The 2007 Bank Note of the Year
ECONOMY
Traditionally, seaborne trade played an important role in the Islands' economy. Today, agriculture is the principal economic activity with crops grown both for domestic consumption and export. The major food crops are cassava, coconut, bananas, rice, sweet potatoes, pulses, and corn. Vanilla, ylang-ylang, cloves, and copra have been the major export crops.The 2007 Bank Note of the Year
ECONOMY
The Comoros were the world's leading producer of the essence of ylang-ylang, an oil widely used in the perfume industry. The Islands were also the world's second-largest producer of vanilla. The market demands for these products have decreased significantly in the past decade, however. In 1996, for example, there was a 60% drop in the value of vanilla and exports declined by 42.7% from the previous year. During the same year, the volume of ylang-ylang essence declined by 15.8% and the value of the exports dropped by 24.6%.
Some animal husbandry is undertaken by individual farmers and a small scale fishing industry exists. Coelecanth specimens provided some income for fishermen and the government. This fish was thought by western scientists to have been extinct for 70 million years but has been caught by local fishermen for years. At one time it was sold to the local government and resold to museums and research centers all over the world.
There is a small tourist industry on the Islands. With the recent investment in hotels by the country of Dubai, the tourist industry will probably see extensive expansion in the near future. For information about this industry and others in the Comorian Union, contact the Chamber of Commerce in Moroni (Tel. 269 73-0958).
The domestic economy is largely dependent upon remittances from family members abroad, mostly in France, and the Islands have a relatively large negative trade balance. The government has been for many years dependent upon external aid. France has been the major source of this aid and has been their major trading partner. For information on U.S. trade with the Comoros click here.
The currency of the country is the Comorian franc. It was originally pegged to the French franc at 50 Comorian francs to 1 French franc. Its value today is tied to the Euro and the current exchange rate is 491.96775 Comorian francs to 1 Euro. There are banks on the islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mayotte but no bank on Moheli. The banks are open Monday through Friday mornings.
See the World Bank for an excellent overview of the economic status of the country.