The oil-rich Nigerian economy, long hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor macroeconomic management, is undergoing substantial reform under the new civilian administration. Nigeria's former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from 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, and Nigeria, 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. The agreement was allowed to expire by the IMF in November 2001, however, and Nigeria apparently received much less multilateral assistance than expected in 2002. Nonetheless, increases in foreign oil investment and oil production kept growth at 3% in 2002. The government lacks the strength to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF, such as modernization of 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. When the uncertainties in the global economy are added in, estimates of Nigeria's prospects for 2003 must have a wide margin of error.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $112.5 billion (2002 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.2% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $900 (2002 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

Population below poverty line:
60% (2000 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 40.8% (1996-97)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
50.6 (1996-97)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
14.2% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
66 million (1999 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 70%, industry 10%, services 20% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate:
28% (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.4 billion
expenditures: $3.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 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

Industrial production growth rate:
0.4% (2002 est.)

Electricity - production:
15.67 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:

Electricity - consumption:
14.55 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
20 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
2.256 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
275,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
27 billion bbl (37257)

Natural gas - production:
15.68 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
7.85 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
7.83 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
4.007 trillion cu m (37257)

Agriculture - products:
cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish

Exports:
$17.3 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber

Exports - partners:
US 32.3%, Brazil 8.3%, Spain 7.2%, Indonesia 5.9%, France 5.6%, India 4.6% (2002)

Imports:
$13.6 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals

Imports - partners:
UK 9.6%, US 9.4%, China 9.3%, France 8.7%, Germany 6.8%, South Korea 6.1%, Netherlands 5.2%, Italy 4.7% (2002)

Debt - external:
$29.7 billion (2002 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
ODA $250 million (1998)

Currency:
naira (NGN)

Currency code:
NGN

Exchange rates:
nairas per US dollar - NA (2002), 111.23 (2001), 101.7 (2000), 92.34 (1999), 21.89 (1998)

Fiscal year:
calendar year