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or APO Miami 34032); telephone p591o (2) 350251 or 350120
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band; similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band
- Economy Overview: The Bolivian economy steadily deteriorated between 1980 and 1985 as La Paz financed growing budget deficits by expanding the money supply and inflation spiraled—peaking at 11,700%. An austere orthodox economic program adopted by newly elected President Paz Estenssoro in 1985, however, succeeded in reducing inflation to between 10% and 20% annually during 1987 and 1989, eventually restarting economic growth. President Paz Zamora has pledged to retain the economic policies of the previous government in order to keep inflation down and continue the growth begun under his predecessor. Nevertheless, Bolivia continues to be one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and it remains vulnerable to price fluctuations for its limited exports—mainly minerals and natural gas. Moreover, for many farmers, who constitute half of the country's work force, the main cash crop is coca, which is sold for cocaine processing.
GNP: $4.6 billion, per capita $660; real growth rate 2.8% (1988)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 15.5% (1989)
Unemployment rate: 20.7% (1988)
Budget: revenues $2,867 million; expenditures $2,867 million, including capital expenditures of $663 million (1987)
Exports: $634 million (f.o.b., 1989); commodities—metals 45%, natural gas 32%, coffee, soybeans, sugar, cotton, timber, and illicit drugs; partners—US 23%, Argentina
Imports: $786 million (c.i.f., 1989); commodities—food, petroleum, consumer goods, capital goods; partners—US 15%
External debt: $5.7 billion (December 1989)
Industrial production: growth rate 8.1% (1987)
Electricity: 817,000 kW capacity; 1,728 million kWh produced, 260 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverage, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing; illicit drug industry reportedly produces the largest revenues
Agriculture: accounts for 20% of GDP (including forestry and fisheries); principal commodities—coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes, timber; self-sufficient in food
Illicit drugs: world's second-largest producer of coca (after Peru) with an estimated 54,000 hectares under cultivation; government considers all but 12,000 hectares illicit and subject to eradication; intermediate coca products and cocaine exported to or through Colombia and Brazil to the US and other international drug markets
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70–88), $909 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970–87), $1.4 billion; Communist countries (1970–88), $340 million
Currency: boliviano (plural—bolivianos); 1 boliviano ($B) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: bolivianos ($B) per US$1—2.6917 (1989), 2.3502 (1988), 2.0549 (1987), 1.9220 (1986), 0.4400 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
- Communications Railroads: 3,675 km total; 3,643 km 1.000-meter gauge and 32 km 0.760-meter gauge, all government owned, single track
Highways: 38,836 km total; 1,300 km paved, 6,700 km gravel, 30,836 km improved and unimproved earth
Inland waterways: 10,000 km of commercially navigable waterways
Pipelines: crude oil 1,800 km; refined products 580 km; natural gas 1,495 km
Ports: none; maritime outlets are Arica and Antofagasta in Chile and
Matarani in Peru
Merchant marine: 2 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 14,051
GRT/22,155 DWT; note—1 is owned by the Bolivian Navy
Civil air: 56 major transport aircraft
Airports: 636 total, 551 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 8 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 110 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
Telecommunications: radio relay system being expanded; improved international services; 144,300 telephones; stations—129 AM, no FM, 43 TV, 68 shortwave; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
- Defense Forces Branches: Bolivian Army, Bolivian Navy, Bolivian Air Force (literally, the Army of the Nation, the Navy of the Nation, the Air Force of the Nation)
Military manpower: males 15–49, 1,629,154; 1,060,187 fit for military service; 70,528 reach military age (19) annually
Defense expenditures: 3% of GNP (1987)
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Country: Botswana
- Geography
Total area: 600,370 km2; land area: 585,370 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas
Land boundaries: 4,013 km total; Namibia 1,360 km, South Africa 1,840 km,
Zimbabwe 813 km
Coastline: none—landlocked
Maritime claims: none—landlocked
Disputes: short section of the boundary with Namibia is indefinite; quadripoint with Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe is in disagreement
Climate: semiarid; warm winters and hot summers
Terrain: predominately flat to gently rolling tableland; Kalahari Desert in southwest
Natural resources: diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore, silver, natural gas
Land use: 2% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 75% meadows and pastures; 2% forest and woodland; 21% other; includes NEGL% irrigated
Environment: rains in early 1988 broke six years of drought that had severely affected the important cattle industry; overgrazing; desertification
Note: landlocked; very long boundary with South Africa
- People
Population: 1,224,527 (July 1990), growth rate 2.8% (1990)
Birth rate: 37 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 9 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 43 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 58 years male, 64 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 4.8 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun and adjective—Motswana (singular), Batswana (plural)
Ethnic divisions: 95% Batswana; about 4% Kalanga, Basarwa, and Kgalagadi; about 1% white
Religion: 50% indigenous beliefs, 50% Christian
Language: English (official), Setswana
Literacy: 60%
Labor force: 400,000; 163,000 formal sector employees, most others are engaged in cattle raising and subsistence agriculture (1988 est.); 19,000 are employed in various mines in South Africa (1988)
Organized labor: 19 trade unions
- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Botswana
Type: parliamentary republic
Capital: Gaborone
Administrative divisions: 10 districts; Central, Chobe, Ghanzi,
Kgalagadi, Kgatleng, Kweneng, Ngamiland, North-East, South-East, Southern;
note—in addition, there may now be 4 town councils named Francistown,
Gaborone, Lobaste, Selebi-Pikwe