Economical overview
Benin's economy is built around mainly
agriculture and trade with the outside world. Assistance
is also of great economic importance. Benin is sensitive
to external factors such as varying world market prices
of the main export commodity cotton or natural
disasters.
A large part of the trade exchange with neighboring
countries is smuggling and never comes to the
authorities' knowledge. The majority of this trade,
which is estimated to correspond to one third of gross
domestic product (GDP), is done with the large neighbor
Nigeria. From Nigeria, fuel is smuggled, which is
subsidized in Nigeria and therefore profitable to sell
in Benin. Instead, large quantities of goods imported
from different parts of the world are shipped to Benin
from Nigeria. A joint duty rate for imports introduced
by the West African countries within Ecowas in January
2015 was expected to affect the lucrative informal trade
between the countries. Since the tariff would then be
the same in the countries, the black border trade would
be less attractive. That would mean a loss of income for
Benin.
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Countryaah.com:
Major imports by Benin, covering a full list of top products imported by the country and trade value for each product category.
Transit trade to coastal countries in the area,
particularly Burkina Faso and Niger, is also important.
The strong external dependence made the global
financial crisis in the late 00s more noticeable to
Benin than to many of the neighboring countries. A
severe flood in 2010, when a large part of the country
was submerged and, not least, the cotton crops hit hard,
meant a further breakdown for the economy (see
Agriculture and Fisheries). But from 2012 GDP grew again
by just over 5 percent and the development lasted for
the next three years. The economic upturn was helped by
a modernization of the port of Cotonou and by improved
routines around operations there, including when it came
to customs duties. At the same time, inflation was kept
at a low level while the government also had control
over the country's debts.
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Abbreviationfinder.org: Check this abbreviation website to find three letter ISO codes for all countries in the world, including BEN which represents the country of Benin.
FACTS - FINANCE
GDP per person
US $ 902 (2018)
Total GDP
US $ 10,359 million (2018)
GDP growth
6.9 percent (2018)
Agriculture's share of GDP
22.6 percent (2018)
Manufacturing industry's share of GDP
12.3 percent (2018)
The service sector's share of GDP
46.2 percent (2018)
Inflation
-0.3 percent (2019)
Government debt's share of GDP
41.0 percent (2018)
External debt
US $ 2,897 million (2017)
Currency
West African Franc
Merchandise exports
US $ 2,216 million (2017)
Imports
US $ 3,066 million (2017)
Current account
- US $ 927 million (2017)
Commodity trade's share of GDP
58 percent (2018)
Main export goods
cotton, cashew nuts, textiles, oil palm products,
seafood
Largest trading partner
India, China, France, Niger, Nigeria, USA, Malaysia
2010
October
Severe floods hit Benin
Benin is affected by the most severe floods in more
than 40 years. Large parts of the country are submerged
and around 200,000 people are forced to leave their
homes. Cholera erupts in the traces of the floods.
August
Benin celebrates 50 years of independence
1 August
Benin celebrates the 50th anniversary of the
country's independence from colonial power France.
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