8),
$277 million

Currency: ouguiya (plural--ouguiya); 1 ouguiya (UM) = 5 khoums

Exchange rates: ouguiya (UM) per US$1--83.838 (January 1990),
83.051 (1989), 75.261 (1988), 73.878 (1987), 74.375 (1986), 77.085 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

- Communications
Railroads: 670 km 1.435-meter standard gauge, single track, owned and
operated by government mining company

Highways: 7,525 km total; 1,685 km paved; 1,040 km gravel, crushed stone,
or otherwise improved; 4,800 km unimproved roads, trails, tracks

Inland waterways: mostly ferry traffic on the Senegal River

Ports: Nouadhibou, Nouakchott

Merchant marine: 1 cargo ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,272 GRT/
1,840 DWT

Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft

Airports: 30 total, 29 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 4 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 17 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: poor system of cable and open-wire lines, minor
radio relay links, and radio communications stations; 5,200 telephones;
stations--2 AM, no FM, 1 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT
and 2 ARABSAT, with a third planned

- Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary Gendarmerie, paramilitary
National Guard, paramilitary National Police, paramilitary Presidential Guard,
paramilitary Nomad Security Guards

Military manpower: males 15-49, 410,153; 200,212 fit for military service;
conscription law not implemented

Defense expenditures: 4.2% of GDP (1987)
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Mauritius
- Geography
Total area: 1,860 km2; land area: 1,850 km2; includes Agalega
Islands, Cargados Carajos Shoals (St. Brandon) and Rodrigues

Comparative area: slightly less than 10.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 177 km

Maritime claims:

Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: claims Chagos Archipelago, which includes the island of
Diego Garcia in UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory; claims
French-administered Tromelin Island

Climate: tropical modified by southeast trade winds; warm, dry winter
(May to November); hot, wet, humid summer (November to May)

Terrain: small coastal plain rising to discontinuous mountains
encircling central plateau

Natural resources: arable land, fish

Land use: 54% arable land; 4% perm