g of Afghanistan which is longer and has the national coat of arms
superimposed on the hoist side of the black and red bands

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: A landlocked country, Malawi ranks among the world's
least developed with a per capita GDP of $175. The economy is
predominately agricultural and operates under a relatively free
enterprise environment, with about 90% of the population living in
rural areas. Agriculture accounts for 40% of GDP and 90% of export
revenues. After two years of weak performance, economic growth improved
significantly in 1988-90 as a result of good weather and a broadly based
economic adjustment effort by the government. The economy depends on
substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank,
and individual donor nations. The closure of traditional trade routes
through Mozambique continues to be a constraint on the economy.

_#_GDP: $1.6 billion, per capita $175; growth rate 4.8% (1990 est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11.7% (1990)

_#_Unemployment rate: NA%

_#_Budget: revenues $398 million; expenditures $510 million, including
capital expenditures of $154 million (FY91 est.)

_#_Exports: $390 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.);

commodities--tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, peanuts;

partners--US, UK, Zambia, South Africa, FRG

_#_Imports: $560 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.);

commodities--food, petroleum, semimanufactures, consumer goods,
transportation equipment;

partners--South Africa, Japan, US, UK, Zimbabwe

_#_External debt: $1.4 billion (December 1990 est.)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate 4.9% (1989 est.); accounts
for about 18% of GDP (1988)

_#_Electricity: 181,000 kW capacity; 535 million kWh produced,
60 kWh per capita (1989)

_#_Industries: agricultural processing (tea, tobacco, sugar),
sawmilling, cement, consumer goods

_#_Agriculture: accounts for 40% of GDP; cash crops--tobacco,
sugarcane, cotton, tea, and corn; subsistence crops--potatoes, cassava,
sorghum, pulses; livestock--cattle and goats

_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $215
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $2.0 billion

_#_Currency: Malawian kwacha (plural--kwacha);
1 Malawian kwacha (MK) = 100 tambala

_#_Exchange rates: Malawian kwacha (MK) per US$1--2.6300 (January
1991), 2.7289 (1990), 2.7595 (1989), 2.5613 (1988), 2.2087 (1987), 1.8611
(1986), 1.7191 (1985)