page_title: Economy of Liberia
section_title: Economic sectors
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Liberia / Economic sectors
caption_attribution_description: English: Young boy grinding sugar cane between Flumpa and Kpeyi, Liberia, 1968. Français&#160;: Jeune garçon moulant de la canne à sucre au Liberia en 1968.
context_page_description: The economy of Liberia is extremely underdeveloped, largely due to the First Liberian Civil War from 1989–96. Liberia itself is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world.
  Until 1979, Liberia's economy was among the more developed and fastest-growing in Sub-Saharan Africa, but after the 1980 coup d'état, it declined, and the civil war destroyed much of Liberia's economy and infrastructure, especially the infrastructure in and around the nation's capital, Monrovia. The war also caused a brain drain and the loss of capital, as the civil war involved overthrowing the Americo-Liberian minority that ruled the country. Some have returned since 1997, but many have not.
  Richly endowed with water, mineral resources, forests, and a climate favorable to agriculture, but poor in human capital, infrastructure, and stability, Liberia has a fairly typical profile for Sub-Saharan African economies – the majority of the population is reliant on subsistence agriculture, while exports are dominated by raw commodities such as rubber and iron ore. Local manufacturing, such as it exists, is mainly foreign-owned.
context_section_description: Liberia's business sector is largely controlled by foreigners mainly of Levantine (primarily Lebanese) and Indian descent. There also are limited numbers of Chinese engaged in agriculture. The largest timber concession, Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC), is Indonesian owned. There also are significant numbers of West Africais engaged in cross-border trade.  Legal monopolies are possible; for example, Cemenco holds a monopoly on cement production.
  Unlike almost all other countries in the world, Liberia has not adopted the metric system as its primary system of measurement.
caption: Boy grinding sugar cane 1968
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