n (2001 est.)

Economic aid - donor: pledged $100 million in 1993 to fund reconstruction
of Lebanon; since 1993, Saudi Arabia has committed $208 million for
assistance to the Palestinians; pledged $240 million to development
in Afghanistan

Currency: Saudi riyal (SAR)

Currency code: SAR

Exchange rates: Saudi riyals per US dollar - 3.7450 (fixed rate since
June 1986)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications Saudi Arabia

Telephones - main lines in use: 3.1 million (1998)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1 million note: in 1998, the government
contracted for the installation of 575,000 additional Group Speciale
Mobile (GSM) cellular telephone lines over 15 months to raise the total
number of subscribers to more than one million; Riyadh planned to further
expand the GSM system in 1999 by adding an additional one million lines
(1998)

Telephone system: general assessment: modern system domestic: extensive
microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable systems
international: Sudan; coaxial cable to Kuwait and Jordan; submarine cable
to Djibouti, Egypt and Bahrain; satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat
(3 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Arabsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Indian
Ocean region)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 43, FM 31, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 6.25 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 117 (1997)

Televisions: 5.1 million (1997)

Internet country code: .sa

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 42 (2001)

Internet users: 570,000 (2001)

Transportation Saudi Arabia

Railways: total: 1,392 km standard gauge: 1,392 km 1.435-m gauge (724
km are double-tracked) (2001)

Highways: total: 146,524 km paved: 44,104 km unpaved: 102,420 km
(1997 est.)

Waterways: none

Pipelines: crude oil 6,400 km; petroleum products 150 km; natural gas
2,200 km (includes natural gas liquids 1,600 km)

Ports and harbors: Ad Dammam, Al Jubayl, Duba, Jiddah, Jizan, Rabigh,
Ra's al Khafji, Mishab, Ras Tanura, Yanbu' al Bahr, Madinat Yanbu'
al Sinaiyah

Merchant marine: total: 71 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,071,315
GRT/1,412,125 DWT ships by type: cargo 11, chemical tanker 10, container
4, livestock carrier 3, passenger 1, petroleum tanker 20, refrigerated
cargo 3, roll on/roll off 11, short-sea passenger 8 note: includes some
foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Egypt 3,
Finland 1, Greece 3, Kuwait 1, Sudan 1, United Arab Emirates 1, U