Mozambique

Airports

203 total, 153 usable; 27 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 29 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

5 major transport aircraft

Highways

26,498 km total; 4,593 km paved; 829 km gravel, crushed stone, stabilized soil; 21,076 km unimproved earth

Inland waterways

about 3,750 km of navigable routes

Merchant marine

5 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,806 GRT/12,873 DWT

Pipelines

306 km crude oil (not operating); 289 km refined products

Ports

Maputo, Beira, Nacala

Railroads

3,288 km total; 3,140 km 1.067-meter gauge; 148 km 0.762-meter narrow gauge; Malawi-Nacala, Malawi-Beira, and Zimbabwe-Maputo lines are subject to closure because of insurgency

Telecommunications

fair system of troposcatter, open-wire lines, and radio relay; 57,400 telephones; stations--15 AM, 3 FM, 1 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 3 domestic

Branches

Mozambique Armed Forces (including Army, Border Guard, Naval Command, Air Defense Forces)

Defense expenditures

8.4% of GDP (1987)

Military manpower

males 15-49, 3,295,067; 1,892,699 fit for military service

Agriculture

accounts for 50% of GDP, over 80% of labor force, and about 90% of exports; cash crops--cotton, cashew nuts, sugarcane, tea, shrimp; other crops--cassava, corn, rice, tropical fruits; not self-sufficient in food

Aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $282 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $3.1 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $37 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $887 million

Budget

revenues $186 million; expenditures $239 million, including capital expenditures of $208 million (1988 est.)

Currency

metical (plural--meticais); 1 metical (Mt) = 100 centavos

Electricity

2,265,000 kW capacity; 1,740 million kWh produced, 120 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

meticais (Mt) per US$1--800 (September 1989), 528.60 (1988), 289.44 (1987), 40.43 (1986), 43.18 (1985)

Exports

$100 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--shrimp 48%, cashews 21%, sugar 10%, copra 3%, citrus 3%; partners--US, Western Europe, GDR, Japan

External debt

$4.4 billion (1988)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

$1.6 billion, per capita less than $110; real growth rate 5.0% (1988)

Imports

$764 million (c.i.f., 1988), including aid; commodities--food, clothing, farm equipment, petroleum; partners--US, Western Europe, USSR

Industrial production

growth rate 7% (1989 est.)

Industries

food, beverages, chemicals (fertilizer, soap, paints), petroleum products, textiles, nonmetallic mineral products (cement, glass, asbestos), tobacco

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

81.1% (1988)

Overview

One of Africa's poorest countries, with a per capita GDP of little more than $100, Mozambique has failed to exploit the economic potential of its sizable agricultural, hydropower, and transportation resources. Indeed, national output, consumption, and investment declined throughout the first half of the 1980s because of internal disorders, lack of government administrative control, and a growing foreign debt. A sharp increase in foreign aid, attracted by an economic reform policy, has resulted in successive years of economic growth since 1985. Agricultural output, nevertheless, is only at about 75% of its 1981 level, and grain has to be imported. Industry operates at only 20-40% of capacity. The economy depends heavily on foreign assistance to keep afloat.

Unemployment rate

40.0 (1988)

Climate

tropical to subtropical

Coastline

2,470 km

Comparative area

slightly less than twice the size of California

Environment

severe drought and floods occur in south; desertification

Extended economic zone

200 nm;

Land boundaries

4,571 km total; Malawi 1,569 km, South Africa 491 km, Swaziland 105 km, Tanzania 756 km, Zambia 419 km, Zimbabwe 1,231 km

Land use

4% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 56% meadows and pastures; 20% forest and woodland; 20% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Natural resources

coal, titanium

Terrain

mostly coastal lowlands, uplands in center, high plateaus in northwest, mountains in west

Territorial sea

12 nm

Total area

801,590 km2; land area: 784,090 km2

Administrative divisions

10 provinces (provincias, singular--provincia); Cabo Delgado, Gaza, Inhambane, Manica, Maputo, Nampula, Niassa, Sofala, Tete, Zambezia

Capital

Maputo

Communists

about 60,000 FRELIMO members

Constitution

25 June 1975

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Valeriano FERRAO; Chancery at Suite 570, 1990 M Street NW, Washington DC 20036; telephone (202) 293-7146; US--Ambassador Melissa F. WELLS; Embassy at 3rd Floor, 35 Rua Da Mesquita, Maputo (mailing address is P. O. Box 783, Maputo); telephone 743167 or 744163

Elections

national elections are indirect and based on mass meetings throughout the country

Executive branch

president, prime minister, Cabinet

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of green (top), black, and yellow with a red isosceles triangle based on the hoist side; the black band is edged in white; centered in the triangle is a yellow five-pointed star bearing a crossed rifle and hoe in black superimposed on an open white book

Independence

25 June 1975 (from Portugal)

Judicial branch

People's Courts at all levels Chief of State--President Joaquim Alberto CHISSANO (since 6 November 1986); Head of Government--Prime Minister Mario da Graca MACHUNGO (since 17 July 1986)

Legal system

based on Portuguese civil law system and customary law

Legislative branch

unicameral People's Assembly (Assembleia Popular)

Long-form name

People's Republic of Mozambique

Member of

ACP, AfDB, CCC, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto), IBRD, ICAO, IFAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, ITU, NAM, OAU, SADCC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO

National holiday

Independence Day, 25 June (1975)

Political parties and leaders

Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) is the only legal party and is a Marxist organization with close ties to the USSR

Suffrage

universal adult at age 18

Type

people's republic

Birth rate

47 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate

18 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Ethnic divisions

majority from indigenous tribal groups; about 10,000 Europeans, 35,000 Euro-Africans, 15,000 Indians

Infant mortality rate

138 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Labor force

NA, but 90% engaged in agriculture

Language

Portuguese (official); many indigenous dialects

Life expectancy at birth

45 years male, 49 years female (1990)

Literacy

38%

Nationality

noun--Mozambican(s); adjective--Mozambican

Net migration rate

- 3 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Note

there are 800,000 Mozambican refugees in Malawi (1989 est.)

Organized labor

225,000 workers belong to a single union, the Mozambique Workers' Organization (OTM)

Population

14,565,656 (July 1990), growth rate 2.6% (1990)

Religion

60% indigenous beliefs, 30% Christian, 10% Muslim

Total fertility rate

6.5 children born/woman (1990)