owth rate: 13.5% (1994 est.)

GDP per capita: $1,430 (1994 est.)

GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: 10.4%
industry: 48.8%
services: 40.8% (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9.5% (January 1995)

Labor force: 689,000 economically active
by occupation: 86.2% of resident population engaged in subsistence
agriculture; roughly 60% of the active male wage earners work in
South Africa

Unemployment rate: substantial unemployment and underemployment

Budget:
revenues: $445 million
expenditures: $400 million, including capital expenditures of $128
million (FY94/95 est.)

Industries: food, beverages, textiles, handicrafts; construction;
tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 12.5% (1994 est.)

Electricity: power supplied by South Africa

Agriculture: corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock

Exports: $142 million (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: clothing, furniture, footwear, wool
partners: South Africa 39%, EC 22%, North and South America 33%
(1993)

Imports: $1 billion (c.i.f., 1994 est.)
commodities: mainly corn, building materials, clothing, vehicles,
machinery, medicines, petroleum products
partners: South Africa 83%, Asia 12%, EC 3% (1993)

External debt: $512 million (1993)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 loti (L) = 100 lisente

Exchange rates: maloti (M) per US$1 - 3.6417 (January 1996),
3.6266 (1995), 3.5490 (1994), 3.2636 (1993), 2.8497 (1992), 2.7563
(1991); note - the Basotho loti is at par with the South African rand

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Transportation
--------------

Railways:
total: 2.6 km; note - owned by, operated by, and included in the
statistics of South Africa
narrow gauge: 2.6 km 1.067-m gauge

Highways:
total: 5,324 km
paved: 799 km
unpaved: 4,525 km (1993 est.)

Ports: none

Airports:
total: 29
with paved runways over 3 047 m: 1
with paved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 1
with paved runways under 914 m: 23
with unpaved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 4 (1995 est.)

Communications
--------------

Telephones: 12,000 (1991 est.)

Telephone system: rudimentary system
domestic: consists of a few landlines, a small microwave radio relay
system, and a minor radiotelephone communication system
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 4, shortwave 0

Radios: 66,000

Television broadcas