Mali has a developing economy. It is based to a large extent upon agriculture, with a mostly rural population engaged in subsistence agriculture. It is among the ten poorest nations of the world and is one of the 39 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. Mali is a major recipient of foreign aid from many sources, including multilateral organizations (most significantly the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and Arab Funds), and bilateral programs funded by the European Union, France, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany. Before 1991, the former Soviet Union, China and the Warsaw Pact countries had been a major source of economic and military aid.

The per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of Mali was $820 in 1999. Mali's great potential wealth lies in mining and the production of agricultural commodities, livestock, and fish. The most productive agricultural area lies along the banks of the Niger River, the Inner Niger Delta and the southwestern region around Sikasso. Mali advocates for a traditional economic system.

Overview

Between 1992 and 1995, Mali implemented an economic adjustment program that resulted in economic growth and a reduction in financial imbalances. This was reflected in the increased GDP growth rates (9.6% in 2002) and decreased inflation. GDP in 2002 amounted to US$3.2 billion, made up of agriculture 37.8%, industry 26.4% and services 35.9%.

Effective implementation of macroeconomic stabilization and economic liberalization policies and the stable political situation resulted in good economic performance and enabled Mali to strengthen the foundations for a market-oriented economy and encourage private sector development, backed up by significant progress in implementing the country's privatization program. Agricultural reform measures were aimed at diversifying and expanding production as well as at reducing costs.

Mali's economic performance is fragile, characterized by a vulnerability to climatic conditions, fluctuating terms of trade, dependence on ports in neighboring countries.

Mali produces cotton, cereals and rice. Although locally produced rice now provides competition to imported Asian rice, Mali's primary export is cotton. Livestock exports and industry (producing vegetable and cottonseed oils, and textiles) have experienced growth. Although most of Mali is desert or semi-desert, the Niger River is a potential irrigation source. Exports are in three primary sector products (56% gold, 27% cotton, 5% livestock). Ivory Coast is where most of the country's trade goes through and the crisis previously experienced here had a negative effect on Mali's economy.

The mining industry in Mali has recently attracted renewed interest and investment from foreign companies. Gold and phosphate are the only minerals mined in Mali although deposits of copper and diamonds do also exist. The emergence of gold as Mali's leading export product since 1999 has helped mitigate some of the negative impact of the cotton and Ivory Coast crises.

The development of the oil industry is important due to the country's dependence on the importation of all petroleum products from neighbouring states. Electricity is provided by the parastatal utility, Electricité du Mali.

Macro-economic trend The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2026. Inflation below 5% is in green. Figures for 2025 are IMF estimates; figures for 2026 are IMF projections. YearGDP (in bn. US$ PPP)GDP per capita (in US$ PPP)GDP (in bn. US$ nominal)GDP growth(real)Inflation rate(in Percent)Government debt(in % of GDP)19806.18132.73.3%20.3%n/a19816.68642.2-0.9%12.7%n/a19826.88681.7-3.3%3.9%n/a19837.18851.50.3%10.5%n/a19847.18621.4-3.9%10.7%n/a19858.09551.69.6%9.1%n/a19868.19472.1-1.0%-1.4%n/a19878.39522.4-0.2%-14.9%n/a19889.21,0462.78.1%8.9%n/a19899.91,0993.33.0%-0.2%n/a19909.81,0663.2-4.6%1.6%n/a199111.31,2083.611.7%1.5%n/a199210.91,1423.7-5.6%-5.9%n/a199311.81,2073.65.4%-0.6%n/a199412.31,2332.72.2%24.3%n/a199512.71,2523.31.6%11.6%n/a199613.81,3283.76.4%6.5%n/a199715.01,4053.46.4%-0.7%n/a199816.01,4613.95.5%4.1%n/a199916.61,4764.12.4%-1.2%n/a200016.71,4423.5-1.6%-0.8%77.0%200119.11,6014.111.8%5.2%66.3%200220.81,6934.67.4%5.0%36.0%200322.31,7595.55.2%-1.3%37.7%200422.31,7006.4-2.8%-3.1%36.1%200524.61,8147.46.9%6.4%39.5%200626.61,9008.15.0%1.6%15.4%200728.41,9669.74.1%1.4%15.6%200830.32,03111.54.8%9.2%17.3%200932.02,07511.94.9%2.4%18.8%201034.32,15312.45.9%1.2%21.8%201136.42,20915.53.8%3.0%20.1%201236.92,17814.8-0.3%5.3%21.3%201338.82,22215.83.3%-0.6%22.2%201442.02,33317.16.5%0.9%22.6%201545.12,42415.66.2%1.4%25.8%201648.22,51316.86.0%-1.8%30.1%201751.72,61118.35.4%2.4%30.1%201855.02,69020.44.9%1.9%31.4%201959.52,82620.55.0%-3.0%34.3%202059.32,73020.8-1.2%0.5%39.8%202162.72,80223.13.1%3.8%43.2%202269.73,02122.73.7%9.7%42.9%202375.73,18424.84.7%2.1%44.3%202481.53,32526.85.0%3.2%44.0%202587.93,48030.14.9%2.3%41.9%202695.43,66533.85.5%2.2%40.8% Agriculture

In 2018, Mali produced:

3.8 million tons of maize; 3.1 million tons of rice; 1.8 million tons of millet; 1.5 million tons of sorghum; 814 thousand tons of mango (15th largest producer in the world); 710 thousand tons of cotton (15th largest producer in the world); 551 thousand tons of watermelon; 522 thousand tons of onion; 512 thousand tons of okra; 370 thousand tons of sugar cane; 368 thousand tons of peanuts; 312 thousand tons of sweet potato; 303 thousand tons of potato; 226 thousand tons of sheanut; 215 thousand tons of cowpea; 196 thousand tons of banana; 167 thousand tons of cashew nuts (8th largest producer in the world); 159 thousand tons of beans; 159 thousand tons of tomato;

In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.

Agricultural activities occupy 80% of Mali's labor force and provide 42% of the GDP. Cotton and livestock make up 75%–80% of Mali's annual exports. Small-scale traditional farming dominates the agricultural sector, with subsistence farming (of cereals, primarily sorghum, pearl millet, and maize) on about 90% of the under cultivation.

The most productive agricultural area lies along the banks of the Niger River between Bamako and Mopti and extends south to the borders of Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso. Average rainfall varies in this region from per year around Mopti to in the south near Sikasso. This area is most important for the production of cotton, rice, pearl millet, maize, vegetables, tobacco and tree crops.

Annual rainfall, critical for Mali's agriculture, has been at or above average since 1993. Cereal production, including rice, has grown annually, and the 1997–98 cotton harvest reached a record 500,000 tons.

Until the mid-1960s, Mali was self-sufficient in grains — pearl millet, sorghum, rice and maize. Diminished harvests during bad years, a growing population, changing dietary habits, and, most importantly, policy constraints on agricultural production resulted in grain deficits almost every year from 1965 to 1986.

Production has rebounded since 1987 due to agricultural policy reforms undertaken by the government and supported by the Western donor nations. Liberalization of producer prices and an open cereals market have created incentives to production. These reforms, combined with adequate rainfall, successful integrated rural agriculture programs in the south, and improved management of the Office du Niger, have led to surplus cereal production over the past five years.

Rice

Rice is grown extensively along the banks of the Niger between Ségou and Mopti, with the most important rice-producing area at the Office du Niger, located north of Ségou toward the Mauritanian border. Using water diverted from the Niger, the Office du Niger irrigates about of land for rice and sugarcane production. About one-third of Mali's paddy rice is produced at the Office du Niger.

Sorghum

Sorghum is planted extensively in the drier parts of the country and along the banks of the Niger in eastern Mali, as well as in the lake beds in the Niger delta region. During the wet season, farmers near the town of Dire have cultivated wheat on irrigated fields for hundreds of years. Peanuts are grown throughout the country but are concentrated in the area around Kita, west of Bamako.

Livestock

In 2019, Mali produced 276 million liters of cow's milk, 270 million liters of camel milk, 243 million liters of goat milk, 176 million liters of sheep's milk, 187 thousand tons of beef, 64 thousand tons of lamb meat, 54 thousand tons of chicken meat, among others.

Mali's resource in livestock consists of millions of cattle, sheep, and goats. Approximately 40% of Mali's herds were lost during the great drought in 1972–74. The level was gradually restored, but the herds were again decimated in the 1983–85 drought. The overall size of Mali's herds is not expected to reach pre-drought levels in the north of the country, where encroachment of the desert has forced many nomadic herders to abandon pastoral activities and turn instead to farming.

The largest concentrations of cattle are in the areas north of Bamako and Ségou extending into the Niger delta, but herding activity is gradually shifting southward, due to the effects of previous droughts. Sheep, goats, and camels are raised to the exclusion of cattle in the dry areas north and east of Timbuktu.

Fishing

The Niger River is also an important source of fish, providing food for riverside communities; the surplus—smoked, salted, and dried—is exported. Due to drought and diversion of river water for agriculture, fish production has steadily declined since the early 1980s.

Mining and resources

Mining has long been an important aspect of the Malian economy. Gold, the largest source of Malian exports, is still mined in the southern region and at the end of the 20th century Mali had the third highest gold production in Africa (after South Africa and Ghana). These goldfields, the largest of which lie in the Bambouk Mountains in western Mali (Kenieba Cercle), were a major source of wealth and trade as far back as the Ghana Empire.

Salt mining in the far north, especially in the Saharan oases of Taoudenni and Taghaza have been a crucial part of the Malian economy for at least seven hundred years. Both resources were vital components of the Trans-Saharan trade, stretching back to the time of the Roman Empire.

From the 1960s to the 1990s state owned mining—especially for gold—expanded, followed by a period of expansion by international contract mining.

In 1991, following the lead of the International Development Association, Mali relaxed the enforcement of mining codes which led to greater foreign investment in the mining industry.Campbell, Bonnie (2004). Regulating Mining in Africa: For Whose Benefit?. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordic African Institute. . p. 43. From 1994 to 2007, national and foreign companies were granted around 150 operating licences along with more than 25 certificates for exploitation and more than 200 research permits. Gold mining in Mali has increased dramatically, with more than 50 tonnes in 2007 from less than half a tonne produced annually at the end of the 1980s. Mining revenue totaled some 300 billion CFA francs in 2007 more than a thirty times increase from the 1995 total national mining revenue of less than 10 billion CFA. Government revenues from mining contracts, less than 1% of the state income in 1989 were almost 18% in 2007.Moussa K. Traoré. Extractive Industries And Their Socio-Economic Impacts, (tran. Les impacts économiques et sociaux des industries extractives, Pambazuka News #73, 2008) Fahamu: 30 October 2008

Gold In 2019, the country was the 16th largest world producer of gold.USGS Gold Production Statistics