Ecuador (continued)
Flag: three horizontal bands of yellow (top, double width), blue, and red with the coat of arms superimposed at the center of the flag; similar to the flag of Colombia which is shorter and does not bear a coat of arms
Economy
Overview: Ecuador continues to recover
from a 1986 drop in international oil
prices and a major earthquake in 1987
that interrupted oil exports for six months
and forced Ecuador to suspend foreign
debt payments. In 1988-89 oil exports
recovered accounting for nearly half of
Ecuador's total export revenues and
Quito resumed full interest payments on
its official debt, and partial payments on
its commercial debt. The Borja administration
has pursued austere economic policies
that have helped reduce inflation and
restore international reserves. Ecuador
was granted an IMF standby agreement
worth $135 million in 1989, and Quito
will seek to reschedule its foreign
commercial debt in 1990.
GDP: $9.8 billion, per capita $935; real growth rate 0.5% (1989)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 54% (1989)
Unemployment rate: 14.3% (1988)
Budget: revenues $2.2 billion; expenditures $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $601 million (1988 est.)
Exports: $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—petroleum 47%, coffee, bananas, cocoa products, shrimp, fish products; partners—US 58%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC countries
Imports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—transport equipment, vehicles, machinery, chemical, petroleum; partners—US 28%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC, Japan
External debt: $10.9 billion (1989)
Industrial production: growth rate 0.7% (1988)
Electricity: 1,953,000 kW capacity; 5,725 million kWh produced, 560 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: food processing, textiles, chemicals, fishing, timber, petroleum
Agriculture: accounts for 18% of GDP and 35% of labor force (including fishing and forestry); leading producer and exporter of bananas and balsawood; other exports—coffee, cocoa, fish, shrimp; crop production—rice, potatoes, manioc, plantains, sugarcane; livestock sector—cattle, sheep, hogs, beef, pork, dairy products; net importer of foodgrain, dairy products, and sugar
Illicit drugs: relatively small producer of coca following the successful eradication campaign of 1985-87; significant transit country, however, for derivatives of coca originating in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $457 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.4 billion; Communist countries (1970-88), $64 million
Currency: sucre (plural—sucres); 1 sucre (S/) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: sucres (S/) per US$1—526.35 (1989), 301.61 (1988), 170.46 (1987), 122.78 (1986), 69.56 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Railroads: 965 km total; all 1.067-meter-gauge
single track
Highways: 28,000 km total; 3,600 km paved, 17,400 km gravel and improved earth, 7,000 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways: 1,500 km
Pipelines: crude oil, 800 km; refined products, 1,358 km
Ports: Guayaquil, Manta, Puerto Bolivar, Esmeraldas
Merchant marine: 47 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 340,446 GRT/492,670 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 7 cargo, 17 refrigerated cargo, 2 container, 1 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 16 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 1 chemical tanker, 1 liquefied gas, 1 bulk
Civil air: 44 major transport aircraft
Airports: 179 total, 178 usable; 43 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: domestic facilities generally adequate; 318,000 telephones; stations—272 AM, no FM, 33 TV, 39 shortwave; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
Defense Forces
Branches: Ecuadorean Army (Ejercito
Ecuatoriano), Ecuadorean Air Force
(Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana), Ecuadorean
Navy (Armada Ecuatoriana)
Military manpower: males 15-49, 2,635,543; 1,786,068 fit for military service; 114,976 reach military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures: 1% of GDP, or $100 million (1988 est.)
Egypt
_Egypt.jpg)
See regional map VI and VII
Geography
Total area: 1,001,450 km²; land area:
995,450 km²
Comparative area: slightly more than three times the size of New Mexico
Land boundaries: 2,689 km total; Gaza Strip 11, Israel 255 km, Libya 1,150 km, Sudan 1,273 km
Coastline: 2,450 km
Maritime claims:
- Contiguous zone: 24 nm
- Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
- Extended economic zone: undefined
- Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: Administrative Boundary and international boundary with Sudan
Climate: desert; hot, dry summers with moderate winters
Terrain: vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta
Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc
Land use: 3% arable land; 2% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; NEGL% forest and woodland; 95% other; includes 5% irrigated
Environment: Nile is only perennial water source; increasing soil salinization below Aswan High Dam; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin occurs in spring; water pollution; desertification
Note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, shortest sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean; size and juxtaposition to Israel establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics
People
Population: 54,705,746 (July 1990),
growth rate 2.5% (1990)
