rate from 1985
to 1995 - averaging almost 9% annually - increased speculative
pressure on Thailand's currency in 1997 led to a crisis that
uncovered financial sector weaknesses and forced the government to
float the baht. Long pegged at 25 to the dollar, the baht reached
its lowest point of 56 to the dollar in January 1998 and the economy
contracted by 10.2% that same year. Thailand entered a recovery
stage in 1999, expanding 4.2% and grew about the same amount in
2000, largely due to strong exports - which increased about 20% in
2000. An ailing financial sector and the slow pace of corporate debt
restructuring, combined with a softening of global demand, is likely
to slow growth in 2001.

Togo:
This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both
commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment
for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be
imported. Together, cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate some 40% of
export earnings, with cotton being the most significant cash crop
despite falling prices on the world market. In the industrial
sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity. Togo
is the world's fourth largest producer, and geological advantages
keep production costs low. The recently privatized mining operation,
Office Togolais des Phosphates (OTP), is slowly recovering from a
steep fall in prices in the early 1990's, but continues to face the
challenge of tough foreign competition, exacerbated by weakening
demand. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. It
continues to expand its duty-free export-processing zone (EPZ),
launched in 1989, which has attracted enterprises from France,
Italy, Scandinavia, the US, India, and China and created jobs for
Togolese nationals. The government's decade-long effort, supported
by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform
measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line
with expenditures has stalled. Progress depends on following through
on privatization, increased openness in government financial
operations, progress towards legislative elections, and possible
downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended to stay
in place. Lack of foreign aid, deterioration of the financial
sector, energy shortages, and depressed commodity prices continue to
constrain economic growth; however, Togo did r