owest 10%: 0.9%
highest 10%: 43.4% (1986-87)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 689,000 economically active

Labor force - by occupation: 86% of resident population engaged in
subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners
work in South Africa

Unemployment rate: substantial unemployment and underemployment
affecting more than half of the labor force (1999 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $507 million
expenditures: $487 million, including capital expenditures of $170
million (FY96/97 est.)

Industries: food, beverages, textiles, handicrafts; construction;
tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 19.7% (1995)

Electricity - production: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 0%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 209 million kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 209 million kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley;
livestock

Exports: $235 million (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Exports - commodities: manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road
vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (1998)

Exports - partners: South African Customs Union 65%, North America 34%
(1998)

Imports: $700 million (f.o.b., 1998 est.)

Imports - commodities: food; building materials, vehicles, machinery,
medicines, petroleum products (1995)

Imports - partners: South African Customs Union 90%, Asia 7% (1997)

Debt - external: $675 million (1998 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $123.7 million (1995)

Currency: 1 loti (L) = 100 lisente; note - maloti (M) is the plural
form of loti

Exchange rates: maloti (M) per US$1 - 6.12439 (January 2000), 6.10948
(1999), 5.52828 (1998), 4.60796 (1997), 4.29935 (1996), 3.62709
(1995); note - the Basotho loti is at par with the South African rand

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

@Lesotho:Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 18,000 (1995)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 0 (1995)

Telephone system: rudimentary system
domestic: consists of a few landlines, a small microwave radio relay
system, and a minor radiotelephone communication system
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios: 104,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 1 (2000)

Televisions: 54,000 (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1