below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 147% (1998 est.)
Labor force: 14.51 million (1993 est.)
Labor force—by occupation: agriculture 65%, industry 16%, services 19% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget:
revenues: $269 million
expenditures: $244 million, including capital expenditures of $24
million (1996 est.)
Industries: mining, mineral processing, consumer products (including textiles, footwear, cigarettes, processed foods and beverages), cement, diamonds
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity—production: 6.4 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—production by source: fossil fuel: 6.25% hydro: 93.75% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1996)
Electricity—consumption: 6.265 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—exports: 195 million kWh (1996)
Electricity—imports: 60 million kWh (1996)
Agriculture—products: coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber, tea, quinine, cassava (tapioca), palm oil, bananas, root crops, corn, fruits; wood products
Exports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)
Exports—commodities: diamonds, copper, coffee, cobalt, crude oil
Exports—partners: Benelux 43%, US 22%, South Africa 8%, France,
Germany, Italy, UK, Japan (1997)
Imports: $819 million (f.o.b., 1998 est.)
Imports—commodities: consumer goods, foodstuffs, mining and other
machinery, transport equipment, fuels
Imports—partners: South Africa 21%, Benelux 14%, China 8%,
Netherlands, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK (1997)
Debt—external: $15 billion (1997 est.)
Economic aid—recipient: $195.3 million (1995)
Currency: Congolese franc (CF)
Exchange rates: Congolese francs (CF) per US$1—2.5 (January 1999); new zaires (Z) per US$1—115,000 (January 1998), 83,764 (October 1996), 7,024 (1995), 1,194 (1994) note: on 30 June 1998 the Congolese franc (CF) was introduced, replacing the new zaire; 1 Congolese franc (CF)=100,000 new zaires
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Telephones: 34,000 (1991 est.)
Telephone system:
domestic: barely adequate wire and microwave radio relay service in
and between urban areas; domestic satellite system with 14 earth
stations
international: satellite earth station—1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 10, FM 4, shortwave 0
Radios: 3.87 million (1992 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 18 (1997)
Televisions: 55,000 (1992 est.)
Transportation
Railways:
total: 5,138 km (1995); note—severely reduced route-distance in use
because of damage to facilities by civil strife
narrow gauge: 3,987 km 1.067-m gauge (858 km electrified); 125 km
1.000-m gauge; 1,026 km 0.600-m gauge
Highways: total: 145,000 km paved: 2,500 km unpaved: 142,500 km (1993 est.)
Waterways: 15,000 km including the Congo, its tributaries, and unconnected lakes
Pipelines: petroleum products 390 km
Ports and harbors: Banana, Boma, Bukavu, Bumba, Goma, Kalemie,
Kindu, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Matadi, Mbandaka
Merchant marine: none
Airports: 233 (1998 est.)
Airports—with paved runways: total: 23 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 14 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (1998 est.)
Airports—with unpaved runways: total: 210 1,524 to 2,437 m: 21 914 to 1,523 m: 95 under 914 m: 94 (1998 est.)
Military
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Presidential Security
Group, Gendarmerie
Military manpower—availability:
males age 15–49: 10,874,744 (1999 est.)
Military manpower—fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 5,536,277 (1999 est.)
Military expenditures—dollar figure: $250 million (1997)
Military expenditures—percent of GDP: 4.6% (1997)
Transnational Issues
Disputes—international: the Democratic Republic of the Congo is in the grip of a civil war that has drawn in military forces from neighboring states, with Uganda and Rwanda supporting the rebel movement which occupies much of the eastern portion of the state; most of the Congo River boundary with the Republic of the Congo is indefinite (no agreement has been reached on the division of the river or its islands, except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area)
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis, mostly for domestic consumption
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@Congo, Republic of the———————————
Geography
Location: Western Africa, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola and Gabon
Geographic coordinates: 1 00 S, 15 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
