growth rate 4.2%
(1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues $398 million; expenditures $510 million, including capital
expenditures of $154 million (FY91 est.)
Exports:
$390 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
commodities:
tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, peanuts
partners:
US, UK, Zambia, South Africa, Germany
Imports:
$560 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.)
commodities:
food, petroleum, semimanufactures, consumer goods, transportation equipment
partners:
South Africa, Japan, US, UK, Zimbabwe
External debt:
$1.8 billion (December 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 4.0% (1990 est.); accounts for about 18% of GDP (1988)
Electricity:
185,000 kW capacity; 550 million kWh produced, 60 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries:
agricultural processing (tea, tobacco, sugar), sawmilling, cement, consumer
goods
Agriculture:
accounts for 40% of GDP; cash crops - tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, and
corn; subsistence crops - potatoes, cassava, sorghum, pulses; livestock -
cattle and goats
Economic aid:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $215 million; Western (non-US)
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2,150 million
Currency:
Malawian kwacha (plural - kwacha); 1 Malawian kwacha (MK) = 100 tambala
Exchange rates:
Malawian kwacha (MK) per US$1 - 2.7200 (January 1992), 2.8033 (1991), 2.7289
(1990), 2.7595 (1989), 2.5613 (1988), 2.2087 (1987)
Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March

:Malawi Communications

Railroads:
789 km 1.067-meter gauge
Highways:
13,135 km total; 2,364 km paved; 251 km crushed stone, gravel, or stabilized
soil; 10,520 km earth and improved earth
Inland waterways:
Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi); Shire River, 144 km
Ports:
Chipoka, Monkey Bay, Nkhata Bay, and Nkotakota - all on Lake Nyasa (Lake
Malawi)
Civil air:
5 major transport aircraft
Airports:
48 total, 43 usable; 6 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways
over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 9 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications:
fair system of open-wire lines, radio relay links, and radio communications
stations; 42,250 telephones; broadcast stations - 10 AM, 17 FM, no TV;
satellite earth stations - 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Atlantic Ocean
INTELSAT
Note:
a majority of exports would