Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber.
Rice is the major crop and staple food.
Trade reform and price liberalization are the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector have begun to reinvigorate the economy. Inflation dropped sharply in the first quarter of 1997. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect.