Manufacturing industry is confined to timber processing.
However, the presence of extensive mineral deposits offers good prospects for the future of the country's extractive industries which have historically been impeded by a lack of infrastructure, a large external debt and unreliable power supplies have impeded mining operations. Other confirmed deposits, of which mining has yet to begin, include gold, uranium, iron ore, tantalum and manganese. Intervention by the IMF in the mid-1990s has led to restructuring of the public and financial sectors, but the legacy of maladministration by previous governments and the lack of even the most basic services have made progress difficult. Nonetheless, Equatorial Guinea is making economic headway. The USA, Cameroon, Liberia and Spain are the country's main trading partners.