icit drugs from Central and Southwest Asia
and Latin America to Western Europe; limited producer of illicit
opium; mostly for domestic consumption; also produces illicit
amphetamines for export
Economic aid:
$NA
Currency:
1 lat = 100 cents; introduced NA March 1993
Exchange rates:
lats per US$1 - 0.5917 (January 1994), 1.32 (March 1993)
Fiscal year:
calendar year

@Latvia, Communications

Railroads:
2,400 km (1,524-mm gauge); 270 km electrified
Highways:
total:
59,500 km
paved and graveled:
33,000 km
unpaved:
earth 26,500 km (1990)
Inland waterways:
300 km perennially navigable
Pipelines:
crude oil 750 km; refined products 780 km; natural gas 560 km (1992)
Ports:
coastal - Riga, Ventspils, Liepaja; inland - Daugavpils
Merchant marine:
93 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 850,840 GRT/1,107,403 DWT, cargo
15, container 2, oil tanker 41, refrigerated cargo 27,
roll-on/roll-off cargo 8
Airports:
total:
50
usable:
15
with permanent-surface runways:
11
with runways over 3,659 m:
0
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
7
with runways 1,060-2,439 m:
7
note:
a C-130 can land on a 1,060-m airstrip
Telecommunications:
Latvia is better provided with telephone service than most of the
other former Soviet republics; subscriber circuits 660,000; subscriber
density 240 per 1,000 persons (1993); an NMT-450 analog cellular
telephone network covers 75% of Latvia's population; international
traffic carried by leased connection to the Moscow international
gateway switch and through the new Ericsson AXE local/transit digital
telephone exchange in Riga and through the Finnish cellular net;
electronic mail capability by Sprint data network; broadcasting
services NA

@Latvia, Defense Forces

Branches:
Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force, Security Forces (internal and border
troops), Border Guard, Home Guard (Zemessardze)
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49 652,444; fit for military service 514,055; reach
military age (18) annually 18,803 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures:
176 million rubles, 3%-5% of GDP; note - conversion of the military
budget into US dollars using the prevailing exchange rate could
produce misleading results

@Lebanon

Header
Note:
Lebanon has made progress toward rebuilding its political institutions
and regaining its national sovereignty since the end of the
devastating 16-year civil war in October 1990. U