ER; Embassy at Rue Rochester NY and
Rue Mohamed V., Bamako (mailing address is B. P. 34, Bamako); telephone
[223] 223712

_#_Flag: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), yellow, and
red; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with
about 70% of its land area desert or semidesert. Economic activity is
largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger. About 10%
of the population live as nomads and some 80% of the labor force is
engaged in agriculture and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated
on processing farm commodities.

_#_GDP: $2.0 billion, per capita $250; real growth rate 9.9% (1989
est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA% (1987)

_#_Unemployment rate: NA%

_#_Budget: revenues $329 million; expenditures $519 million, including
capital expenditures of $178 (1989 est.)

_#_Exports: $285 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.);

commodities--livestock, peanuts, dried fish, cotton, skins;

partners--mostly franc zone and Western Europe

_#_Imports: $513 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.);

commodities--textiles, vehicles, petroleum products, machinery,
sugar, cereals;

partners--mostly franc zone and Western Europe

_#_External debt: $2.2 billion (1989 est.)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate 19.9% (1989 est.); accounts
for 7% of GDP

_#_Electricity: 253,000 kW capacity; 730 million kWh produced,
90 kWh per capita (1990)

_#_Industries: small local consumer goods and processing,
construction, phosphate, gold, fishing

_#_Agriculture: accounts for 50% of GDP; most production based on
small subsistence farms; cotton and livestock products account for over
70% of exports; other crops--millet, rice, corn, vegetables, peanuts;
livestock--cattle, sheep, and goats

_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $349
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $2.65 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $92 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $190 million

_#_Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc
(plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

_#_Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF)
per US$1--256.54 (January 1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85
(1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

_#_Fiscal year: calendar year

_*_Communications
_#_Railroa