bassy: 254 Kingsway, Maseru West (Consular Section)
mailing address: P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100, Lesotho telephone: [266]
312666 FAX: [266] 310116

Flag description: divided diagonally from the lower hoist side corner;
the upper half is white, bearing the brown silhouette of a large shield
with crossed spear and club; the lower half is a diagonal blue band with
a green triangle in the corner

Economy Lesotho

Economy - overview: Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho's
primary natural resource is water. Its economy is based on subsistence
agriculture, livestock, remittances from miners employed in South Africa,
and a rapidly growing apparel-assembly sector. The number of mineworkers
has declined steadily over the past several years. A small manufacturing
base depends largely on farm products that support the milling, canning,
leather, and jute industries. Agricultural products are exported primarily
to South Africa. Proceeds from membership in a common customs union with
South Africa form the majority of government revenue. Although drought has
decreased agricultural activity over the past few years, completion of a
major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to
South Africa, generating royalties for Lesotho. The pace of privatization
has increased in recent years. In December 1999, the government embarked
on a nine-month IMF staff-monitored program aimed at structural adjustment
and stabilization of macroeconomic fundamentals. The government is in
the process of applying for a three-year successor program with the IMF
under its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. Lesotho has a marked
inequality in income distribution and serious unemployment/underemployment
problems that will not yield to short-run solutions.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $5.3 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2.6% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,450 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 18% industry: 38% services:
44% (2001)

Population below poverty line: 49.2% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 0.9%
highest 10%: 43.4% (1986-87)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 56 (1986-87)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.9% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 700,000 economically active

Labor force - by occupation: 86% of resident population engaged in
subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the ac