Flag: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), black, and yellow with a red isosceles triangle based on the hoist side; the black band is edged in white; centered in the triangle is a yellow five-pointed star bearing a crossed rifle and hoe in black superimposed on an open white book
Economy
Overview: One of Africa's poorest
countries, with a per capita GDP of little more
than $100, Mozambique has failed to
exploit the economic potential of its sizable
agricultural, hydropower, and transportation
resources. Indeed, national output,
consumption, and investment declined
throughout the first half of the 1980s
because of internal disorders, lack of government
administrative control, and a growing
foreign debt. A sharp increase in
foreign aid, attracted by an economic
reform policy, has resulted in successive
years of economic growth since 1985.
Agricultural output, nevertheless, is only at
about 75% of its 1981 level, and grain has
to be imported. Industry operates at only
20-40% of capacity. The economy depends
heavily on foreign assistance to keep
afloat.
GDP: $1.6 billion, per capita less than $110; real growth rate 5.0% (1988)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 81.1% (1988)
Unemployment rate: 40.0 (1988)
Budget: revenues $186 million; expenditures $239 million, including capital expenditures of $208 million (1988 est.)
Exports: $100 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—shrimp 48%, cashews 21%, sugar 10%, copra 3%, citrus 3%; partners—US, Western Europe, GDR, Japan
Imports: $764 million (c.i.f., 1988), including aid; commodities—food, clothing, farm equipment, petroleum; partners—US, Western Europe, USSR
External debt: $4.4 billion (1988)
Industrial production: growth rate 7% (1989 est.)
Electricity: 2,265,000 kW capacity; 1,740 million kWh produced, 120 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: food, beverages, chemicals (fertilizer, soap, paints), petroleum products, textiles, nonmetallic mineral products (cement, glass, asbestos), tobacco
Agriculture: accounts for 50% of GDP, over 80% of labor force, and about 90% of exports; cash crops—cotton, cashew nuts, sugarcane, tea, shrimp; other crops—cassava, corn, rice, tropical fruits; not self-sufficient in food
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $282 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $3.1 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $37 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $887 million
Currency: metical (plural meticais); 1 metical (Mt) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: meticais (Mt) per US$1—800 (September 1989), 528.60 (1988), 289.44 (1987), 40.43 (1986), 43.18 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Railroads: 3,288 km total; 3,140 km
1.067-meter gauge; 148 km 0.762-meter
narrow gauge; Malawi-Nacala, Malawi-Beira,
and Zimbabwe-Maputo lines are
subject to closure because of insurgency
Highways: 26,498 km total; 4,593 km paved; 829 km gravel, crushed stone, stabilized soil; 21,076 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways: about 3,750 km of navigable routes
Pipelines: 306 km crude oil (not operating); 289 km refined products
Ports: Maputo, Beira, Nacala
Merchant marine: 5 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,806 GRT/12,873 DWT
Civil air: 5 major transport aircraft
Airports: 203 total, 153 usable; 27 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 29 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: fair system of troposcatter, open-wire lines, and radio relay; 57,400 telephones; stations—15 AM, 3 FM, 1 TV; satellite earth stations—1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 3 domestic
Defense Forces
Branches: Mozambique Armed Forces
(including Army, Border Guard, Naval
Command, Air Defense Forces)
Military manpower: males 15-49, 3,295,067; 1,892,699 fit for military service
Defense expenditures: 8.4% of GDP (1987)
Namibia
_Namibia.jpg)
See regional map VII
Geography
Total area: 824,290 km²; land area:
823,290 km²
Comparative area: slightly more than half the size of Alaska
Land boundaries: 3,935 km total; Angola 1,376 km, Botswana 1,360 km, South Africa 966 km, Zambia 233 km
Coastline: 1,489 km
Maritime claims:
- Exclusive fishing zone: 12 nm
- Territorial sea: 6 nm
Disputes: short section of boundary with Botswana is indefinite; quadripoint with Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is in disagreement; possible future claim to South Africa's Walvis Bay
Climate: desert; hot, dry; rainfall sparse and erratic
Terrain: mostly high plateau; Namib Desert along coast; Kalahari Desert in east
Natural resources: diamonds, copper, uranium, gold, lead, tin, zinc, salt, vanadium, natural gas, fish; suspected deposits of coal and iron ore
Land use: 1% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 64% meadows and pastures; 22% forest and woodland; 13% other; includes NEGL% irrigated
Environment: inhospitable with very limited natural water resources; desertification
Note: Walvis Bay area is an exclave of South Africa in Namibia
People
Population: 1,452,951 (July 1990), growth
rate 5.6% (1990)
Birth rate: 46 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 20 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
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