| Economy - overview | In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from which it receives more than nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends 60% of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs Union and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement domestically earned income. The government is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign investment. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2004-05 because of drought, and nearly two-fifths of the adult population has been infected by HIV/AIDS. |
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| GDP | 4.7% (2006) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 1.2% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 8.6%
industry: 49.7%
services: 41.7% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 69% (2006) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 1%
highest 10%: 50.2% (1995) |
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| Labor force | 300,000 (2006) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA% |
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| Unemployment rate | 40% (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $984.6 million
expenditures: $1.019 billion; including capital expenditures of $147 million (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | coal, wood pulp, sugar, soft drink concentrates, textile and apparel |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 3.7% (FY95/96) |
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Electricity -
production | 156.3 million kWh (2005) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 58%
hydro: 42%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 1.123 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity -
exports | 0 kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 697 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 3,500 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | NA bbl/day |
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| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
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| Agriculture - products | sugarcane, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, citrus, pineapples, sorghum, peanuts; cattle, goats, sheep |
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| Exports | $2.201 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | soft drink concentrates, sugar, wood pulp, cotton yarn, refrigerators, citrus and canned fruit |
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| Exports - partners | South Africa 59.7%, EU 8.8%, US 8.8%, Mozambique 6.2% (2004) |
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| Imports | $2.274 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | motor vehicles, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals |
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| Imports - partners | South Africa 95.6%, EU 0.9%, Japan 0.9%, Singapore 0.3% (2004) |
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| Debt - external | $417 million (2006) |
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| Economic aid - recipient | $104 million (2001) |
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| Currency code | SZL |
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| Exchange rates | emalangeni per US dollar - 6.85 (2006), 6.3593 (2005), 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March |
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