Livestock and Gold: Mali's Economy

In this post I am going to discuss Mali’s economy, which is a very disheartening topic because Mali is one of the twenty-five poorest nations in the world.  Mali is landlocked, making international trade difficult.  However, Mali’s biggest trading partner is China who makes up 27.2% of their exports per year.  The other countries that Mali exports to only represent less than 10% of total exports each, and the majority of the export nations are in Asia.  The three commodities that Mali exports most are livestock, cotton, and gold as 80% of Mali’s population either fishes or farms.  As a result, when the prices of those commodities fluctuate, or when the country does not have good weather during harvest season, Mali’s economic well-being suffers.  Furthermore, although agricultural harvests are a staple of their economy, Mali does not have abundant space to cultivate such harvests. 65% of Mali’s land is desert or semi-desert but the agricultural activity that does occur takes place by the Niger River (CIA).

A man mining for gold.

http://cdn.madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/african-gold-miners.jpg

In an attempt to diversify and protect their economy, Mali is developing their cotton and iron ore production capabilities.   Hopefully this effort will be successful, because currently 30% of Mali’s population is unemployed and 36.1% lives below the poverty line.  Previously, Mali made an effort to invest in the tourism industry, but their lack of security has deterred tourists (CIA).

            Another unfortunate factor that Mali has to deal with is that they are very dependent on other countries for many important products that are necessary to sustain their industries and their society overall.  They import petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, and textiles.  They import these goods from Senegal at 13.6% France at 11% and China at 6.8%.  In addition to importing essential goods, Mali receives financial assistance from many international organizations including the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank (CIA).  If it was cut off from the outside world, Mali would rapidly sink into deep turmoil; Mali greatly relies on outside nations and organizations to sustain their economy.


Source: The CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ml.html