Economy grew seven percent in 1998, government says

Chad’s economy grew by seven percent in 1998, helped by good rains which pushed up food production, according to a bulletin published by the presidency’s economic service. It gave no comparative figure for 1997 growth, Reuters reported today. The Bank of France’s Franc Zone secretariat has estimated Chad’s 1997 economic growth at 6.5 percent, it said “Gross domestic product growth in 1998 was seven percent in volume terms, mainly thanks to exceptional levels of rain which led to an increase of about 25 percent in the production of foodstuffs,” the presidency bulletin said.

The bulletin noted a clear improvement in state revenues, the payment of civil service salaries and control over government expenditure since Chad signed structural adjustment agreements with the IMF and the World Bank in 1994.