27%, chemicals 11%, vehicles and aircraft 11%, textiles, scientific
instruments, base metals;
partners--US, FRG, Japan, UK, France, Italy, Switzerland

External debt: $21.2 billion (1988 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 5.6% (1988)

Electricity: 34,941,000 kW capacity; 158,000 million kWh produced,
4,100 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: mining (world's largest producer of diamonds, gold, chrome),
automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemical,
fertilizer, foodstuffs

Agriculture: accounts for 6% of GDP and 30% of labor force; diversified
agriculture, with emphasis on livestock; products--cattle, poultry, sheep, wool,
milk, beef, corn, wheat; sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; self-sufficient in food

Aid: NA

Currency: rand (plural--rand); 1 rand (R) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: rand (R) per US$1--2.5555 (January 1990), 2.6166 (1989),
2.2611 (1988), 2.0350 (1987), 2.2685 (1986), 2.1911 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March

- Communications
Railroads: 20,638 km route distance total; 35,079 km of 1.067-meter gauge
trackage (counts double and multiple tracking as single track);
314 km of 610 mm gauge

Highways: 188,309 km total; 54,013 km paved, 134,296 km crushed stone,
gravel, or improved earth

Pipelines: 931 km crude oil; 1,748 km refined products; 322 km natural gas

Ports: Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Richard's Bay, Saldanha,
Mosselbaai, Walvis Bay

Merchant marine: 9 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 275,684 GRT/273,973
DWT; includes 7 container, 1 vehicle carrier, 1 petroleum, oils, and lubricants
(POL) tanker

Civil air: 81 major transport aircraft

Airports: 931 total, 793 usable; 124 with permanent-surface runways; 4
with runways over 3,659 m; 10 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 213 with runways
1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: the system is the best developed, most modern, and has
the highest capacity in Africa; it consists of carrier-equipped open-wire lines,
coaxial cables, radio relay links, fiber optic cable, and radiocommunication
stations; key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port
Elizabeth, and Pretoria; 4,500,000 telephones; stations--14 AM, 286 FM, 67 TV;
1 submarine cable; satellite earth stations--1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT and 2
Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT

- Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Medical Services

Military manpower: males 15-49, 9,544,357; 5,828,167 fit for military
service; 419,815 r