GDP: purchasing power parity - $9.4 billion (1999 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4.2% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $940 (1999 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
37%
industry:
29%
services:
34% (1998 est.)
Population below poverty line: 54% (1990-91 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
NA%
highest 10%:
NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 45% (1999)
Labor force: 3.5 million
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 86%, wage earners 14% (1990 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget:
revenues:
$490 million
expenditures:
$523 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY99/00 est.)
Industries: tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 922 million kWh (1998)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
2.39%
hydro:
97.61%
nuclear:
0%
other:
0% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 857 million kWh (1998)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)
Agriculture - products: tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn, potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum, pulses; cattle, goats
Exports: $510 million (f.o.b., 1999)
Exports - commodities: tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, peanuts, wood products
Exports - partners: South Africa 15%, US 9%, Germany 9%, Netherlands 7%, Japan (1998)
Imports: $512 million (f.o.b., 1999)
Imports - commodities: food, petroleum products, semimanufactures, consumer goods, transportation equipment
Imports - partners: South Africa 38%, Zimbabwe 18%, Zambia 8%, Japan 4%, US, UK, Germany (1998)
Debt - external: $2.3 billion (1999 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $416.5 million (1995)
Currency: 1 Malawian kwacha (MK) = 100 tambala
Exchange rates: Malawian kwachas (MK) per US$1 - 46.3494 (December 1999), 44.0881 (1999), 31.0727 (1998), 16.4442 (1997), 15.3085 (1996), 15.2837 (1995)
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June