Mozambique

Airports

197 total, 145 usable; 27 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 5 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 27 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; earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 3 domestic

Branches

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

Defense expenditures

$NA, 8.4% of GDP (1987)

Manpower availability

males 15-49, 3,407,234; 1,957,123 fit for military service

Agriculture

accounts for 90% of the labor force, 50% of GDP, 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

Budget

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

Currency

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

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $350 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $3.8 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $37 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $890 million

Electricity

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

Exchange rates

meticais (Mt) per US$1--1,700 (November 1990), 800.00 (1989), 528.60 (1988), 289.44 (1987), 40.43 (1986), 43.18 (1985)

Exports

$90 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.); commodities--shrimp 48%, cashews 21%, sugar 10%, copra 3%, citrus 3%; partners--US, Western Europe, GDR, Japan

External debt

$5.1 billion (1990 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

$1.6 billion, per capita $110; real growth rate 5.0% (1989 est.)

Imports

$764 million (c.i.f., 1989 est.), including aid; commodities--food, clothing, farm equipment, petroleum; partners--US, Western Europe, USSR

Industrial production

growth rate 5% (1989 est.)

Industries

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

22.9% (1990 est.)

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 at about only 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

50% (1989 est.)

Climate

tropical to subtropical

Coastline

2,470 km Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; Territorial sea: 12 nm

Comparative area

slightly less than twice the size of California

Environment

severe drought and floods occur in south; desertification

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

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

Natural resources

coal, titanium

Terrain

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

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 200,000 FRELIMO members; note--FRELIMO no longer considers itself a Communist party

Constitution

30 November 1990

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Hipolito PATRICIO; Chancery at Suite 570, 1990 M Street NW, Washington DC 20036; telephone (202) 293-7146; US--Ambassador Townsend B. FRIEDMAN, Jr.; Embassy at Avenida Kenneth Kuanda, 193 Maputo (mailing address is P. O. Box 783, Maputo); telephone [258] (1) 49-27-97, 49-01-67, 49-03-50

Elections

electoral law--to be ratified in 1991--will provide for periodic, direct presidential and Assembly elections

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) Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO)--formerly a Marxist organization with close ties to the USSR--was the only legal party before 30 November 1990 when the new Constitution went into effect establishing a multiparty system; note--the government has announced that multiparty elections will be held in 1991; parties such as the Liberal Democratic Party of Mozambique (PALMO), the Mozambique National Union (UNAMO), and the Mozambique National Movement (MONAMO) have already emerged

Legal system

based on Portuguese civil law system and customary law

Legislative branch

unicameral Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da Republica)

Long-form name

Republic of Mozambique

Member of

ACP, AfDB, CCC, ECA, FAO, FLS, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, SADCC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WMO

National holiday

Independence Day, 25 June (1975)

Suffrage

universal adult at age 18

Type

republic

Birth rate

46 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate

17 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Ethnic divisions

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

Infant mortality rate

134 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Labor force

NA, but 90% engaged in agriculture

Language

Portuguese (official); many indigenous dialects

Life expectancy at birth

46 years male, 49 years female (1991)

Literacy

33% (male 45%, female 21%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

Nationality

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

Net migration rate

17 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Organized labor

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

Population

15,113,282 (July 1991), growth rate 4.6% (1991); note--900,000 Mozambican refugees in Malawi (1990 est.)

Religion

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

Total fertility rate

6.4 children born/woman (1991)