Lesotho Economy:
Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue, but the government has strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, also generating royalties for Lesotho. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries and a rapidly growing apparel-assembly sector. The garment industry has grown significantly, mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$5.89 billion (2004 est.)
GDP — real growth rate:
3.3% (2004 est.)
GDP — per capita:
purchasing power parity: $3,200 (2004 est.)
GDP — composition by sector:
agriculture: 15.2%
industry: 43.9%
services: 40.9%
(2004)
Labor force:
838,000 (2000 est.)
Labor force — by occupation:
NA
Unemployment rate:
45% (2002 est.)
Population below poverty line:
49% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.9%
highest 10%: 43.4%
Distribution of family income — Gini index:
56 (1986-87 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.3% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
39.6% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $698.5 million (2004 est.)
expenditures: $697.6 million including capital expenditures of $15 million (2004 est.)
Agriculture — products:
Corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock
Industries:
food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts; construction; tourism
Industrial production growth rate:
15.5% (1999 est.)
Electricity — production:
314 million kWh (2002 est.)
note: Electricity supplied by South Africa
Electricity — consumption:
308 million kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — exports:
0 kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — imports:
16 million kWh (2002 est.)
note: Electricity supplied by South Africa
Oil — production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — consumption:
1,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — exports:
NA
Oil — imports:
NA
Current account balance:
$-108.3 million (2004 est.)
Exports:
$484.5 million (f.o.b. 2004 est.)
Exports — commodities:
manufactures 75%, wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000 est.)
Exports — partners:
US 97%, Canada 2.1%, UK 0.3% (2004)
Imports:
$730.9 million (f.o.b. 2002 est.)
Imports — commodities:
food, building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000 est.)
Imports — partners:
Hong Kong 46.8%, China 25.5%, South Korea 5.6%, Germany 4.8%, (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$402.2 million (2004 est.)
Debt — external:
$735 million (2002 est.)
Economic aid — recipient:
$41.5 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid — donor:
$4.4 million ODA
Currency:
loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR)
Exchange rates:
maloti per US$: 6.46 (2004 est.), 7.56 (2003 est.), 10.54 (2002 est.), 8.61 (2001 est.), 6.94 (2000 est.)
Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March
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