Flag description:
three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue;
the red band is edged in yellow; centered in the red band is a large
black and white shield covering two spears and a staff decorated
with feather tassels, all placed horizontally
Economy Swaziland
Economy - overview:
In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies
more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has
diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain
important foreign exchange earners. Mining has declined in
importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines
remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short
border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South
Africa from which it receives about nine-tenths of its imports and
to which it sends nearly three-quarters of its exports. Customs
duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker
remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically
earned income. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere
for foreign investment. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and
sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than
one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2004
because of drought, and more than one-third of the adult population
was infected by HIV/AIDS.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$6.018 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2.5% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,100 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 16.1% industry: 43.4% services: 40.5% (2004 est.)
Labor force:
383,200 (2000)
Labor force - by occupation:
NA
Unemployment rate:
34% (2000 est.)