*Congo, People
Population:
2,388,667 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.44% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
40.68 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
16.28 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
112.7 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
48.04 years
male:
46.3 years
female:
49.84 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
5.38 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Congolese (singular and plural)
adjective:
Congolese or Congo
Ethnic divisions:
south:
Kongo 48%
north:
Sangha 20%, M'Bochi 12%
center:
Teke 17%, Europeans 8,500 (mostly French)
Religions:
Christian 50%, animist 48%, Muslim 2%
Languages:
French (official), African languages (Lingala and Kikongo are the most
widely used)
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population:
57%
male:
70%
female:
44%
Labor force:
79,100 wage earners
by occupation:
agriculture 75%, commerce, industry, and government 25%
note:
51% of population of working age; 40% of population economically active
(1985)
*Congo, Government
Names:
conventional long form:
Republic of the Congo
conventional short form:
Congo
local long form:
Republique Populaire du Congo
local short form:
Congo
former:
Congo/Brazzaville
Digraph:
CF
Type:
republic
Capital:
Brazzaville
Administrative divisions:
9 regions (regions, singular - region) and 1 commune*; Bouenza,, Brazzaville*, Cuvette,
Kouilou,, Lekoumou, Likouala, Niari, Plateaux, Pool,
Sangha
Independence:
15 August 1960 (from France)
Constitution:
8 July 1979, currently being modified
Legal system:
based on French civil law system and customary law
National holiday:
Congolese National Day, 15 August (1960)
Political parties and leaders:
Congolese Labor Party (PCT), headed by former president Denis
SASSOU-NGUESSO; Union for Democratic Renewal (URD) - a coalition of
opposition parties; Panafrican Union for Social Development (UPADS)
Other political or pressure groups:
Union of Congolese Socialist Youth (UJSC); Congolese Trade Union Congress
(CSC); Revolutionary Union of Congolese Women (URFC); General Union of
Congolese Pupils and Students (UGEEC)
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Elections:
President:
last held 2-16 August 1992 (next to be held August 1997); results -
President Pascal LISSOUBA won with 61% of the vote
National Assembly:
last held 24 June-19 July 1992; results - (125 total) UPADS 39, MCDDI (part
of URD coalition) 29, PCT 19; more than a dozen smaller parties split the
remaining 38 seats
note:
National Assembly dissolved in November 1992; next election to be held May
1993
Executive branch:
president, prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet)
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee Nationale) was dissolved on NA
November 1992
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)
*Congo, Government
Leaders:
Chief of State:
President Pascal LISSOUBA (since August 1992)
Head of Government:
Prime Minister Claude Antoine DA COSTA (since December 1992)
Member of:
ACCT, ACP, AfDB, BDEAC, CCC, CEEAC, ECA, FAO, FZ, G-77, GATT, IBRD, ICAO,
IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS, NAM,
OAU, UDEAC, UN, UNAVEM II, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNTAC, UPU, WFTU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Roger ISSOMBO
chancery:
4891 Colorado Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20011
telephone:
(202) 726-5500
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission:
Ambassador James Daniel PHILLIPS
embassy:
Avenue Amilcar Cabral, Brazzaville
mailing address:
B. P. 1015, Brazzaville, or Box C, APO AE 09828
telephone:
(242) 83-20-70
FAX:
[242] 83-63-38
Flag:
red, divided diagonally from the lower hoist side by a yellow band; the
upper triangle (hoist side) is green and the lower triangle is red; uses the
popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia
*Congo, Economy
Overview:
Congo's economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, a
beginning industrial sector based largely on oil, supporting services, and a
government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. A reform
program, supported by the IMF and World Bank, ran into difficulties in
1990-91 because of problems in changing to a democratic political regime and
a heavy debt-servicing burden. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay
of the economy, providing about two-thirds of government revenues and
exports. In the early 1980s rapidly rising oil revenues enabled Congo to
finance large-scale development projects with growth averaging 5% annually,
one of the highest rates in Africa. During the period 1987-91, however,
growth has slowed to an average of roughly 1.5% annually, only half the
population growth rate. The new government, responding to pressure from
businessmen and the electorate, has promised to reduce the bureaucracy and
government regulation but little has been accomplished as of early 1993.
National product:
GDP - exchange rate conversion - $2.5 billion (1991 est.)
National product real growth rate:
0.6% (1991 est.)
National product per capita:
$1,070 (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.6% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
NA%
Budget:
revenues $765 million; expenditures $952 million, including capital
expenditures of $65 million (1990)
Exports:
$1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1990)
commodities:
crude oil 72%, lumber, plywood, coffee, cocoa, sugar, diamonds
partners:
US, France, other EC countries
Imports:
$704 million (c.i.f., 1990)
commodities:
foodstuffs, consumer goods, intermediate manufactures, capital equipment
partners:
France, Italy, other EC countries, US, Germany, Spain, Japan, Brazil
External debt:
$4.1 billion (1991)
Industrial production:
growth rate 1.2% (1989); accounts for 33% of GDP; includes petroleum
Electricity:
140,000 kW capacity; 315 million kWh produced, 135 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries:
petroleum, cement, lumbering, brewing, sugar milling, palm oil, soap,
cigarette
Agriculture:
accounts for 13% of GDP (including fishing and forestry); cassava accounts
for 90% of food output; other crops - rice, corn, peanuts, vegetables; cash
crops include coffee and cocoa; forest products important export earner;
imports over 90% of food needs
Economic aid:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $63 million; Western (non-US)
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-90), $2.5 billion; OPEC
bilateral aid (1979-89), $15 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $338
million
*Congo, Economy
Currency:
1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1 - 274.06 (January
1993), 264.69 (1992), 282.11 (1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85
(1988)
Fiscal year:
calendar year