0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Current account balance:
-$6 million (2007 est.)
Exports:
$133 million f.o.b. (2006)
Exports - commodities:
cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber
Exports - partners:
Brazil 56.2%, India 33.6%, Nigeria 8.3% (2007)
Imports:
$200 million f.o.b. (2006)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products
Imports - partners:
Portugal 21.7%, Senegal 16.8%, France 6%, Pakistan 4.7% (2007)
Economic aid - recipient:
$79.12 million (2005)
Debt - external:
$941.5 million (2000 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$NA
Currency (code):
Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States
Currency code:
XOF; GWP
Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003) note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs per euro
Communications
Guinea-Bissau
Telephones - main lines in use:
4,600 (2007)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
296,200 (2007)
Telephone system:
general assessment: small system domestic: combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines, radiotelephone, and cellular communications; fixed-line teledensity less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular teledensity reached 20 per 100 in 2007 international: country code - 245
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2001)
Radios:
49,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
NA (2005)
Televisions:
NA
Internet country code:
.gw
Internet hosts:
82 (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
2 (2002)
Internet users:
37,000 (2006)
Transportation
Guinea-Bissau
Airports:
27 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3 over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 24 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 19 (2007)
Roadways:
total: 3,455 km paved: 965 km unpaved: 2,490 km (2002)
Waterways:
rivers are navigable for some distance; many inlets and creeks give shallow-water access to much of interior (2007)
Ports and terminals:
Bissau, Buba, Cacheu, Farim
Military
Guinea-Bissau
Military branches:
People's Revolutionary Armed Force (FARP): Army, Navy, Air Force; paramilitary force
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for selective compulsory military service (2006)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16–49: 344,087 females age 16–49: 347,886 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16–49: 188,605 females age 16–49: 195,429 (2008 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 16,634 female: 16,841 (2008 est.)
Military expenditures:
3.1% of GDP (2005 est.)
Transnational Issues
Guinea-Bissau
Disputes - international:
in 2006, political instability within Senegal's Casamance region resulted in thousands of Senegalese refugees, cross-border raids, and arms smuggling into Guinea-Bissau
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 7,454 (Senegal) (2007)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Guinea-Bissau is a source country for children trafficked primarily for forced begging and forced agricultural labor to other West African countries tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for the second year in a row, Guinea-Bissau is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons, as evidenced by the continued failure to pass an anti-trafficking law and inadequate efforts to investigate or prosecute trafficking crimes or convict and punish trafficking offenders (2008)
Illicit drugs:
increasingly important transit country for South American cocaine enroute to Europe; enabling environment for trafficker operations thanks to pervasive corruption; archipelago-like geography around the capital facilitates drug smuggling
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008
======================================================================
@Guyana
Introduction
Guyana
Background:
Originally a Dutch colony in the 17th century, by 1815 Guyana had become a British possession. The abolition of slavery led to black settlement of urban areas and the importation of indentured servants from India to work the sugar plantations. This ethnocultural divide has persisted and has led to turbulent politics. Guyana achieved independence from the UK in 1966, and since then it has been ruled mostly by socialist-oriented governments. In 1992, Cheddi JAGAN was elected president in what is considered the country's first free and fair election since independence. After his death five years later, his wife, Janet JAGAN, became president but resigned in 1999 due to poor health. Her successor,