Broad Economic Overview

Sao Tome and Principe economy is dependent on cocoa representing about 66% of agricultural export. Other export crops include palm kernels, copra and coffee. Tourism, which contributes 32.9% to GDP, is currently one of the main sources of foreign exchange receipts. Sao Tome offers niche tourism products thanks to its lush forests, spectacular waterfalls, aesthetic coastline, and long sandy beaches. The country’s territorial waters in the oil rich Gulf of Guinea offers potential for development petroleum resources. This is being jointly developed in a 60-40 split with Nigeria following a 2001 treaty with Nigeria. It managed to achieve a compounded annual GDP growth of 4.3% over the past 5 years. Its currency is Dobra which is pegged to the Euro. Main exports are cocoa, coffee, coconuts, palm kernel, bananas, fish, copra etc. Major imports include foodstuffs, petroleum products, machinery and electrical equipment’s etc.