Economy of Chad

{{multiple issues|

}}

{{Infobox economy

| country = Chad

| image = Tailor in Chad.jpg

| image_size = 310px

| caption = A tailor in Chad

| currency = Central African CFA franc (XAF)

| fixed exchange =

| year = Calendar year

| organs = AU, AfCFTA, WTO

| gdp = {{plainlist|

$18.79 billion (nominal; )
$56.65 billion (PPP; )

}}

| gdp rank = {{plainlist|

130th (nominal; 2025)
131st (PPP; 2025)

}}

| growth = {{plainlist|

4.0% (2023)
1.5% (2024)
1.7% ()
3.2% ()

}}

| per capita = {{plainlist|

$991 (nominal; )
$2,990 (PPP; )

}}

| per capita rank = {{plainlist|

171st (nominal; 2025)
170th (PPP; 2025)

}}

| sectors = {{plainlist|

agriculture: 52.7%
industry: 6.7%
services: 40.6%
(2011 est.)}}

| components =

| inflation = 4.037% (2018 est.)

| poverty = 66.2% (2019 est.)

| gini =

| hdi = {{plainlist|

0.394 (2022) (189th)
0.251 IHDI (2021)}}

| labor = 7.300 million (2018)

| occupations = agriculture: 80% (subsistence farming, herding, and fishing); industry and services: 20% (2006 est.)

| unemployment =

| industries = oil, cotton textiles, meatpacking, brewing, natron (sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes, construction materials

| exports = $1.695 billion (2018 est.)

| export-goods = oil, cattle, cotton, gum arabic

| export-partners = {{plainlist|

58.5%
13.3%
11.3%
10.1%
3.1%

(2024)}}

| imports = $2.262 billion (2019 est.)

| import-goods = machinery and transportation equipment, industrial goods, foodstuffs, textiles

| import-partners = {{plainlist|

25.4%
14.2%
11%
10.4%
6.8%

(2025)}}

| FDI = $567 million (2019 est.)

| gross external debt = $3.569 billion (2019 est.)

| debt =

| revenue = $2.501 billion (2011 est.)

| expenses = $3.482 billion (2011 est.)

| aid = $238.3 million (recipient) note – $125 million committed by Taiwan (1997); $30 million committed by African Development Bank; ODA $150 million ()

| credit =

| reserves = $147.7 million (2019 est.)

| spelling =

}}

Chad has a developing economy. It suffers from the landlocked country's geographic remoteness, drought, lack of infrastructure, and political turmoil. About 80% of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, including livestock herding. Of Africa's Francophone countries, Chad benefited least from the 50% devaluation of their currencies in January 1994. Financial aid from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and other sources is directed mainly at improving agriculture, especially livestock production. Because of a lack of financing, the development of oil fields near Doba, originally due to finish in 2000, was delayed until 2003. It was finally developed and then operated by ExxonMobil until 2023, when it was nationalized and put under control of the Chadian government. Regarding gross domestic product, Chad ranks 147th globally with $11.051 billion as of 2018.

Agriculture

Chad produced in 2023:

878 thousand tons of sorghum;
782 thousand tons of groundnuts;
634 thousand tons of millet;
552 thousand tons of cereal;
469 thousand tonnes of yam (8th largest producer in the world);
454 thousand tons of sugarcane;
354 thousand tons of maize;
288 thousand tons of cassava;
224 thousand tons of rice;
218 thousand tons of sweet potato;
210 thousand tons of sesame seed;
150 thousand tons of beans;
165 thousand 480-lb bales of cotton;

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.

Other statistics

GDP:

purchasing power parity – $28.62 billion (2017 est.)

GDP – real growth rate:

-3.1% (2017 est.)

GDP – per capita:

$2,300 (2017 est.)

Gross national saving:

15.5% of GDP (2017 est.)

GDP – composition by sector:

agriculture:

52.3% (2017 est.)

industry:

14.7% (2017 est.)

services:

33.1% (2017 est.)

Population below poverty line::

46.7% (2011 est.)

Distribution of family income – Gini index:

43.3 (2011 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

-0.9% (2017 est.)

Labor force:

5.654 million (2017 est.)

Labor force – by occupation:

agriculture 80%, industry and services 20% (2006 est.)

Budget:

revenues:

1.337 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures:

1.481 billion (2017 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):

-1.5% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt:

52.5% of GDP (2017 est.)

Industries:

oil, cotton textiles, brewing, natron (sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes, construction materials

Industrial production growth rate:

-4% (2017 est.)

electrification: total population: 4% (2013)

electrification: urban areas: 14% (2013)

electrification: rural areas: 1% (2013)

Electricity – production:

224.3 million kWh (2016 est.)

Electricity – production by source:

fossil fuel:

~98%

hydro:

nuclear:

other renewable:

~3% (2017)

Electricity – consumption:

208.6 million kWh (2016 est.)

Electricity – exports:

0 kWh (2016 est.)

Electricity – imports:

0 kWh (2016 est.)

Agriculture – products:

cotton, sorghum, millet, peanuts, sesame, corn, rice, potatoes, onions, cassava (manioc, tapioca), cattle, sheep, goats, camels

Exports:

$2.464 billion (2017 est.)

Exports – commodities:

oil, livestock, cotton, sesame, gum arabic, shea butter

Exports – partners:

US 38.7%, China 16.6%, Netherlands 15.7%, UAE 12.2%, India 6.3% (2017)

Imports:

$2.16 billion (2017 est.)

Imports – commodities:

machinery and transportation equipment, industrial goods, foodstuffs, textiles

Imports – partners:

China 19.9%, Cameroon 17.2%, France 17%, US 5.4%, India 4.9%, Senegal 4.5% (2017)

Debt – external:

$1.724 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$22.9 million (31 December 2017 est.)

Macro-economic trend

The following table shows the leading economic indicators from 1980 to 2024. Inflation below 5% is in green.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;"

|- style="font-weight:bold;"

! Year

! GDP

(in bn. US$ PPP)

! GDP per capita

(in US$ PPP)

!GDP

(in bn. US$ nominal)

! GDP Growth(real)

!Inflation

rate

!Government debt(Percentage of GDP)

|1980

|2.3

|502

|1.0

| -6.0%

|8.6%

|n/a

|1985

|3.6

|709

|1.3

|7.9%

|5.1%

|n/a

|1990

|5.2

|879

|2.4

|3.2%

|0.5%

|n/a

|1995

|6.9

|977

|2.1

| -0.8%

|5.4%

|n/a

|2000

|8.5

|1012

|2.0

| -0.9%

|3.8%

|52.4%

|2005

|18.9

|1875

|8.7

|7.5%

|4.4%

|22%

|2006

|19.4

|1857

|9.7

| -0.5%

|9.6%

|20.1%

|2007

|20.8

|1924

|10.9

|4.4%

| -7.4%

|17.6%

|2008

|21.9

|1955

|13.4

|3.1%

|8.3%

|15.7%

|2009

|21.7

|1878

|12.3

| -1.3%

|10.1%

|23.9%

|2010

|25.0

|2092

|14.1

|13.8%

| -2.1%

|22.9%

|2011

|26.7

|2159

|16.7

|4.6%

|2%

|22.3%

|2012

|29.6

|2315

|17.9

|8.9%

|7.5%

|20%

|2013

|31.0

|2344

|17.9

|2.9%

|0.2%

|22.3%

|2014

|32.3

|2360

|18.2

|2.3%

| -5.5%

|29.4%

|2015

|33.6

|2380

|14.6

|3.2%

|4.8%

|31.3%

|2016

|32.7

|2243

|13.1

| -3.7%

| -1.6%

|40.2%

|2017

|32.6

|2168

|13.3

| -2.1%

| -0.9%

|39.1%

|2018

|35.6

|2301

|15.2

|5.2%

|4%

|33.8%

|2019

|39.0

|2446

|14.8

|5.9%

| -1%

|38.4%

|2020

|37.3

|2270

|14.8

| 0.0%

| -2.7%

|41.6%

|2021

|43.7

|2581

|17.0

| 2.0%

| -0.8%

|41.7%

|2022

|48.9

|2810

|18.1

|4.7%

|5.8%

|32.1%

|2023

|53.3

|2973

|18.6

|5.0%

|4.1%

|32.2%

|2024

|57.3

|3110

|20.7

|5.0%

|5.7%

|31.4%

|2025

|62.3

|3284

|22.1

|5.6%

| -2.6%

|30.4%

|2026

|67.4

|3458

|25.6

|5.2%

|0.5%

|29.9%

References

General

External links

Chad latest trade data on ITC Trade Map
World Bank – Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project

Agriculture

Other statistics

Macro-economic trend

See also

References

External links