 OBangui Hotel inBangui | |
| Currency | |
|---|---|
| Calendar year | |
Trade organisations | AU,AfCFTA (signed),WTO,ECCAS |
Country group | |
| Statistics | |
| GDP | |
| GDP rank | |
GDP growth | |
GDP per capita | |
GDP per capita rank | |
GDP by sector |
|
| 2.6% (2020 est.)[5] | |
Population belowpoverty line | |
| 56.2high (2008)[8] | |
Labour force |  1,919,063 (2019)[11] |
| Unemployment |  6.5% (2019)[12][note 1] |
Main industries | gold anddiamondmining,logging,brewing,textiles,footwear, assembly ofbicycles andmotorcycles |
| External | |
| Exports | $113.7 million (2017 est.)[4] |
Export goods | diamonds,timber,cotton,coffee,buttonquail |
Main export partners | |
| Imports | $393.1 million (2017 est.)[4] |
Import goods | food, textiles,petroleum products,machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles,chemicals,pharmaceuticals |
Main import partners |
|
 −$163 million (2017 est.)[4] | |
Grossexternal debt | $779.9 million (31 December 2017 est.)[4] |
| Public finances | |
 52.9% of GDP (2017 est.)[4] | |
| $304.3 million (31 December 2017 est.)[4] | |
| −0.9% (of GDP) (2017 est.)[4] | |
| Revenues | 282.9 million (2017 est.)[4] |
| Expenses | 300.1 million (2017 est.)[4] |
All values, unless otherwise stated, are inUS dollars. | |
Theeconomy of theCentral African Republic is $2.321 billion bygross domestic product as of 2019, even lower than much smaller countries such asBarbados[13][14] with an estimated annualper capita income of just $529 as measured nominally in 2024.
Sparsely populated andlandlocked, the Central African Republic is overwhelmingly agrarian.[14] The vast bulk of the population engages insubsistence farming and 55% of the country'sGDP derives from agriculture.[14] Subsistence agriculture, together with forestry, remains the backbone of the economy of the Central African Republic (CAR), with more than 70% of the population living in outlying areas.[15]
Principal food crops includecassava, peanuts,sorghum,millet,maize,sesame, andplantains. Principalcash crops for export include cotton, coffee, and tobacco.[16]Timber has accounted for about 16% of export earnings and the diamond industry for nearly 54%.[15] Central African Republic is aleast developed country according toUnited Nations.
Much of the country's limited electrical supply is provided byhydroelectric plants located inBoali.[14] Fuel supplies must be barged in via the Oubangui River or trucked overland throughCameroon, resulting in frequent shortages of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.[14] The C.A.R.'s transportation and communication network is limited.[14] The country has only 429 kilometers of paved road, limited international, and no domestic air service, and does not possess a railroad.[14]
River traffic on the Oubangui River is impossible from April to July, and conflict in the region has sometimes prevented shipments from moving betweenKinshasa andBangui.[14] The telephone system functions, albeit imperfectly.[14] Four radio stations operate in the C.A.R., as well as one television station.[14] Numerous newspapers and pamphlets are published on a regular basis, and one company provides Internet access.[17]
In 2014, the country exported 59.3 million US dollars of forest products such astimber. This accounts for 40% of total export earnings in the C.A.R.[18]
Foreign companies are involved in illegallogging activities in the country. For example, in 2013, theFrenchIndustrie forestière de Batalimo (IFB),LebaneseSociété d’exploitation forestière centrafricaine (SEFCA) andChinese Vicwood Group reportedly made illegal tax payments totalling €3,7 million to theMinistry of Finance under the presidency ofMichel Djotodia, as well as monthly payments toSéléka fighters to safeguard their installations.[19]: 12–15 SEFCA also paid an additional "advance" of €380,876 directly to Djotodia's government.[19]: 15 According to a report from theUN Security Council, "illegal artisanal exploitation surged in non-attributed forest areas" under the Djotodia government, while logging trucks were "systematically subjected to illegal tax levying".[20]: 75 In 2014, the same companies paid approximately €127,864 toAnti-balaka militias at road checkpoints.[19]: 17
These illegal timber exploits continued in more recent years. TheCEMAC banned raw timber exports in January 2022, but the Central African Republic failed to honor this ban.[21] The ongoing timber trade has been linked since 2021 to a "tripartite agreement" between government officials,Wagner Groupmercenaries, and a Russian company fromSaint Petersburg namedBois Rouge, with Wagner having branched out into the timber industry and logging a forest inLobaye. The Wagner mercenaries reportedly invaded and "emptied" entire villages to log timber at virtually no cost, creating a potentialrevenue of up to $890 million on international markets.[22][23]
The country has rich natural resources in the form of diamonds, gold, uranium, and other minerals.[14] Diamonds constitute one of the most important exports of the CAR, frequently accounting for 20-30% of export revenues, but an estimated 30-50% of the diamonds produced each year leave the country clandestinely.[citation needed] There may be petroleum deposits along the country's northern border with Chad.[14] (Two billion barrels of oil are present in private estimates).[citation needed]
Diamonds are the only of these mineral resources currently being developed; reported sales of largely uncut diamonds made up close to 60% of the CAR's export earnings as of 2001.[14] Industry contributes less than 20% of the country's GDP, with artesian diamond mining, breweries, and sawmills making up the bulk of the sector.[14] Services account for 25% of GDP, largely because of government bureaucracy and high transportation costs arising from the country's landlocked position.[14]
74% (2013) of the population in the Central African Republic works in the agriculture industry, so Central African Republic's economy is dominated by the cultivation and sale of food crops such asyams,cassava,peanuts,maize,sorghum,millet,sesame, andplantains. The importance of food crops over exportedcash crops is illustrated by the fact that the total production of cassava, the staple food of most Central Africans, ranges between c. 200,000 and 300,000 tons a year, while the production ofcotton, the principal exported cash crop, ranges from c. 25,000 to 45,000 tons a year.
Food crops are not exported in large quantities but they still constitute the principal cash crops of the country because Central Africans derive far more income from the periodic sale of surplus food crops than from exported cash crops such as cotton or coffee. Many rural and urban women also transform some food crops into alcoholic drinks such assorghum beer or hard liquor and derive considerable income from the sale of these drinks. Much of the income derived from the sale of foods and alcohol is not "on the books" and thus is not considered in calculatingper capita income, which is one reason why official figures for per capita income are not accurate in the case of the CAR.
The per capita income of the CAR is often listed as being around $400 a year, said to be one of the lowest in the world, but this figure is based mostly on reported sales of exports and largely ignores the more important but unregistered sale of foods, locally producedalcohol,diamonds,ivory,bushmeat, andtraditional medicines, for example. Theinformal economy of the CAR is more important than the formal economy for most Central Africans.[24]
Central African Republic produced in 2019:
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.[25]
The financial sector of the CAR, the smallest in the CEMAC, plays a limited role in supporting economic growth. Suffering from weak market infrastructure and legal and judicial frameworks, the financial system remains small, undeveloped, and dominated by commercial banks. Because of economic and security concerns, financial institutions, and particularly microfinance institutions (MFIs), have consolidated their business in the capital, Bangui, over the past few years.[26]
With less than 1% of the total population holding a bank account, access to financial services is extremely limited in the CAR. Microfinance accounts only for 1% of the total credit facilities, serving 0.5 percent of the population. Low levels of mobile penetration – which stand at 30%, a significantly lower percentage than in the rest of the continent – dampen the potential expansion of access to financial services through mobile technology.[26] In April 2022, the country announced that it will adopt the cryptocurrencybitcoin as legal tender.[27]
The CAR is heavily dependent upon multilateral foreign aid and the presence of numerousNGO's which provide numerous services which the government fails to provide. As oneUNDP official put it, the CAR is a country "sous serum," or a country hooked up to anIV (Mehler 2005:150). The presence of numerous foreign personnel and organizations in the country, including peacekeepers and refugee camps, provides an important source of revenue for many Central Africans.[citation needed]
In the 40 years since independence, the CAR has made slow progress toward economic development.[14] Economic mismanagement, poorinfrastructure, a limitedtax base, scarce private investment, and adverse external conditions have led to deficits in both itsbudget and externaltrade.[14] Its debt burden is considerable, and the country has seen a decline in per capitagross national product over the last 40 years.[14]
Important constraints to economic development include the CAR's landlocked position, a poor transportation system, a largely unskilled work force, and a legacy of misdirectedmacroeconomic policies.[15] The 50%devaluation of the currencies of 14 Francophone African nations on 12 January 1994 had mixed effects on the CAR's economy.[15] Diamond, timber, coffee, and cotton exports increased, leading an estimated rise of GDP of 7% in 1994 and nearly 5% in 1995.[15]
Military rebellions and social unrest in 1996 were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and a drop in GDP of 2%.[15] Ongoing violence between the government and rebel military groups over pay issues, living conditions, and political representation has destroyed many businesses in the capital and reduced tax revenues for the government.[15]
TheInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) approved an Extended Structure Adjustment Facility in 1998.[15] The government has set targets of annual 5% growth and 25% inflation for 2000–2001.[15] Structural adjustment programs with theWorld Bank and IMF and interest-free credits to support investments in the agriculture, livestock, and transportation sectors have had limited impact.[14] The World Bank and IMF are now encouraging the government to concentrate exclusively on implementing much-needed economic reforms to jump-start the economy and defining its fundamental priorities with the aim of alleviating poverty.[14] As a result, many of the state-owned business entities have been privatized and limited efforts have been made to standardize and simplify labor and investment codes and to address problems of corruption.[14] The Central African Government is currently in the process of adopting new labor and investment codes.[14]
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2024.[28]
| Year | GDP (in bil. US$ PPP) | GDP per capita (in US$ PPP) | GDP (in bil. US$ nominal) | GDP growth (real) | Inflation (in Percent) | Government debt (Percentage of GDP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 1.14 | 514 | 0.71 | |||
| 1985 | 1.72 | 680 | 0.88 | |||
| 1990 | 2.30 | 800 | 1.57 | |||
| 1995 | 2.81 | 839 | 1.12 | |||
| 2000 | 3.06 | 797 | 0.87 | |||
| 2005 | 3.61 | 841 | 1.41 | 2.9% | 2.9% | 103.0% |
| 2006 | 3.90 | 890 | 1.54 | 4.8% | 6.9% | 46.8% |
| 2007 | 4.16 | 933 | 1.76 | 4.0% | 0.9% | 47.9% |
| 2008 | 4.35 | 955 | 2.03 | 2.6% | 9.3% | 35.8% |
| 2009 | 4.50 | 995 | 2.06 | 2.8% | 3.6% | 20.3% |
| 2010 | 4.77 | 1,062 | 2.14 | 4.6% | 1.5% | 19.9% |
| 2011 | 5.07 | 1,111 | 2.44 | 4.2% | 1.2% | 19.7% |
| 2012 | 5.43 | 1,177 | 2.51 | 5.1% | 5.9% | 31.5% |
| 2013 | 3.51 | 756 | 1.69 | −36.4% | 4.0% | 51.8% |
| 2014 | 3.58 | 773 | 1.90 | 0.1% | 17.8% | 62.2% |
| 2015 | 3.77 | 813 | 1.70 | 4.3% | 1.4% | 59.8% |
| 2016 | 3.98 | 845 | 1.83 | 4.8% | 4.9% | 53.9% |
| 2017 | 4.24 | 884 | 2.07 | 4.5% | 4.2% | 50.3% |
| 2018 | 4.53 | 929 | 2.28 | 3.8% | 1.6% | 50.0% |
| 2019 | 5.00 | 1,010 | 2.28 | 3.0% | 2.8% | 48.2% |
| 2020 | 5.49 | 1,093 | 2.39 | 1.0% | 0.9% | 44.4% |
| 2021 | 5.92 | 1,159 | 2.59 | 1.0% | 4.3% | 48.5% |
| 2022 | 6.38 | 1,251 | 2.46 | 0.5% | 5.6% | 51.0% |
| 2023 | 6.65 | 1,291 | 2.63 | 0.7% | 3.0% | 57.6% |
| 2024 | 6.91 | 1,296 | 2.82 | 1.4% | 4.7% | 57.4% |
| Current XAF exchange rates | |
|---|---|
| FromGoogle Finance: | AUDCADCHFCNYEURGBPHKDJPYUSD |
| FromYahoo! Finance: | AUDCADCHFCNYEURGBPHKDJPYUSD |
| FromXE.com: | AUDCADCHFCNYEURGBPHKDJPYUSD |
| From OANDA: | AUDCADCHFCNYEURGBPHKDJPYUSD |
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:"Background Note: Central African Republic".U.S. Department of State. July 2001. Archived fromthe original on 4 April 2002. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:"Central African Republic".The World Factbook.Central Intelligence Agency. Archived fromthe original on 20 November 2000.
