The Gambia’s economy depends largely on the production of a single crop, peanuts. The national budget in 1993 included revenue of $87 million and expenditure of $76 million. Manufacturing in The Gambia is limited mainly to the processing of peanuts and other primary products and to the building of fishing boats. Other manufactures include beverages, clothing, footwear, and handicrafts. The country’s unit of currency, adopted in 1971, is the dalasi (11.40 dalasi equal U.S.$1; 1999 average), consisting of 100 butut; it is issued by the Central Bank of The Gambia (1971). The cost of The Gambia’s yearly imports is usually much more than its export earnings; in 1999 imports totaled $192 million and exports were valued at $7 million.

The Gambian economy is based upon peanuts, the main cash crop and the source of most governmental revenue. Production has increased steadily with the wider use of fertilizers and ox-drawn equipment and the introduction of better seeds. In order to diversify the economy the government has encouraged the production of rice. A pilot scheme was begun in the mid-1960s to introduce plantation oil palm production. Stock farming, always a factor in the Fulani culture, has also received government support. The drought years of the 1970s and '80s seriously damaged agricultural production, particularly upriver.

The Gambia has no important mineral or other natural resources and has a limited agricultural base. About 75% of the population depends on crops and livestock for its livelihood. Small-scale manufacturing activity features the processing of peanuts, fish, and hides. Reexport trade normally constitutes a major segment of economic activity, but a 1999 government-imposed preshipment inspection plan, instability of the Gambian dalasi, and the stable political situation in Senegal have drawn some of the reexport trade away from Banjul. The government's 1998 seizure of the private peanut firm Alimenta eliminated the largest purchaser of Gambian groundnuts; the following two marketing seasons have seen significantly lower prices and sales. A decline in tourism from 1999 to 2000 has also held back growth. Unemployment and underemployment rates are extremely high. Shortrun economic progress remains highly dependent on sustained bilateral and multilateral aid, on responsible government economic management as forwarded by IMF technical help and advice, and on expected growth in the construction sector.