Names: conventional long form: Republic of Madagascar conventional short form: Madagascar local long form: Republique de Madagascar/Repoblikan'i Madagasikara local short form: Madagascar/Madagasikara former: Malagasy Republic

Capital City: Antananarivo

Population: 18,595,469 (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $900 (2006 est.)

Currency: Madagascar ariary (MGA)

Languages: French (official), Malagasy (official)

Total Area: total: 587,040 sq km land: 581,540 sq km water: 5,500 sq km slightly less than twice the size of Arizona

Region: Africa

Industries: meat processing, seafood, soap, breweries, tanneries, sugar, textiles, glassware, cement, automobile assembly plant, paper, petroleum, tourism

Agriculture: coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (tapioca), beans, bananas, peanuts; livestock products

Resources: graphite, chromite, coal, bauxite, salt, quartz, tar sands, semiprecious stones, mica, fish, hydropower

Labor Force: 7.3 million (2000)

Exports: $993.5 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)
coffee, vanilla, shellfish, sugar, cotton cloth, chromite, petroleum products

Imports: $1.544 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
capital goods, petroleum, consumer goods, food

Overview: Having discarded past socialist economic policies, Madagascar has since the mid 1990s followed a World Bank- and IMF-led policy of privatization and liberalization. This strategy placed the country on a slow and steady growth path from an extremely low level. Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and employing 80% of the population. Exports of apparel have boomed in recent years primarily due to duty-free access to the United States. Deforestation and erosion, aggravated by the use of firewood as the primary source of fuel, are serious concerns. President RAVALOMANANA has worked aggressively to revive the economy following the 2002 political crisis, which triggered a 12% drop in GDP that year. Poverty reduction and combating corruption will be the centerpieces of economic policy for the next few years.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $114,632 in goods to Madagascar. This ranks Madagascar 154^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Madagascar increased from the previous year by $1,471,509 a change of 1,183.68%. State exports to Madagascar have increased over the last 5 years by $1,468,363 a change of 46673.97%. Missouri exports account for .01%. of all 2007 US exports to Madagascar.