1986 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1986 (Internet Archive)
Geography
Agriculture
cash crops — tobacco, tea, sugar, peanuts, cotton, tung oil, maize; subsistence crops — corn, sorghum, millet, pulses, root crops, fruit, vegetables, rice; self-sufficient in food production
Aid
economic commitments — Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF (1970-83), $1.2 billion; US authorized (FY7084), $55 million
Airfields
50 total, 49 usable; 6 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 9 with runways 1, 220-2,439 m
Branches
Army, Army Air Wing, Army Naval Detachment, paramilitary Police Mobile Unit
Budget
1983 revenues $211.9 million, expenditures $231.9 million
Civil air
4 major transport aircraft
Electric power
174,000 kW capacity (1985); 458 million kWh produced (1985), 65 kWh per capita
Exports
$259.9 million (c.i.f., 1984); tobacco, tea, sugar, peanuts, cotton, corn
Fiscal year
1 April-31 March Communications
GDP
$1.34 billion (1982), $210 per capita; real growth rate 3.0% (1982)
Highways
13,135 km total; 2,364 km paved; 251 km crushed stone, gravel, or stabilized soil; 10,520 km earth and improved earth
Imports
$303 billion (c.i.f., 1984); manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, building and construction materials, fuel, fertilizer
Inland waterways
Lake Nyasa, 23,300 km2; Shire River, 144 km, 4 lake ports
Major industries
agricultural processing (tea, tobacco, sugar), sawmilling, cement, consumer goods
Major trade partners
exports — UK, FRG, US, Netherlands, South Africa; imports — South Africa, UK, Japan, US, FRG
Military manpower
males 15-49, 1,548,000; about 883,000 fit for military service 500km South
Monetary conversion rate
1.67 Malawi kwacha=US$l (June 1984)
Natural resources
limestone, uranium potential
Railroads
789 km 1.067-meter gauge
Telecommunications
fair system of openwire lines, radio-relay links, and radio communication stations; 36,800 telephones (0.5 per 100 popl.); 7 AM, 13 FM, no TV stations; 1 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station Defense Forces