Despite the many short- and medium-term challenges to growth, trade, and investment in Mali, the country’s long-term economic outlook is promising thanks to its sizeable natural resource deposits, agricultural potential, and energy opportunities, particularly in the renewables sector. In addition, there is significant enthusiasm for importing high-quality American products, with business owners seeing partnerships with U.S. firms as an attractive new frontier. Opportunities for well-targeted, price-competitive U.S. exports to Mali may be found in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture and agro-industry, telecommunications, mineral exploitation, defense, power generation and distribution, machinery, new and used clothing, computers, processed foods, vehicles, electronics, consumer goods, office equipment, and water resources. Mali has taken steps to make itself more business-friendly, with limited success. Investors should proceed with caution and be aware that the potential for high profits comes with substantial risk.
Since the 2012 coup d’etat, Mali has struggled with unprecedented security, political, and social crises, culminating in another coup d’etat in 2020 and a further consolidation of military power in 2021. In January 2022, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed economic sanctions on Mali. There are no immediate plans to organize elections. In July 2025, a law was signed to grant Transition President Goita a 5-year term starting in 2025 that is renewable indefinitely. The IMF recommended that Mali decrease uncertainty around domestic policies and advance structural reforms to unlock growth potential.

Meanwhile, Mali is facing multiple economic shocks due to terrorist attacks, seasonal flooding, and critical electricity shortages. Insecurity extends from the northern part of the country into the more populous central and southern regions, forcing the transition government to allocate the bulk of its budgetary resources to military spending.  
In January 2025, Mali finalized its withdrawal from ECOWAS, and Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have joined together to form the Alliance of Sahel states (AES). ECOWAS and the three AES countries have expressed intent to maintain the pre-existing regional customs union following the withdrawal of the AES countries from ECOWAS, but it remains unclear whether the AES countries will remain members of certain key regional bodies linked to ECOWAS such as the West African Power Pool Organization (WAPP), the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, and the West African Health Organization. The AES states have, however, expressed interest in remaining members of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). 

Mali remains among the world’s poorest countries, with a GDP of $20.6 billion and a GDP per capita of just $869.3 (2023). The main barriers to commercial activity in Mali include insecurity, unreliable access to electricity, lack of infrastructure, a sometimes corrupt and opaque government bureaucracy, lack of skilled labor, and a large informal economy. For many years, Mali relied heavily on donor-supported development projects, which offered opportunities in a variety of sectors, including hydroelectric, solar power generation and distribution, irrigation, telecommunications, public health, and agriculture. However, following the coup d’etat in 2020 and the consolidation of military authority in 2021, donors drastically reduced their support, preventing several projects from receiving sufficient financing. As a result, Mali’s transition government largely relies on the regional financial market to finance its budget deficit at a higher cost.

After a long period of strong partnership with France, Mali has progressively diversified its trading partners. Currently, Mali’s most important trading partners for imports are Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and China, while South Africa, Switzerland, and Australia are the primary destinations for exports. Recent diplomatic tensions with France may create further opportunities for new partners, and new opportunities for public procurement may arise in mining, defense, telecommunications, transport, energy, and other sectors. At the same time, Malian entrepreneurs are eager to diversify away from traditional networks to new business partnerships. India, Turkiye, and the United Arab Emirates have made noticeable inroads into Mali’s economy. Mali is not a major trading partner of the United States; the amount of U.S. goods exported to Mali varies substantially from year to year. Exports to Mali were $51.5 million in 2024, a decrease of $49.2 million (48.8 percent) compared with 2023. Exports from Mali to the United States also vary considerably and remain a small share of Mali’s total exports, with $5.5 million in 2024, a decrease of $2.2 million or 29 percent in comparison with 2023.

As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Mali uses the franc CFA common currency issued by the Central Bank of West African States (French acronym BCEAO). As a result, it enjoys internal and external monetary stability characterized by typically low inflation and an exchange rate pegged to the euro. However, Mali’s six-month isolation from the international banking system due to the ECOWAS sanctions in 2022 led Mali to default on payments to several creditors, including multilateral financial institutions. Securing financing for the private sector at an affordable cost remains a critical constraint to Mali’s economic growth. Two-thirds of Malian businesses cite access to financing as a major constraint to doing business, ranking just behind political instability. Financing flows disproportionately favor large, established businesses over micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and key sectors like agriculture remain underserved.

Following Mali’s withdrawal from ECOWAS and the creation of the AES, the possibility that AES countries will also withdraw from WAEMU or that ECOWAS will nullify WAEMU by adopting its own currency in 2027 has created an uncertain climate for investors. Recently, the three AES countries declared their intention to create a regional investment bank, the Confederal Bank for Investment and Development (BCID-AES), to provide necessary financing to key infrastructure projects; this move has given weight to the rumors of a new AES currency.  
   
Mali’s export economy depends primarily on gold mining, which represented 80 percent of exports in 2024. Gold exports have surged in recent years, with industrial production reaching approximately 65 tons, in addition to about five tons of small-scale production. Unregulated artisanal gold mining represents a large portion of gold produced in Mali which, although not recorded in official statistics, could total between 30 and 57 tons per year according to SWISSAID. The transition government has prioritized diversifying the mining sector, promising future opportunities in uranium, bauxite, phosphates, iron, lithium, and manganese extraction. Mali’s other major export commodity, raw cotton, accounted for nearly 7 percent of exports in 2023. Although cotton production occupies a distant second place in comparison to gold, nearly four million Malians (one-fifth of the population) depend on the cotton sector for their livelihoods. Mali consistently ranks among the top cotton producers in Africa. 

Agricultural activity writ large accounts for roughly one third of Mali’s GDP, with an estimated 80 percent of the population involved in farming, raising livestock, or fishing. The transition government devotes approximately 8.5 percent of its annual budget to the development of the agricultural sector and encourages both domestic and foreign investment in the sector. Manufacturing in Mali remains limited but includes textiles, agricultural tools, cosmetics, batteries, paint, plastics, processed foods, cement, cigarettes, and beverages. Imports include construction materials (including cement, which is also produced locally), chemicals including fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, vehicles and spare parts, machinery, electronics, telecommunications equipment, mining equipment, and most other manufactured items.

Mali’s rainfall and sunny weather create advantageous conditions for hydroelectric and solar energy production. With a national electricity access rate of less than 40 percent and a rural access rate of less than 20 percent, the transition government has made energy infrastructure development a priority and is eager to attract foreign investment to develop the sector. 

Mali maintains good relations with the United States. Since 1992, the government has placed a strong emphasis on free trade and private enterprise, as evidenced by economic reform policies supported by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, the United States, and other donors. Mali continues to welcome foreign investment, but the transition government often privileges public-led businesses; Mali’s mining code has been revised to require a 30 percent government stake in foreign-owned mining operations, with a further 5 percent reserved for local Malian stakeholders. Mali’s investment, oil, and commercial codes continue to offer duty-free importation of capital equipment and tax benefits for ventures in priority industries, and unhindered repatriation of capital and profits. In 2023, Mali’s first-ever American Chamber of Commerce was established to support U.S.-Mali business ties. Since 2022, Mali has not been eligible for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), but it continues to be eligible for U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) support. U.S. EXIM Bank does not operate in Mali. In response to the 2020 coup d’etat and 2021 consolidation of military power, the United States suspended most of its assistance to Malian defense and security forces.  

Political Environment

Visit the State Department’s website for background on Mali’s political and economic environment.