!!!Madagascar: Economy
Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and employing roughly 80% of the population. Deforestation and erosion, aggravated by the use of firewood as the primary source of fuel, are serious concerns. \\  \\ After discarding socialist economic policies in the mid-1990s, Madagascar followed a World Bank- and IMF-led policy of privatization and liberalization until the onset of a political crisis, which lasted from 2009 to 2013. The free market strategy had placed the country on a slow and steady growth path from an extremely low starting point. Exports of apparel boomed after gaining duty-free access to the US in 2000; however, Madagascar's failure to comply with the requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) led to the termination of the country's duty-free access in January 2010, a sharp fall in textile production, and a loss of more than 100,000 jobs. \\  \\ Madagascar regained AGOA access in January 2015 following the democratic election of a new president the previous year. In November 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a Rapid Credit Facility to Madagascar worth about $42.1 million to help the government meet its balance of payments needs. The IMF also approved a staff monitoring program to guide policy implementation and indicated that Madagascar must demonstrate the capability to sustain reforms to qualify for future requests for a credit facility.
!!Economic Facts
||GDP (purchasing power parity)|$37.49 billion (2016 est.) \\ $36 billion (2015 est.) \\ $34.91 billion (2014 est.) \\ ''__note__'': data are in 2016 dollars \\ 
||GDP (official exchange rate)|$9.74 billion (2015 est.)
||GDP - real growth rate|4.1% (2016 est.) \\ 3.1% (2015 est.) \\ 3.3% (2014 est.)
||GDP - per capita (PPP)|$1,500 (2016 est.) \\ $1,500 (2015 est.) \\ $1,500 (2014 est.) \\ ''__note__'': data are in 2016 dollars \\ 
||Gross national saving|13% of GDP (2016 est.) \\ 11.2% of GDP (2015 est.) \\ 15.3% of GDP (2014 est.)
||GDP - composition, by end use|''household consumption'': 82.8% \\ ''government consumption'': 12.9% \\ ''investment in fixed capital'': 15.8% \\ ''investment in inventories'': 0% \\ ''exports of goods and services'': 31.3% \\ ''imports of goods and services'': -42.8% (2016 est.) \\ 
||GDP - composition, by sector of origin|''agriculture'': 24.8% \\ ''industry'': 16.3% \\ ''services'': 58.9% (2016 est.) \\ 
||Agriculture - products|coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (manioc, tapioca), beans, bananas, peanuts; livestock products
||Industries|meat processing, seafood, soap, beer, leather, sugar, textiles, glassware, cement, automobile assembly plant, paper, petroleum, tourism, mining
||Industrial production growth rate|3.7% (2016 est.)
||Labor force|12.98 million (2016 est.)
||Unemployment rate|NA% (2015 est.) \\ 3.6% (2014 est.)
||Population below poverty line|75.3% (2010 est.)
||Household income or consumption by percentage share|''lowest 10%'': 2.2% \\ ''highest 10%'': 34.7% (2010 est.) \\ 
||Distribution of family income - Gini index|47.5 (2001) \\ 38.1 (1999)
||Budget|''revenues'': $1.171 billion \\ ''expenditures'': $1.616 billion (2016 est.) \\ 
||Taxes and other revenues|12% of GDP (2016 est.)
||Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)|-4.6% of GDP (2016 est.)
||Fiscal year|calendar year
||Inflation rate (consumer prices)|9.2% (2016 est.) \\ 7.4% (2015 est.)
||Central bank discount rate|5% (31 December 2010)
||Commercial bank prime lending rate|62% (31 December 2016 est.) \\ 60% (31 December 2015 est.)
||Stock of narrow money|$1.527 billion (31 December 2016 est.) \\ $1.375 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
||Stock of broad money|$2.745 billion (31 December 2015 est.) \\ $2.399 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
||Stock of domestic credit|$1.914 billion (31 December 2016 est.) \\ $1.645 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
||Market value of publicly traded shares|$NA
||Current account balance|-$223 million (2016 est.) \\ -$186 million (2015 est.)
||Exports|$2.266 billion (2016 est.) \\ $2.238 billion (2015 est.)
||Exports - commodities|coffee, vanilla, shellfish, sugar, cotton cloth, clothing, chromite, petroleum products
||Exports - partners|France 15.2%, US 12.7%, China 7.1%, South Africa 5.9%, Japan 5.5%, Netherlands 5.4%, Germany 5.1%, Belgium 5%, India 4.4% (2015)
||Imports|$2.717 billion (2016 est.) \\ $2.683 billion (2015 est.)
||Imports - commodities|capital goods, petroleum, consumer goods, food
||Imports - partners|China 24.8%, France 10.3%, Bahrain 5.6%, India 5.5%, Kuwait 4.5%, Mauritius 4.5%, South Africa 4.3% (2015)
||Reserves of foreign exchange and gold|$780.4 million (31 December 2016 est.) \\ $832 million (31 December 2015 est.)
||Debt - external|$4.007 billion (31 December 2016 est.) \\ $3.332 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
||Stock of direct foreign investment - at home|$NA
||Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad|$NA
||Exchange rates|Malagasy ariary (MGA) per US dollar - \\ 3,243.4 (2016 est.) \\ 2,933.5 (2015 est.) \\ 2,933.5 (2014 est.) \\ 2,414.8 (2013 est.) \\ 2,195 (2012 est.)