Consular Services

Fact Sheet on the Republic of Benin

General

Official name	Republique du Benin
Area	112,622 sq kms
Climate	Tropical, long wet season in the south; hot and dry in the north; temperature varies from 23°C to 32°C.
Official Langage	French.
Other languages	Fon, Yoruba.
Population	4.86 million (1992 census), 6.06 million (1999 estimate)
Major Cities	Cotonou, Porto Novo, Parakou, Abomey
Religion	Animists (50%), Christians (15%), Muslims (15%)
Other ethnic groups	Fon, Adja and Bariba.
Transport	7500 Kms. of classified roads. 635 Kms. of railway line. Major seaport is Cotonou which also has an international airport.
Media	Since the ending of press censorship in March 1990, a wide range of political journals are published. Telephone network is under expansion and well connected to other countries. TV is state-owned and telecasts programmes in French.
Currency	CFA Franc ($ 1 = CFA 701.5) (February 2001)
Time	One hour ahead of GMT
National Day	:1st August
Political System
Form of State	Unitary Republic
Head of State	President Mathieu Kerekou
Foreign Minister	Antoine Idji Kolawole
Commerce Minister	Severin Adjovi
Industry Minister	John Igue
Legal system	Based on December 1990 Constitution
National Legislature :Assemblee Nationale (83 seats)	elected by universal suffrage for a 4-year term
National elections	March 1996 (Presidential), March 1999 (Legislative). March 2001 (Presidential) and Next election due in March 2003 (Legislative).
National Government :	The President and his appointed Government.
Economy
GDP	:US$ 1.903 billion (1999)
Real GDP growth	5% (2000)
Sector-wise contribution to	Agriculture (33.9%),
	Industry (13.9%)
	Services (52.2%)
GDP Per Capita	US$ 355 (1999)
Inflation	0.3% (1999)
Nature of the economy	:Agriculture accounts for one-third of economy and employs 70% of the population. Nigeria and Niger are important trading partners. Industry is underdeveloped.:
Agricultural crops	Cotton, cashewnuts, palm oil, cocoa, yam, cassava, maize, millet, rice etc. Produces small quantity of crude oil. Prospects of availability of minerals.
Industries	Cotton ginning, oilseed milling, palm oil processing, cement, footwear, foods and beverages and flour mills.
External Reserves	US$ 400 million (1999)
External Debt	US$ 1.647 billion (1998)
Foreign Trade Exports FOB	US $ 410 million (2000)
Export items	Cotton, petroleum, palm oil, cashew-nuts : : : :
Export destinations	Brazil (13.9%), Libya (5.3%), Indonesia (4.2%), and Italy (3.8%) (1999)
Imports CIF	US $ 595 million (2000)
Import items	Food, fuel, capital goods, consumer and intermediate goods.
Sources of imports	France (38.2%), China (16.5%), UK (9.4%), cote d'Ivoire (4.9%) (1999)