Economy

Guinea-Bissau is among the twenty poorest countries of the world. Its farming and fishing economy was badly disrupted by the 1998-1999 civil war. It has a foreign debt of $US 921 million and is subject to an IMF structural adjustment program.

One of Guinea-Bissau's important income sources is cashew nuts, of which it exports 90,000 tons per year. In January 2005, the government announced that a locust swarm was threatening this vital crop, and that the country did not have the resources to tackle the infestation.