llar (plural--dollars);
1 Solomon Islands dollar (SI$) = 100 cents

_#_Exchange rates: Solomon Islands dollars (SI$) per US$1--2.5934
(January 1991), 2.5288 (1990), 2.2932 (1989), 2.0825 (1988), 2.0033
(1987), 1.7415 (1986), 1.4808 (1985)

_#_Fiscal year: calendar year

_*_Communications
_#_Highways: about 2,100 km total (1982); 30 km sealed, 290 km gravel,
980 km earth, 800 private logging and plantation roads of varied
construction

_#_Ports: Honiara, Ringi Cove

_#_Civil air: no major transport aircraft

_#_Airports: 31 total, 29 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 2,439 m; 2 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

_#_Telecommunications: 3,000 telephones; stations--4 AM, no FM, no TV;
1 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT earth station

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Police Force

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 77,169; NA fit for military
service

_#_Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP
_%_
_@_Somalia
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 637,660 km2; land area: 627,340 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

_#_Land boundaries: 2,340 km total; Djibouti 58 km, Ethiopia
1,600 km, Kenya 682 km

_#_Coastline: 3,025 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Territorial sea: 200 nm

_#_Disputes: southern half of boundary with Ethiopia is a Provisional
Administrative Line; territorial dispute with Ethiopia over the Ogaden;
possible claims to Djibouti and parts of Ethiopia and Kenya based on
unification of ethnic Somalis

_#_Climate: desert; northeast monsoon (December to February),
cooler southwest monsoon (May to October); irregular rainfall; hot, humid
periods (tangambili) between monsoons

_#_Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in north

_#_Natural resources: uranium, and largely unexploited reserves
of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt

_#_Land use: arable land 2%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and
pastures 46%; forest and woodland 14%; other 38%; includes irrigated 3%

_#_Environment: recurring droughts; frequent dust storms over eastern
plains in summer; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion;
desertification

_#_Note: strategic location on Horn of Africa along southern
approaches to Bab el Mandeb and route through Red Sea and Suez Canal

_*_People
_#_Population: 6,709,161 (July 1991), growth rate 3.3% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 46 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 13 deaths/1,000 popu