The Republic of Chad is a landlocked country in north central Africa. Its surface area is roughly three times that of the state of California. Most of Chad's ethnically and linguistically diverse population of about 7.1 million lives in the south. Climate, geographic remoteness and lack of infrastructure have hindered Chad's development. In addition, the first thirty years of its independence since 1960 were marked by outbreaks of war, drought, and famine, severely damaging the country's institutions and its facilities. However, recent signs of political stability and promising developments in the petroleum sector suggest that Chad is headed for an economic revival. By the year 2001, an American-led consortium plans to produce between 150,000 to 250,000 barrels of oil a day from three fields in the Doba Basin, located in southern Chad.
For 1998, Chad's GDP was estimated at just over US$ 1.3 billion. Agriculture and livestock account for over 40 percent of GDP, industry 15 percent, while commerce and transportation provide the remainder. Per capita income is estimated at approximately US$ 225. Cotton, traditionally the major cash crop, accounted for more than half of exports. Gum arabic and livestock round out the balance of major exports. Over 80 percent of the workforce are involved in unpaid subsistence activities, such as farming, herding, and fishing. Chad is highly dependent on foreign assistance, with the European Union and France being its principle donors.
President Idriss Deby came to power by military means in December 1990 and was elected by universal suffrage in August 1996. A new parliament was elected and installed in early 1997. Chad enjoys a good bilateral relationship with the United States and welcomes American investment and partnership proposals.
Chad showed little economic progress during most of this decade, owing to factors described above. The structure of its economy is similar to that of other less developed sub-Saharan countries with a small formal sector and a large, thriving informal sector.
Chad's geographic position along the major Trans-Saharan trade routes greatly affected its history, but hindered its commercial development and trade access in modern times. Reliable statistics on trade are difficult to obtain, however, Chad considers its main export trading partners in 1996 to be Portugal with US$ 43 million, Germany with US$ 14 million, France and the United States with US$ 7 million each and Spain with US$ 6 million..
In the near term, petroleum offers the brightest hope for much needed economic transformation. In November of 1996, the government signed an agreement with an American-led oil consortium to develop reserves; these reserves hold an estimated one billion barrels in the south of the country. The projects will require investments of up to US$ 3.5 to 4 billion to construct a pipeline through Cameroon and to build up other infrastructure. It is widely hoped that this project will "jump start" Chad's economy by the turn of the century.
Officials also plan for a smaller, separate oil project to tap high-grade petroleum deposits at Sedighi, north of Lake Chad. From there, a smaller pipeline will be used to send oil to a mini-refinery and to a new power plant near the capital of N'djamena. This project is expected to dramatically lower domestic energy costs and to reduce hard currency purchases of fuel from Nigeria and Cameroon.
Some observers believe that Chad's best long-term prospects lie in the development of its agriculture and livestock sectors. The country has mining potential, but few in-depth studies have been conducted. Gold, marble, and diamonds are said to exist in commercially exploitable quantities. Traces of platinum, tungsten, iron and aluminum have also been found.
Chad has great infrastructure needs. The country has no railroads and only has a few hundred miles of paved highway. This presents major obstacles to movement during the summer rainy season when the dirt roads are rendered impassable. Chad has five permanent surface runways for aircraft, which operate with basic services. There are only about 7,500 telephones in the entire country. Electricity rates are among the world's highest. There are six banks (none are American) represented in Chad. Chad has one limited range television station and a fair system of radio communication stations for inter-city links consisting of one FM and six AM broadcast stations.
French and Arabic are the official business languages of Chad; however, English is increasingly being used. Sara is the common language in the south.
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