• GDP: US$5.8 billion (2006).
• Main exports: Cotton and cotton products, animals, fish, tannery products, groundnuts, diamonds and gold.
• Main imports: Food, machinery and spare parts, vehicles, petroleum products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and textiles.
• Main trade partners: China, Pakistan, France, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire.

Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world with an average per capita annual income of about US$470 (2006). The economy is almost entirely agricultural even though less than 2% of the land is cultivable. Livestock and subsistence crops such as millet, sorghum, maize and rice are raised for domestic consumption.

The main cash crop is cotton, of which Mali is one of Africa’s largest producers and exporters, along with groundnuts, fruit and vegetables. The Malian cotton industry, upon which one-third of the population depend for their livelihood, is in serious difficulty because of exceptionally low world prices, caused in part by subsidies provided to cotton growers in the industrialised world (in 2003, this was the subject of a major dispute at the World Trade Organization).

Local manufacturing has grown steadily, albeit from a very low level, and is mostly concerned with the processing of agricultural produce: food, drinks and tobacco are the main products. Construction materials are also produced locally. There is a small but fast-growing mining sector centred on Mali’s recently discovered gold deposits. Mali is now the third-largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa and Ghana. Marble, salt and phosphates are also being exploited; there are also known reserves of iron ore and uranium.

Much of the economy has been privatised and deregulated since 1997 under the supervision of the IMF with which Mali presently enjoys good relations. Mali has also been one of the main beneficiaries of the debt cancellation for the poorest countries, and it continues to rely on foreign aid and remittances from émigrés. Mali is a member of ECOWAS and various other West African multinational economic organisations.

The forms of address are those of France, eg Monsieur le Directeur. Lightweight suit and tie are advised for only the smartest meetings. Otherwise, a light, open-neck shirt is worn. It is essential to be able to speak French for business purposes.

Office hours: Mon-Thurs 0730-1230 and 1300-1600, Fri 0730-1230 and 1430-1730.

Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie du Mali
BP 46, place de la Liberté, Bamako, Mali
Tel: 222 5036 or 9645.

Information can be obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Protocol Section), Kounoulba, Bamako (tel: 225 489; fax: 228 559 or 225 226).