in rural areas. Agriculture
accounts for 45% of GDP and 90% of export revenues. The economy
depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF,
the World Bank, and individual donor nations. The new government faces
strong challenges, e.g., to spur exports, to improve educational and
health facilities, and to deal with environmental problems of
deforestation and erosion.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $7.5 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 6% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $800 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 45%
industry: 30%
services: 25% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 83.3% (1995 est.)

Labor force:
total: 3.5 million
by occupation : agriculture 86%, wage earners 14% (1990 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues : $530 million
expenditures: $674 million, including capital expenditures of $129
million (1993)

Industries: tea, tobacco, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer
goods

Industrial production growth rate: 1% (1994 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 190,000 kW (1993)

Electricity - production: 782 million kWh (1993)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 67 kWh (1993)

Agriculture - products: tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn,
potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum, pulses; cattle, goats

Exports:
total value : $431 million (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, peanuts, wood products
partners: US, South Africa, Germany, Japan

Imports:
total value: $348 million (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: food, petroleum products, semimanufactures, consumer
goods, transportation equipment
partners : South Africa, Zimbabwe, Japan, US, UK, Germany

Debt - external: $2.2 billion (1995 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: donor pledges, $332 million (1996)

Currency: 1 Malawian kwacha (MK) = 100 tambala

Exchange rates: Malawian kwacha (MK) per US$1 - 15.3118 (September
1996), 15.2837 (1995), 8.7364 (1994), 4.4028 (1993), 3.6033 (1992)

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

@Malawi:Communications

Telephones: 43,000 (1985 est.)

Telephone system:
domestic : fair system of open-wire lines, microwave radio relay
links, and radiotelephone communications stations
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean
and 1 Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 17, shortwave 0

Radios: 1.011 million (1995)

Television broadcast stations: