Economy - overview:
Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from Basotho employed in South Africa, customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), and export revenue for the majority of government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 permitted the sale of water to South Africa and generated royalties for Lesotho. Lesotho produces about 90% of its own electrical power needs. 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, as well as an apparel-assembly sector. Despite Lesotho's market-based economy being heavily tied to its neighbor South Africa, the US is an important trade partner because of the export sector's heavy dependence on apparel exports. Exports have grown significantly because of the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. Most of the labor force is engaged in subsistence agriculture, especially livestock herding, 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. In July 2007, Lesotho signed a Millennium Challenge Account Compact with the US worth $362.5 million. Economic growth dropped in 2009, due mainly to the effects of the global economic crisis as demand for the country's exports declined and SACU revenue fell precipitously when South Africa - the primary contributor to the SACU revenue pool - went into recession, but growth returned to 3.6% in 2010 and 5.2% in 2011.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Lesotho on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Lesotho Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Lesotho Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$3.672 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 173
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$2.7 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
5.2% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 66
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$1,400 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 199
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 8.4%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 34.2%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 57.3% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
854,600 (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 145
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry and services: 14% (2002 est.)
45% (2002)
country comparison to the world: 188
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
49% (1999)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 1%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 39.4% (2003)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
63.2 (1995)
country comparison to the world: 4
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
29.6% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 35
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $1.233 billion
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $1.603 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
45.7% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 27
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-13.7% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 206
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
7.2% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
10% (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 29
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
13% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 78
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$588.4 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 159
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$1.189 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 164
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$82.19 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 187
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock
food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism
3% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 108
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
200 million kWh
country comparison to the world: 177
note: electricity supplied by South Africa (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
236 million kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 177
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
107 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 190
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
2,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 185
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 185
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
1,690 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 185
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 208
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 199
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 134
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 88
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 158
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$415.7 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 103
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$978.9 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 154
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals
US 58.4%, Belgium 34%, Canada 3.7% (2010)
$2.335 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products
South Korea 26.9%, China 23.1%, Taiwan 22.1%, Hong Kong 6.6%, US 4.4% (2010)
$946.5 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 136
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$690.6 million (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 160
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
maloti (LSL) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12