Part 543

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 6.5% (1995)

Labor force: total: 465,000 (1981 est.); 45,000 wage earners (1980) by occupation: agriculture 47%, services 29%, industry and commerce 14%, government 10%

Unemployment rate: 20% (1991 est.)

Budget: revenues: $256 million expenditures : $269 million, including capital expenditures of $54 million (1995)

Industries: fish processing, mining of iron ore and gypsum

Industrial production growth rate: 7.2% (1994)

Electricity - capacity: 105,000 kW (1991)

Electricity - production: 135 million kWh (1991)

Electricity - consumption per capita: NA kWh

Agriculture - products: dates, millet, sorghum, root crops; cattle, sheep; fish products

Exports: total value: $483 million (f.o.b., 1995 est.) commodities: fish and fish products, iron ore, gold partners : Japan 27%, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg

Imports: total value: $365 million (c.i.f., 1995 est.) commodities: foodstuffs, consumer goods, petroleum products, capital goods partners: Algeria 15%, China 6%, US 3%, France, Germany, Spain, Italy

Debt - external: $2.3 billion (1994)

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 ouguiya (UM) = 5 khoums

Exchange rates: ouguiyas (UM) per US$1 - 141.230 (December 1996), 137.222 (1996), 129.768 (1995), 123.575 (1994), 120.806 (1993), 87.027 (1992)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Mauritania:Communications

Telephones: 17,000 (1991 est.)

Telephone system: poor system of cable and open-wire lines, minor microwave radio relay links, and radiotelephone communications stations (improvements being made) domestic : mostly cable and open-wire lines international: satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 2 Arabsat

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

Radios: 300,000 (1993 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 1 (1987 est.)

Televisions: 50,000 (1992 est.)

@Mauritania:Transportation

Railways: total: 704 km (single track); note - owned and operated by government mining company standard gauge : 704 km 1.435-m gauge (1995)

Highways: total: 7,600 km paved: 851 km unpaved: 6,749 km (1995 est.)

Waterways: mostly ferry traffic on the Senegal River