Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries. The economy’s largest sector is agriculture, and crops depend almost entirely on irrigation or flooding from the Niger River and its tributaries. Small industrial enterprises consist primarily of cotton ginning and food processing. Fish from the Niger are important to the diet of the people living along the river. The fishing industry produces a surplus, which is dried and smoked for export. Mineral resources are being surveyed, and gold, salt, marble, phosphate rock, and diamonds have been exploited. Iron ore and uranium are expected to be extracted in the future. Other minerals that have been detected include petroleum, bauxite, manganese, zinc, copper, and lithium. In 1999 Mali produced 445 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Mali's is basically an agricultural economy. Because the northern half of the country is occupied by the Sahara, most human activity is concentrated in the more southerly regions, in particular in the valleys of the Niger and Sénégal rivers and their tributaries. Most agriculture is at the subsistence level, and, for many people, cash crops provide a valuable income supplement. Pastoralism is also important. Progress in the rural sector has been limited by an unfavourable climate, by periodic droughts since the late 1960s, and by low levels of technology. Other sectors are no further advanced: the development of Mali's extensive mineral and water resources is limited, and the country's industrial sector, which is still in its infancy, concentrates heavily on food processing. Foreign exchange is obtained chiefly from the export of primary commodities that have suffered from volatile world markets and foreign currency fluctuations. The revenue is insufficient to cover the cost of Mali's highly processed imports from France and other Western nations. Added to its problems, Mali has suffered severely from resource mismanagement, and the national debt continues to grow.

Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export. In 1997, the government continued its successful implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program that is helping the economy grow, diversify, and attract foreign investment. Mali's adherence to economic reform and the 50% devaluation of the African franc in January 1994 have pushed up economic growth to a sturdy 5% average in 1996-2000. Growth should remain around 5% in 2001-02, and inflation should stay less than 2%.