foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products
Imports - partners:
Senegal 44.6%, Portugal 13.8%, China 4.2% (2004)
Debt - external:
$941.5 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$115.4 million (1995)
Currency (code):
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible
authority is the Central Bank of the West African States; previously
the Guinea-Bissau peso (GWP) was used
Currency code:
XOF; GWP
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 528.29
(2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000)
note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc is pegged to the euro at a
rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Guinea-Bissau
Telephones - main lines in use:
10,600 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
1,300 (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment: small system
domestic: combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines,
radiotelephone, and cellular communications
international: country code - 245
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2002)
Radios:
49,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
NA (1997)
Televisions:
NA
Internet country code:
.gw
Internet hosts:
2 (2004)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
2 (2002)
Internet users:
19,000 (2003)
Transportation Guinea-Bissau
Highways: total: 4,400 km paved: 453 km unpaved: 3,947 km (1999 est.)
Waterways:
4 largest rivers are navigable for some distance; many inlets and
creeks give shallow-water access to much of interior (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim
Airports:
28 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 25
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 20 (2004 est.)
Military Guinea-Bissau
Military branches:
People's Revolutionary Armed Force (FARP; includes Army, Navy, and
Air Force), paramilitary force
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory military service (2001)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18–49: 288,770 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18–49: 152,760 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$8.9 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.1% (2004)
Transnational Issues Guinea-Bissau
Disputes - international:
attempts to stem refugees and cross-border raids, arms smuggling,
and political instability from a separatist movement in Senegal's
Casamance region
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Guyana
Introduction Guyana
Background:
Originally a Dutch colony in the 17th century, by 1815 Guyana had
become a British possession. The abolition of slavery led to black
settlement of urban areas and the importation of indentured servants
from India to work the sugar plantations. This ethnocultural divide
has persisted and has led to turbulent politics. Guyana achieved
independence from the UK in 1966, but until the early 1990s it was
ruled mostly by socialist-oriented governments. In 1992, Cheddi
JAGAN was elected president, in what is considered the country's
first free and fair election since independence. Upon his
