2011 generating exports of about F CFA 300 bn in 2011. Since 2009, development of the Imouraren deposit is underway, which is expected to more than double uranium production in Niger by adding 5,000 tons per year. Production is expected to start in 2015. In 2010, mining of the Azelik deposit started in a joint venture between the Nigerien government and Chinese partners. Production is expected to reach 2,500 tons per year by 2015 and potentially double that by 2020.

Niger started to produce oil in November 2011 in a joint venture with a foreign investor. The foreign investor holds 60 percent and the Government of Niger the remaining 40 percent in the joint venture, which is governed by a production sharing agreement. The project includes the development of the Agadem oil field, the construction of a refinery which is connected to the oil fields by a pipeline. The oil reserves of the Agadem oil field were initially estimated at around 300 million barrels. However, in 2011, the government announced that the reserves may be significantly higher at around 900 million barrels. The refinery has a capacity of 20,000 barrels per day, producing gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Currently, domestic demand is estimated at around 7,000 barrels per day with the remaining production of the refinery to be exported. Due to startup problems, production during 2012 was only about half of available refining capacity. For 2013, it is projected that production will be increased to at least 16,000 barrels per day. In June 2012, Niger signed an agreement with neighboring Chad to construct a 600 km (373 miles) pipeline linking it to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline which will enable it to export its crude. Niger is expected to begin operating reserves on four fields at its Agadem bloc by early 2014, and increase its production to 80,000 barrels per day of which 60,000 will be exported through the pipeline. In 2011, Niger reached the compliant status under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the international standard for revenue transparency in the extractive industry (EITI 2013).

# **_A 2009 SAM for Niger_**

The structure of the Nigérien economy has remained largely unchanged over the last decade and the backbone is still subsistence agriculture, reflecting the obstacles of industrializing or adding more value added with agro industries. To help understand the economic relationships in the Niger economy, we look at the data in Niger’s Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). We begin by updating the 2004 SAM to 2009 using data from Niger’s National Accounts by economic activity as compiled by the United Nations (UN 2009).<sup>4</sup> Very briefly, the steps entail the following – i) the 2004 SAM is first aggregated into 11sectors (two sectors, petroleum and utilities, are not produced in Niger in 2009) – see Table 8; ii) the value added for each sector and final demand component are scaled to the 2009 numbers; iii)

> 4 The 2004 Social Accounting Matrix for Niger is provided by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). In the update to 2009, we retain the technology coefficients of the input-output table underlying the 2004 SAM, given that the economic structure of Niger has not changed very much.

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