| People | Swaziland |
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Economy - overview:
|
In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies approximately 70% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. In 2007, the sugar industry increased efficiency and diversification efforts, in response to a 17% decline in EU sugar prices. Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives more than nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends 60% of its exports. Swaziland's currency is pegged to the South African rand, subsuming Swaziland's monetary policy to South Africa. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union, which may equal as much as 70% of government revenue this year, and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income. Swaziland is not poor enough to merit an IMF program; however, the country is struggling to reduce the size of the civil service and control costs at public enterprises. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign investment. With an estimated 40% unemployment rate, Swaziland's need to increase the number and size of small and medium enterprises and attract foreign direct investment is acute. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2006-07 because of drought, and nearly two-fifths of the adult population has been infected by HIV/AIDS. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
|
$5.424 billion (2007 est.) |
GDP (official exchange rate):
|
$2.674 billion (2007 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
|
1.6% (2007 est.) |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
|
$4,800 (2007 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
|
agriculture: 11.8%
industry: 45.8%
services: 42.3% (2007 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
|
17.9% of GDP (2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line:
|
69% (2006) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
|
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 40.7% (2001) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
|
50.4 (2001) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
|
6% (2007 est.) |
Labor force:
|
300,000 (2006) |
Labor force participation rate:
|
26.58 % of population |
Labor force - by occupation:
|
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA% |
Unemployment rate:
|
40% (2006 est.) |
Budget:
|
revenues: $1.216 billion
expenditures: $1.15 billion (2007 est.) |
Budget revenues per capita:
|
1,078 USD per capita |
Public debt:
|
void |
Industries:
|
coal, wood pulp, sugar, soft drink concentrates, textiles and apparel |
Industrial production growth rate:
|
1% (2007 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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460 million kWh (2007) |
Electricity - production per capita:
|
408 kWh per capita |
Electricity - consumption:
|
1.2 billion kWh (2007) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
|
1,064 kWh per capita |
Electricity - exports:
|
0 kWh (2007) |
Electricity - imports:
|
872 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2007) |
Oil - production:
|
0 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
|
void |
Oil - consumption:
|
3,500 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
|
1.13 bbl/year per capita |
Oil - exports:
|
0 bbl/day (2004) |
Oil - imports:
|
3,530 bbl/day (2004) |
Oil - proved reserves:
|
0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
Natural gas - production:
|
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
|
void |
Natural gas - consumption:
|
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
|
void |
Natural gas - exports:
|
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
Natural gas - imports:
|
0 cu m (2005) |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
|
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
|
sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats, sheep |
Current account balance:
|
-$26.71 million (2007 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
|
-23 USD per capita |
Exports:
|
$2.169 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) |
Exports per capita:
|
1,922 USD per capita |
Exports - commodities:
|
soft drink concentrates, sugar, wood pulp, cotton yarn, refrigerators, citrus and canned fruit |
Exports - partners:
|
South Africa 59.7%, EU 8.8%, US 8.8%, Mozambique 6.2% (2006) |
Imports:
|
$2.31 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) |
Imports per capita:
|
2,047 USD per capita |
Imports - commodities:
|
motor vehicles, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals |
Imports - partners:
|
South Africa 95.6%, EU 0.9%, Japan 0.9% (2006) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
|
$394.9 million (31 December 2007 est.) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
|
350 USD per capita |
Debt - external:
|
$538.6 million (31 December 2007 est.) |
Debt - external - per capita:
|
478 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
|
$NA |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
|
$NA |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
|
$196.8 million (2005) |
Economic aid - donor:
|
void |
Economic aid - recipient:
|
$46.03 million (2005) |
Economic aid - recipient per capita:
|
41 USD per capita |
Currency (code):
|
lilangeni (SZL) |
Exchange rates:
|
lilangeni per US dollar - 7.4 (2007), 6.85 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003) |
Fiscal year:
|
1 April - 31 March |
|
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