Economic aid: donor: ODA, $9.721 billion (1993)

Currency: 1 United States dollar (US$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: British pounds (£) per US$-0.6115 (January 1998), 0.6106 (1997), 0.6403 (1996), 0.6335 (1995), 0.6529 (1994), 0.6658 (1993); Canadian dollars (Can$) per US$-1.4408 (January 1998), 1.3846 (1997), 1.3635 (1996), 1.3724 (1995), 1.3656 (1994), 1.2901 (1993); French francs (F) per US$-6.0836 (January 1998), 5.8367 (1997), 5.1155 (1996), 4.9915 (1995), 5.5520 (1994), 5.6632 (1993); Italian lire (Lit) per US$-1,787.7 (January 1997), 1,703.1 (1997), 1,542.9 (1996), 1,628.9 (1995), 1,612.4 (1994), 1,573.7 (1993); Japanese yen (¥) per US$-129.45 (January 1998), 120.99 (1997), 108.78 (1996), 94.06 (1995), 102.21 (1994), 111.20 (1993); German deutsche marks (DM) per US$ - 1.8167 (January 1998), 1.7341 (1997), 1.5048 (1996), 1.4331 (1995), 1.6228 (1994), 1.6533 (1993)

Fiscal year: 1 October-30 September

Communications

Telephones: 182.558 million (1987 est.)

Telephone system: domestic: a large system of fiber-optic cable, microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and domestic satellites carries conventional telephone traffic; a rapidly growing cellular system carries mobile telephone traffic throughout country international: 24 ocean cable systems in use; satellite earth stations-61 Intelsat (45 Atlantic Ocean and 16 Pacific Ocean) (1990 est.), 5 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 4 Inmarsat (Pacific and Atlantic Ocean regions)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 4,987, FM 4,932, shortwave 0

Radios: 540.5 million (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 1,092 (in addition, there are about 9,000 cable TV systems)