Swaziland Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. 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 about nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends nearly three-quarters of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker remittances from South Africa 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. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2004 because of drought, and more than one-third of the adult population was infected by HIV/AIDS.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $6.018 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.5% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,100 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 16.1%
industry: 43.4%
services: 40.5% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
383,200 (2000)

Labor force - by occupation:
NA

Unemployment rate:
34% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line:
40% (1995)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1%
highest 10%: 50.2% (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.4% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
23.6% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $494.6 million
expenditures: $552.7 million, including capital expenditures of $147 million (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products:
sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats, sheep

Industries:
mining (coal, raw asbestos), wood pulp, sugar, soft drink concentrates, textile and apparel

Industrial production growth rate:
3.7% (FY95/96)

Electricity - production:
402 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
1.173 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
799 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2002)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
3,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Current account balance:
$-82.4 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$900.1 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)

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% (2004)

Imports:
$1.14 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
motor vehicles, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals

Imports - partners:
South Africa 95.6%, EU 0.9%, Japan 0.9%, Singapore 0.3% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$320.5 million (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$320 million (2002 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$104 million (2001)

Currency (code):
lilangeni (SZL)

Exchange rates:
emalangeni per US dollar - 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002), 8.6092 (2001), 6.9398 (2000)