expenditures: $2.23 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(FY96/97 est.)
Industries: petroleum production and refining, food processing,
light consumer goods, textiles, lumber
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity—production: 2.73 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—production by source: fossil fuel: 2.93% hydro: 97.07% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1996)
Electricity—consumption: 2.73 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—exports: 0 kWh (1996)
Electricity—imports: 0 kWh (1996)
Agriculture—products: coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, bananas, oilseed, grains, root starches; livestock; timber
Exports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports—commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, lumber,
cocoa beans, aluminum, coffee, cotton
Exports—partners: Italy 25%, Spain 20%, France 16%, Netherlands
7% (1997 est.)
Imports: $1.3 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports—commodities: machines and electrical equipment, transport
equipment, fuel, food
Imports—partners: France 25%, Nigeria 8%, US 8%, Germany 6% (1997
est.)
Debt—external: $8.7 billion (1998 est.)
Economic aid—recipient: $606.1 million (1995); note?France signed two loan agreements totaling $55 million in September 1997, and the Paris Club agreed in October 1997 to reduce the official debt by 50% and to reschedule it on favorable terms with a consolidation of payments due through 2000
Currency: 1 Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1—575 (January 1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997), 511.55 (1996), 499.15 (1995), 555.20 (1994)
Fiscal year: 1 July—30 June
Communications
Telephones: 36,737 (1991 est.)
Telephone system: available only to business and government domestic: cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter international: satellite earth stations—2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 11, FM 8, shortwave 3 (1998)
Radios: 6 million (1998 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 1 (1998)
Televisions: 15,000 (1998)
Transportation
Railways: total: 1,104 km narrow gauge: 1,104 km 1.000-m gauge (1995 est.)
Highways: total: 34,300 km paved: 4,288 km unpaved: 30,012 km (1995 est.)
Waterways: 2,090 km; of decreasing importance
Ports and harbors: Bonaberi, Douala, Garoua, Kribi, Tiko
Airports: 52 (1998 est.)
Airports—with paved runways: total: 11 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (1998 est.)
Airports—with unpaved runways: total: 41 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 21 under 914 m: 12 (1998 est.)
Military
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Air
Force, National Gendarmerie, Presidential Guard
Military manpower—military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower—availability:
males age 15–49: 3,388,643 (1999 est.)
Military manpower—fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 1,716,285 (1999 est.)
Military manpower—reaching military age annually:
males: 165,670 (1999 est.)
Military expenditures—dollar figure: $155 million (FY98/99)
Military expenditures—percent of GDP: 1.4% (FY98/99)
Transnational Issues
Disputes—international: delimitation of international boundaries in the vicinity of Lake Chad, the lack of which led to border incidents in the past, is completed and awaits ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria; dispute with Nigeria over land and maritime boundaries around the Bakasi Peninsula and Lake Chad is currently before the International Court of Justice
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@Canada———
Introduction
Background: A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, from 1867 on Canada has enjoyed de facto independence while retaining, even to the present day, certain formal ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border. Its paramount political problem continues to be the relationship of the province of Quebec, with its French-speaking residents and unique culture, to the remainder of the country.
Geography
Location: Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic
Ocean and North Pacific Ocean, north of the conterminous US
Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N, 95 00 W
Map references: North America
Area:
total: 9,976,140 sq km
land: 9,220,970 sq km
water: 755,170 sq km
Area—comparative: slightly larger than the US
Land boundaries: total: 8,893 km border countries: US 8,893 km (includes 2,477 km with Alaska)
Coastline: 243,791 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic
in north
Terrain: mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in
southeast
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Logan 5,950 m
Natural resources: nickel, zinc, copper, gold, lead, molybdenum,
potash, silver, fish, timber, wildlife, coal, petroleum, natural gas
Land use:
arable land: 5%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 3%
forests and woodland: 54%
other: 38% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 7,100 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: continuous permafrost in north is a serious obstacle to development; cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic, Pacific, and North American interior, and produce most of the country's rain and snow
Environment—current issues: air pollution and resulting acid rain severely affecting lakes and damaging forests; metal smelting, coal-burning