orghum, lentils, vegetables, maize, cotton,
tobacco, coffee, sisal (for making rope); livestock (including goats);
fish

Exports:
total value: $81 million (1995 est.)
commodities: livestock, sorghum, textiles
partners: Ethiopia, Italy, Saudi Arabia, UK, US, Yemen

Imports:
total value : $404 million (1995 est.)
commodities: processed goods, machinery, petroleum products
partners: Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Italy, United Arab Emirates

Debt - external: $162 million (1995 est.)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 birr (Br) = 100 cents; at present, Ethiopian currency
used; note - new Eritrean currency, the nakfa, to be circulated in
1997

Exchange rates: birr (Br) per US$1 (end of the period) - 6.4260
(December 1996), 6.4260 (1996), 6.3200 (1995), 5.9500 (1994), 5.000
(fixed rate 1992-93); note - following independence from Ethiopia,
Eritrea continued to use Ethiopian currency
note: since May 1993, the birr market rate has been determined in an
interbank market supported by weekly wholesale auction; prior to that
date, the official rate was pegged to US$1 = 5.000 birr

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Eritrea:Communications

Telephones: NA

Telephone system:
domestic : very inadequate; about 4 telephones per 100 families, most
of which are in Asmara; government is seeking international tenders to
improve the system
international: NA

Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave 0

Radios: NA

Television broadcast stations: 1 (government controlled)

Televisions: NA

@Eritrea:Transportation

Railways:
total: 307 km
narrow gauge: 307 km 0.950-m gauge (1995 est.)
note: nonoperational since 1978 except for an about 5 km stretch that
was reopened in Massawa in 1994; rehabilitation of the remainder and
of the rolling stock is under way; links Ak'ordat and Asmara (formerly
Asmera) with the port of Massawa (formerly Mits'iwa)

Highways:
total: 3,930 km
paved: 841 km
unpaved : 3,089 km (1995 est.)

Ports and harbors: Assab (Aseb), Massawa (Mits'iwa)

Merchant marine:
total : 1 cargo ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 11,573 GRT/13,593
DWT (1996 est.)

Airports: 14 (1996 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total : 4
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
under 914 m: 2 (1996 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total : 10
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 4 (1996 est.)

Military

Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force

Military m