ies and leaders: only party--Democratic Union of
Malian People (UDPM)

Suffrage: universal at age 21

Elections:
President--last held on 9 June 1985 (next to be held June 1991);
results--General Moussa Traore was reelected without opposition;

National Assembly--last held on 26 June 1988 (next to be held June
1991); results--UDPM is the only party; seats--(82 total) UDPM 82

Communists: a few Communists and some sympathizers (no legal Communist
party)

Member of: ACP, AfDB, CEAO, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto),
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF,
INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, NAM, Niger River Commission, OAU,
OIC, OMVS (Organization for the Development of the Senegal River
Valley), UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WTO,

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Alhousseyni TOURE; Chancery
at 2130 R Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 332-2249 or
939-8950;
US--Ambassador Robert M. PRINGLE; Embassy at Rue Testard and
Rue Mohamed V., Bamako (mailing address is B. P. 34, Bamako); telephone 225834

Flag: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), yellow, and
red; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

- Economy
Overview: Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with about
80% of its land area desert or semidesert. Economic activity is largely
confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10% of the
population lives as nomads and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in
agriculture and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on
processing farm commodities.

GDP: $1.94 billion, per capita $220; real growth rate - 0.9% (1988 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA% (1987)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $338 million; expenditures $559 million, including
capital expenditures of $NA (1987)

Exports: $260 million (f.o.b., 1987); commodities--livestock,
peanuts, dried fish, cotton, skins; partners--mostly franc zone and
Western Europe

Imports: $493 million (f.o.b., 1987); commodities--textiles,
vehicles, petroleum products, machinery, sugar, cereals; partners--mostly
franc zone and Western Europe

External debt: $2.1 billion (December 1988 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity: 92,000 kW capacity; 165 million kWh produced,
20 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: small local consumer goods and processing, construction,
phosphate, gold, fishing

Agriculture: accounts for 50