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Niger

Introduction to Niger

Not until 1993, 33 years after independence from France, did Niger hold its first free and open elections. A 1995 peace accord ended a five-year Tuareg insurgency in the north. Coups in 1996 and 1999 were followed by the creation of a National Reconciliation Council that effected a transition to civilian rule by December 1999. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds to develop its resource base. The largely agrarian and subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa.

Government

Capital:

Niamey 

Independence:

3 August 1960 (from France) 

National holiday:

Republic Day, 18 December (1958) 

Economy

Economy overview:

Niger is a poor, landlocked Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, and reexport trade, and increasingly less on uranium, because of declining world demand. The 50% devaluation of the West African franc in January 1994 boosted exports of livestock, cowpeas, onions, and the products of Niger's small cotton industry. The government relies on bilateral and multilateral aid - which was suspended following the April 1999 coup d'etat - for operating expenses and public investment. In 2000-01, the World Bank approved a structural adjustment loan of id=mce_marker05 million to help support fiscal reforms. However, reforms could prove difficult given the government's bleak financial situation. The IMF approved a $73 million poverty reduction and growth facility for Niger in 2000 and announced id=mce_marker15 million in debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Further disbursements of aid occurred in 2002. Future growth may be sustained by exploitation of oil, gold, coal, and other mineral resources. 

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $9.062 billion (2004 est.) 

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 39%
industry: 17%
services: 44% (2001)

Agriculture products:

cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, millet, sorghum, cassava (tapioca), rice; cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry 

Industries:

uranium mining, cement, brick, textiles, food processing, chemicals, slaughterhouses 

Transportation

Highways:

total: 10,100 km
paved: 798 km
unpaved: 9,302 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:

300 km
note: Niger River is navigable to Gaya between September and March (2004)

Airports:

27 (2003 est.)

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