Economy of Lesotho

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Economy of Lesotho

200 maloti note
Currency	loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR)
Fiscal year	1 April - 31 March
Trade organisations	WTO, SACU, SADC
Statistics
GDP (PPP)	$5.124 billion (2005 est.) (158th [1])
GDP growth	0.8% (2005 est.)
GDP per capita	$2,500 (2005 est.)
GDP by sector	agriculture: 16.3%, industry: 44.3%, services: 39.4% (2005 est.)
Inflation (CPI)	4.7% (2005 est.)
Pop below poverty line	49% (1999)
Labour force	838,000 (2000)
Labour force by occupation	agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa, industry and services: 14%
Unemployment	45% (2002)
Main industries	food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism
Trading Partners
Exports	$602.8 million f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Export goods	manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000)
Main partners	Hong Kong 43%, China 23.4%, India 5.5%, South Korea 5.1%, Germany 4.4% (2004)
Imports	$1.166 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports goods	food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000)
Main Partners	US 97%, Canada 2.1%, UK 0.3% (2004)
Public finances
Public debt	$735 million (2002)
Revenues	$738.5 million
Expenses	$792.1 million; including capital expenditures of $15 million (2005 est.)
Economic aid	recipient: ODA, $4.4 million
Main source [2] All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars

The Economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, and the earnings of laborers employed in South Africa. Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and economically integrated with it as well. The majority of households subsist on farming or migrant labor, primarily miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months. The western lowlands form the main agricultural zone. Almost 50% of the population earn some income through crop cultivation or animal husbandry with nearly two-thirds of the country's income coming from the agricultural sector.

Water is Lesotho's only significant natural resource. It is being exploited through the 30-year, multi-billion dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which was initiated in 1986. The LHWP is designed to capture, store, and transfer water from the Orange River system and send it to South Africa's Free State and greater Johannesburg area, which features a large concentration of South African industry, population and agriculture. At the completion of the project, Lesotho should be almost completely self-sufficient in the production of electricity and also gain income from the sale of electricity to South Africa. The World Bank, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and many other bilateral donors are financing the project.

Until the political insecurity in September 1998, Lesotho's economy had grown steadily since 1992. The riots, however, destroyed nearly 80% of commercial infrastructure in Maseru and two other major towns in the country, having a disastrous effect on the country's economy. Nonetheless, the country has completed several IMF Structural Adjustment Programs, and inflation declined substantially over the course of the 1990s. Lesotho's trade deficit, however, is quite large, with exports representing only a small fraction of imports.

Lesotho has received economic aid from a variety of sources, including the United States, the World Bank, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Germany.

Lesotho has nearly 6,000 kilometers of unpaved and modern all-weather roads. There is a short rail line (freight) linking Lesotho with South Africa that is totally owned and operated by South Africa.

Lesotho, is a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in which tariffs have been eliminated on the trade of goods between other member countries, which also include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, and South Africa also form a common currency and exchange control area known as the Rand Monetary Area that uses the South African Rand as the common currency. In 1980, Lesotho introduced its own currency, the loti (plural: maloti). One hundred lisente equal one loti. The Loti is at par with the Rand.

[edit] Other statistics

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.9%
highest 10%: 43.4% (1986-87)

Industrial production growth rate: 19.7% (1995)

Electricity - production: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 0%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 209 GWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 209 GWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: maize, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock

Currency: 1 loti (L) = 100 lisente; note - maloti (M) is the plural form of loti

Exchange rates: maloti (M) per US$1 - 6.12439 (January 2000), 6.10948 (1999), 5.52828 (1998), 4.60796 (1997), 4.29935 (1996), 3.62709 (1995); note - the Basotho loti is at par with the South African rand