Niger, Economy

Agriculture employs 8 percent of Niger’s labor force, which includes many subsistence farmers and pastoralists. In spite of the general aridity of the country, agriculture provides 39 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), second only to services, which provide 44 percent. Agriculture has largely recovered from the effects of the disastrous Sahel drought of the early 1970s. Manufacturing enterprises are mostly very small. In 1993 the national budget included $400 million in expenditures and only $188 million in revenues.