4% annual
    GDP growth is to be reached in the late 1990s.


National product:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $370 million (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate:
    0.9% (1994 est.)
National product per capita:
    $700 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
    15% (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
    15.8% (1989)
Budget:
  revenues:
    $83 million
  expenditures:
    $92 million, including capital expenditures of $32 million (1992)



Industrial production:

    growth rate -6.5% (1989 est.); accounts for 6% of GDP
Electricity:
  capacity:
    16,000 kW
  production:
    17 million kWh
  consumption per capita:
    27 kWh (1993)



Economic Activity


Industries:

    perfume distillation, textiles, furniture, jewelry, construction materials,
    soft drinks



Agriculture:
    accounts for 40% of GDP; most of population works in subsistence agriculture
    and fishing; plantations produce cash crops for export - vanilla, cloves,
    perfume essences, copra; principal food crops - coconuts, bananas, cassava;
    world's leading producer of essence of ylang-ylang (for perfumes) and
    second-largest producer of vanilla; large net food importer
Comoros - key foreign trade data 


Exports:

    $13.7 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
  Commodities:
    vanilla, ylang-ylang, cloves, perfume oil, copra
   Major Trade Partners::
    US 44%, France 40%, Germany 6%, Africa 5% (1992)



Imports:

    $40.9 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
  Commodities:
    rice and other foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement, consumer goods
   Major Trade Partners::
    France 34%, South Africa 14%, Kenya 8%, Japan 4% (1992)
External debt:
    $160 million (1992 est.)
Comoros - Trade, Industry & Marketing information

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