Overview: Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for over 30% of GDP and contributing more than 70% of total export earnings. Industry is largely confined to the processing of agricultural products and textile manufacturing; in 1991 it accounted for only 13% of GDP. In 1986 the government introduced a five-year development plan that stressed self-sufficiency in food (mainly rice) by 1990, increased production for exports, and reduced energy imports. Subsequently, growth in output has been held back because of protracted antigovernment strikes and demonstrations for political reform.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $10.4 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 1% (1992 est.)

National product per capita: $800 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 20% (1992 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $250 million
expenditures: $265 million, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1991 est.)

Exports: $312 million (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities: coffee 45%, vanilla 20%, cloves 11%, shellfish, sugar, petroleum products
partners: France, Japan, Italy, Germany, US

Imports: $350 million (f.o.b., 1992 est.)
commodities: intermediate manufactures 30%, capital goods 28%, petroleum 15%, consumer goods 14%, food 13%
partners: France, Germany, UK, other EC, US

External debt: $4.4 billion (1991)

Industrial production: growth rate 5.2% (1990 est.); accounts for 13% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 125,000 kW
production: 450 million kWh
consumption per capita: 35 kWh (1991)

Industries: agricultural processing (meat canneries, soap factories, breweries, tanneries, sugar refining plants), light consumer goods industries (textiles, glassware), cement, automobile assembly plant, paper, petroleum

Agriculture: accounts for 31% of GDP; cash crops - coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa; food crops - rice, cassava, beans, bananas, peanuts; cattle raising widespread; almost self-sufficient in rice

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis (cultivated and wild varieties) used mostly for domestic consumption

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $136 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $3.125 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $491 million

Currency: 1 Malagasy franc (FMG) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Malagasy francs (FMG) per US$1 - 1,965.8 (January 1994), 1,864.0 (1992), 1,835.4 (1991), 1,454.6 (December 1990), 1,603.4 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Madagascar on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Madagascar Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Madagascar Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.