rate (consumer prices): 3.5% (2000 est.)
Labor force: NA
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget: revenues: $870 million
expenditures: $970 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)
Industries: petroleum extraction, cement kilning, lumbering, brewing, sugar milling, palm oil, soap, flour, cigarette making
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 302 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 0.66%
hydro: 99.34%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 406.9 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 126 million kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: cassava (tapioca), sugar, rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables, coffee, cocoa; forest products
Exports: $2.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities: petroleum 50%, lumber, plywood, sugar, cocoa, coffee, diamonds
Exports - partners: US 23%, Benelux 14%, Germany, Italy, Taiwan,
China (1998)
Imports: $870 million (f.o.b., 2000)
Imports - commodities: petroleum products, capital equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs
Imports - partners: France 23%, US 9%, Belgium 8%, UK 7%, Italy (1997 est.)
Debt - external: $5 billion (1999 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $159.1 million (1995)
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible authority is the Bank of the Central African States
Currency code: XAF
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 699.21 (January 2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996); note - from 1 January 1999, the XAF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XAF per euro
Fiscal year: calendar year
Congo, Republic of the Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: 22,000 (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 1,000 (1996)
Telephone system: general assessment: services barely adequate for government use; key exchanges are in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire, and Loubomo; intercity lines frequently out-of-order
domestic: primary network consists of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 1 (1999)
Radios: 341,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 1 (1999)
Televisions: 33,000 (1997)
Internet country code: .cg
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)
Internet users: 500 (2000)
Congo, Republic of the Transportation
Railways: total: 894 km
narrow gauge: 894 km 1.067-m gauge (2000)
Highways: total: 12,800 km
paved: 1,242 km
unpaved: 11,558 km (1996)
Waterways: 1,120 km
note: the Congo and Ubangi (Oubangui) rivers provide 1,120 km of commercially navigable water transport; other rivers are used for local traffic only
Pipelines: crude oil 25 km
Ports and harbors: Brazzaville, Impfondo, Ouesso, Oyo, Pointe-Noire
Airports: 33 (2000 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 4
over 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 (2000 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 29
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 12
under 914 m: 10 (2000 est.)
Congo, Republic of the Military
Military branches: Army, Air Force, Navy, Gendarmerie
Military manpower - military age: 20 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15–49: 684,922 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15–49: 347,946 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 32,350 (2001 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $110 million (FY93)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 3.8% (FY93)
Congo, Republic of the Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: most of the Congo river boundary with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is indefinite (no agreement has been reached on the division of the river or its islands, except in the Stanley Pool/Pool Malebo area)
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@Cook Islands
Cook Islands Introduction
Background: Named after Captain Cook, who sighted them in 1770, the islands became a British protectorate in 1888. By 1900, administrative control was transferred to New Zealand; in 1965 residents chose self-government in free association with New Zealand. The emigration of skilled workers to New Zealand and government deficits are continuing problems.
Cook Islands Geography
Location: Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand
Geographic
