Economy
Economic overview:
The economy has historically been based on cattle raising and crops. Agriculture today provides a livelihood for more than 80% of the population but supplies only about 50% of food needs and accounts for only 5% of GDP. Subsistence farming and cattle raising predominate. The sector is plagued by erratic rainfall and poor soils. The driving force behind the rapid economic growth of the 1970s and 1980s has been the mining industry. This sector, mostly on the strength of diamonds, has gone from generating 25% of GDP in 1980 to 39% in 1994. The unemployment rate remains a problem at 21%. Hampered by a still sluggish diamond market in 1994 and 1995, GDP grew by only 1% in both years.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $4.5 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
1% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita:
$3,200 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
5%
industry:
NA%
services:
NA% (1995 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
10% (1994 est.)
Labor force:
428,000 (1992)
by occupation:
220,000 formal sector employees; 14,300 are employed in various mines in South Africa; most others are engaged in cattle raising and subsistence agriculture (1992 est.)
Unemployment rate:
21% (1995 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$1.7 billion
expenditures:
$1.99 billion, including capital expenditures of $652 million (FY93/94)
Industries:
diamonds, copper, nickel, coal, salt, soda ash, potash; livestock processing
Industrial production growth rate:
4.6% (FY92/93)
Electricity:
capacity:
220,000 kW
production:
900 million kWh
consumption per capita:
694 kWh (1993)
Agriculture:
sorghum, maize, millet, pulses, groundnuts (peanuts), beans, cowpeas, sunflower seed; livestock
Exports:
$1.8 billion (f.o.b. 1994)
commodities:
diamonds 78%, copper and nickel 6%, meat 5%
partners:
Switzerland, UK, Southern African Customs Union (SACU),
Imports:
$1.8 billion (c.i.f., 1992)
commodities:
foodstuffs, vehicles and transport equipment, textiles, petroleum products
partners:
Switzerland, Southern African Customs Union (SACU), UK, US
External debt:
$691 million (1994)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $189 million (1993)
Currency:
1 pula (P) = 100 thebe
Exchange rates:
pula (P) per US$1 - 2.8305 (January 1996), 2.7716 (1995), 2.6831 (1994), 2.4190 (1993), 2.1327 (1992), 2.0173 (1991)
Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March
