1979

_#_Legal system: based on adapted Trust Territory laws, acts of the
legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws

_#_National holiday: Proclamation of the Republic of the Marshall
Islands, 1 May (1979)

_#_Executive branch: president, Cabinet

_#_Legislative branch: unicameral Nitijela

_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court

_#_Leaders:

Chief of State and Head of Government--President Amata KABUA
(since 1979)

_#_Political parties and leaders: no formal parties; President KABUA
is chief political (and traditional) leader

_#_Suffrage: universal at age 18

_#_Elections:

President--last held NA November 1987 (next to be held November
1991); results--President Amata KABUA was reelected;

Parliament--last held NA November 1987 (next to be held November
1991); results--percent of vote NA;
seats--(33 total)

_#_Communists: none

_#_Member of: ESCAP (associate), ICAO, SPC, SPF, UN

_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Wilfred I. KENDALL;
Chancery at 2433 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20008;
telephone (202) 234-5414;

US--Ambassador William BODDE, Jr.; Embassy at NA address
(mailing address is P. O. Box 680, Majuro, Republic of the Marshall
Islands 96960-4380); telephone 692-4011

_#_Flag: blue with two stripes radiating from the lower hoist-side
corner--orange (top) and white; there is a white star with four large
rays and 20 small rays on the hoist side above the two stripes

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: Agriculture and tourism are the mainstays of the economy.
Agricultural production is concentrated on small farms, and the most
important commercial crops are coconuts, tomatoes, melons, and
breadfruit. A few cattle ranches supply the domestic meat market.
Small-scale industry is limited to handicrafts, fish processing, and
copra. The tourist industry is the primary source of foreign exchange and
employs about 10% of the labor force. The islands have few natural
resources, and imports far exceed exports. In 1987 the US Government
provided grants of $40 million out of the Marshallese budget of
$55 million.

_#_GDP: $63 million, per capita $1,500; real growth rate NA%
(1989 est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.6% (1981)

_#_Unemployment rate: NA%

_#_Budget: revenues $55 million; expenditures NA, including capital
expenditures of NA (1987 est.)

_#_Exports: $2.5 million (f.o.b., 1985);

commodities--copra, copra oil, agricultura