LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Niger: Niger Uranium
built 620 days ago
Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking last on the United Nations Development Fund index of human development. It is a landlocked, Sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Drought cycles, desertification, and a 2.9% population growth rate, have undercut the economy. Niger shares a common currency, the CFA franc, and a common central bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), with seven other members of the West African Monetary Union. In December 2000, Niger qualified for enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program for Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and concluded an agreement with the Fund on a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). Debt relief provided under the enhanced HIPC initiative significantly reduces Niger's annual debt service obligations, freeing funds for expenditures on basic health care, primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, rural infrastructure, and other programs geared at poverty reduction.
Source:
Niger is a vast landlocked country with an estimated population of 10.3 million concentrated in a narrow band of arable land along its southern border. The economy is dominated by the rural subsistence sector and by the uranium-mining sector, which is the country’s principal foreign exchange earner and major source of government revenues. Agricultural production is the number one concern for villagers in Niger, a country with extremely variable rainfall and predominantly sandy soils, and protecting the fragile environment is not a priority for many local people. The growth record of Niger’s rural-based and poorly diversified formal economy is to a large extent determined by factors such as the climatic conditions, or the level of external assistance. Niger experienced a short-lived period of sustained growth in the late 1970’s, recording double-digit GDP growth rates in some years, when activity was stimulated by the uranium boom.
Source:
Niger has oil potential. In 2006 an ExxonMobil-Petronas joint venture ceased exploration activities at what may be Niger's largest oil deposit, the Agadem block, located north of Lake Chad. In 2007 nineteen companies vied for exploration and production rights to the Agadem block, but none of these bids were accepted. The Government of Niger is trying to attract new bids on the Agadem block for 2008. The parastatal SONICHAR (Societe Nigerienne de Charbon) in Tchirozerine (north of Agadez) extracts coal from an open pit and fuels an electricity generating plant that supplies energy to the uranium mines. There are additional coal deposits southwest of the current mines.
Source:
Niger's economy centers on subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, reexport trade, and increasingly less on uranium, because of declining world demand. The 50% devaluation of the West African franc in January 1994 boosted exports of livestock, cowpeas, onions, and the products of Niger's small cotton industry. The government relies on bilateral and multilateral aid - which was suspended following the April 1999 coup d'etat - for operating expenses and public investment. In 2000-01, the World Bank approved a structural adjustment loan of $105 million to help support fiscal reforms. However, reforms could prove difficult given the government's bleak financial situation. The IMF approved a $73 million poverty reduction and growth facility for Niger in 2000 and announced $115 million in debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
Source:
In December 2000, Niger qualified for enhanced debt relief under the International Monetary Fund program for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and concluded an agreement with the Fund for Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). Debt relief provided under the enhanced HIPC initiative significantly reduces Niger's annual debt service obligations, freeing funds for expenditures on basic health care, primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, rural infrastructure, and other programs geared at poverty reduction. In December 2005, it was announced that Niger had received 100% multilateral debt relief from the IMF, which translates into the forgiveness of approximately $86 million USD in debts to the IMF, excluding the remaining assistance under HIPC. Nearly half of the government's budget is derived from foreign donor resources. Future growth may be sustained by exploitation of oil, gold, coal, and other mineral resources. Uranium prices have recovered somewhat in the last few years.
Source:
Niger, one of the poorest countries in Africa, provides a typical example of child exploitation. Uranium, gold, phosphates, tin, coal, limestone, salt and gypsum mining are prominent in Niger. In Madaoua, a major gypsum mining town in Niger, 43 percent of the mining workers are children. Of these 6.5 percent are 6 to 9 years of age and 16 percent are of 10 to 13 years of age. These children are exposed to innumerable safety hazards. During extractions they are at risk of injury from their tools and from exhaustion as they have to cover a huge area in search for gypsum.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Niger Uranium