This paper analyzes competitiveness in Chad since the advent of the oil era in the 2000s. Oil has since positioned itself as the key sector of a traditional economy that previously depended on agriculture and some light manufacturing. Dominated by developments in the oil sector, Chad's balance of payments is vulnerable to the indirect effects of the sector's volatility. The country's ample reserves are insulated from oil sector shocks to the extent that oil-sector-related flows for trade in goods and service, factor income, and capital automatically offset each other.