Short facts about the economy in Swaziland
| Economy -
overview: |
In this small landlocked economy,
subsistence agriculture occupies more than 60% of the population. Manufacturing
features a number of agroprocessing factories. Mining has declined in importance
in recent years: diamond mines have shut down because of the depletion of easily
accessible reserves; high-grade iron ore deposits were depleted by 1978; and
health concerns have cut world demand for asbestos. Exports of soft drink
concentrate, sugar, and wood pulp are the main earners of hard currency.
Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland
is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives four-fifths of its
imports and to which it sends two-thirds of its exports. Remittances from the
Southern African Customs Union and Swazi workers in South African mines
substantially supplement domestically earned income. The government is trying to
improve the atmosphere for foreign investment. Overgrazing, soil depletion,
drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. Prospects for
2001 are strengthened by government millennium projects for a new convention
center, additional hotels, an amusement park, a new airport, and stepped-up
roadbuilding and factory construction plans. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $4.4 billion
(2000 est.) |
| GDP - real
growth rate: |
2.4% (2000
est.) |
| GDP - per
capita: |
purchasing power parity - $4,000 (2000
est.) |
| GDP -
composition by sector: |
agriculture: 10%
industry: 46%
services: 44% (1998
est.) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
NA% |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%:
NA% |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
6.4% (2000
est.) |
| Labor force
- by occupation: |
private sector 70%, public sector
30% |
| Unemployment
rate: |
22% (1995
est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues: $400 million
expenditures: $450 million, including capital
expenditures of $115 million (FY96/97) |
| Industries: |
mining (coal and asbestos), wood pulp,
sugar, soft drink concentrates |
| Industrial
production growth rate: |
3.7%
(FY95/96) |
| Electricity
- production: |
375 million kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel: 53.33%
hydro: 46.67%
nuclear:
0%
other: 0% (1999) |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
198 million kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
852 million kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
701 million kWh
note:
supplied by South Africa (1999) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice,
citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats,
sheep |
| Exports: |
$881 million (f.o.b.,
2000) |
| Exports -
commodities: |
soft drink concentrates, sugar, wood
pulp, cotton yarn, refrigerators, citrus and canned
fruit |
| Exports -
partners: |
South Africa 65%, EU 12%, Mozambique
11%, US 5% (1998) |
| Imports: |
$928 million (f.o.b.,
2000) |
| Imports -
commodities: |
motor vehicles, machinery, transport
equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products,
chemicals |
| Imports -
partners: |
South Africa 84%, EU 5%, Japan 2%,
Singapore 2% (1998) |
| Debt -
external: |
$281 million (2000
est.) |
| Economic aid
- recipient: |
$55 million
(1995) |
| Currency: |
lilangeni
(SZL) |
| Exchange
rates: |
emalangeni per US dollar - 7.7803
(January 2001), 6.9056 (2000), 6.1087 (1999), 5.4807 (1998), 4.6032 (1997),
4.2706 (1996); note - the Swazi lilangeni is at par with the South African rand;
emalangeni is the plural form of lilangeni |
| Fiscal
year: |
1 April - 31 March | Source: World Factbook |
