crops - corn,
sorghum, cassava, yams, beans, rice; cash crops include cotton, palm
oil, peanuts; poultry and livestock output has not kept up with
consumption

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for narcotics associated with
Nigerian trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for
Western Europe and the US

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $46 million;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-89), $1.3 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $19 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $101 million

Currency: 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1
- 529.43 (January 1995), 555.20 (1994), 283.16 (1993), 264.69 (1992),
282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990)
note: beginning 12 January 1994 the CFA franc was devalued to CFAF 100
per French franc from CFAF 50 at which it had been fixed since 1948

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Benin:Transportation

Railroads:
total: 578 km (single track)
narrow gauge: 578 km 1.000-m gauge

Highways:
total: 8,435 km
paved: 1,038 km
unpaved: crushed stone 2,600 km; improved earth 1,530 km; unimproved
earth 3,267 km

Inland waterways: navigable along small sections, important only
locally

Ports: Cotonou, Porto-Novo

Merchant marine: none

Airports:
total: 7
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 1
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 4

@Benin:Communications

Telephone system: NA telephones; fair system of open wire and
microwave radio relay
local: NA
intercity: microwave radio relay and open wire
international: 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station, submarine
cable

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 2, shortwave 0
radios: NA

Television:
broadcast stations: 2
televisions: NA

@Benin:Defense Forces

Branches: Armed Forces (includes Army, Navy, Air Force), National
Gendarmerie

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 1,165,463; females age 15-49
1,249,234; males fit for military service 596,956; females fit for
military service 631,780; males reach military age (18) annually
60,282 (1995 est.); females reach military age (18) annually 58,770
(1995 est.)
note: both sexes are liable for miltary service

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $33 million, 3.2% of
GDP (1994)

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