ABSTRACT
By UN ranking in 1992, Chad is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, and it has a very uncertain political, economic, and social future. The French colonial administration introduced military-style administrative systems, a quasimilitary judiciary system, concessionaires, the cotton industry, and an economy based on taxation. The Chadian economy depends almost entirely on cotton exports for foreign exchange. The unpredictable and uncontrollable forces of the international cotton market have resulted in sporadic and uncertain foreign exchange revenues, hindering economic development. The indigenous government that emerged at the end of the colonial period was very much aware of the low level of colonial economic development and the fact that Chad lagged behind other former colonies. Agriculture is the most important economic activity in Chad. Military confrontation and war diverted resources away from productive investment and social spending to the nonproductive war sector and caused economic development to be abandoned.
