s: 57.7% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
14.8% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
71% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3%
highest 10%: 29% (1999)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
38.1 (1999)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
8% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
7.3 million (2000)

Unemployment rate:
5.9% (1998)

Budget:
revenues: $739.6 million
expenditures: $1.071 billion, including capital expenditures of $331
million (2003)

Agriculture - products:
coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (tapioca),
beans, bananas, peanuts; livestock products

Industries:
meat processing, soap, breweries, tanneries, sugar, textiles,
glassware, cement, automobile assembly plant, paper, petroleum,
tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
3% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:
830.2 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
772.1 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
13,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$-398 million (2003)

Exports:
$700 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
coffee, vanilla, shellfish, sugar; cotton cloth, chromite,
petroleum products

Exports - partners:
France 37.4%, US 29.2%, Germany 5.5%, Mauritius 5.2% (2003)

Imports:
$920 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
capital goods, petroleum, consumer goods, food

Imports - partners:
China 14.2%, France 13.2%, South Africa 6.4%, Iran 6.2% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$423 million (2003)

Debt - external:
$4.6 billion (2002)

Economic aid - recipient:
$354 million (2001)

Currency:
Malagasy franc (MGF)

Currency code:
MGF

Exchange rates:
Malagasy francs per US dollar - 6,210 (2003), 6,831.96 (2002),
6,588.49 (2001), 6,767.48 (2000), 6,283.77 (1999)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Madagascar

Telephones - main lines in use:
59,600 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
279,500 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: system is above average for the region
dom