Africa > Swaziland > Economy

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Agriculture > products sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats, sheep
Aid as % of GDP	0.9%		[91st of 129]
Debt > External	$524,000,000.00		[130th of 136]
Distribution of family income > Gini index	50.4		[5th of 43]
Economic freedom	2		[73rd of 156]
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.
Exchange rates emalangeni per US dollar - 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002), 8.6092 (2001), 6.9398 (2000)
Exports	$1,926,000,000.00		[122nd of 189]
GDP	$2,647,997,000.00		[134th of 203]
GDP > PPP	$5,552,000,000.00		[135th of 163]
GDP > Real growth rate	2.3%		[160th of 198]
GDP growth > annual %	1.8 annual %		[152nd of 187]
GINI index	50.4		[4th of 40]
Gross National Income	$1,388,020,000.00		[133rd of 172]
Human Development Index	0.498		[148th of 178]
Income distribution > Poorest 10%	1%		[105th of 114]
Income distribution > Richest 10%	50.2%		[1st of 114]
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	8.1%		[53rd of 192]
Population below poverty line	69%		[1st of 46]
Tourist arrivals	322,000		[86th of 152]

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