The 2008 CIA World Factbook, United States. Central Intelligence Agency [primary phonics books .TXT] 📗

[994] (12) 4980-335 through 337 FAX: [994] (12) 4656-671

Flag description:

three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), red, and green; a crescent and eight-pointed star in white are centered in red band

Economy
Azerbaijan

Economy - overview:

Azerbaijan's high economic growth in 2006 and 2007 is attributable to large and growing oil exports. Azerbaijan's oil production declined through 1997, but has registered an increase every year since. Negotiation of production-sharing arrangements (PSAs) with foreign firms, which have committed $60 billion to long-term oilfield development, should generate the funds needed to spur future industrial development. Oil production under the first of these PSAs, with the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, began in November 1997. A consortium of Western oil companies began pumping 1 million barrels a day from a large offshore field in early 2006, through a $4 billion pipeline it built from Baku to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. By 2010 revenues from this project will double the country's current GDP. Azerbaijan shares all the formidable problems of the former Soviet republics in making the transition from a command to a market economy, but its considerable energy resources brighten its long-term prospects. Baku has only recently begun making progress on economic reform, and old economic ties and structures are slowly being replaced. Several other obstacles impede Azerbaijan's economic progress: the need for stepped up foreign investment in the non-energy sector, the continuing conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, pervasive corruption, and elevated inflation. Trade with Russia and the other former Soviet republics is declining in importance, while trade is building with Turkey and the nations of Europe. Long-term prospects will depend on world oil prices, the location of new oil and gas pipelines in the region, and Azerbaijan's ability to manage its energy wealth.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$64.66 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$31.32 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

23.4% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$8,000 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 6.2% industry: 63.3% services: 30.5% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

5.243 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 41% industry: 7% services: 52% (2001)

Unemployment rate:

1% official rate (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

24% (2005 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.1% highest 10%: 29.5% (2001)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

36.5 (2001)

Investment (gross fixed):

20% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $6.755 billion expenditures: $8.572 billion (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:

calendar year

Public debt:

6.7% of GDP (2007 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

16.7% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate:

13% (31 December 2007)

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

19.13% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:

$4.261 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:

$2.593 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:

$5.726 billion (31 December 2007)

Agriculture - products:

cotton, grain, rice, grapes, fruit, vegetables, tea, tobacco; cattle, pigs, sheep, goats

Industries:

petroleum and natural gas, petroleum products, oilfield equipment; steel, iron ore; cement; chemicals and petrochemicals; textiles

Industrial production growth rate:

25% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:

23.8 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - consumption:

27.5 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - exports:

800 million kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - imports:

500 million kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel: 89.7% hydro: 10.3% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)

Oil - production:

1.099 million bbl/day (2008 est.)

Oil - consumption:

160,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - exports:

795,600 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - imports:

4,267 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves:

7 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)

Natural gas - production:

9.77 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

9.77 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports:

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports:

0 cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

849.5 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Current account balance:

$9.019 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:

$21.27 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

oil and gas 90%, machinery, cotton, foodstuffs

Exports - partners:

Turkey 17.4%, Italy 15.5%, Russia 8.7%, Iran 7.2%, Indonesia 6.4%,
Israel 6.1%, Georgia 5.7%, US 4.8%, France 4.3% (2007)

Imports:

$6.045 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, oil products, foodstuffs, metals, chemicals

Imports - partners:

Russia 17.6%, Turkey 10.9%, Germany 8.2%, Ukraine 8.2%, UK 7.2%,
Japan 5.2%, China 4.9%, US 4.7% (2007)

Economic aid - recipient:

ODA, $223.4 million (2005 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$4.273 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$2.439 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:

$7.829 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$4.912 billion (2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$NA

Currency (code):

Azerbaijani manat (AZN)

Currency code:

AZM

Exchange rates:

Azerbaijani manats (AZN) per US dollar - 0.8581 (2007), 0.8934 (2006), 4,727.1 (2005), 4,913.48 (2004), 4,910.73 (2003) note: on 1 January 2006 Azerbaijan revalued its currency, with 5,000 old manats equal to 1 new manat

Communications
Azerbaijan

Telephones - main lines in use:

1.254 million (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

4.3 million (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: inadequate; requires considerable expansion and modernization; teledensity of 15 main lines per 100 persons is low; mobile-cellular penetration is increasing and is currently about 50 telephones per 100 persons domestic: fixed-line telephony and a broad range of other telecom services are controlled by a state-owned telecommunications monopoly and growth has been stagnant; more competition exists in the mobile-cellular market with three providers in 2006; satellite service connects Baku to a modern switch in its exclave of Naxcivan international: country code - 994; the old Soviet system of cable and microwave is still serviceable; satellite earth stations - 2 (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 10, FM 17, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios:

175,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

2 (1997)

Televisions:

170,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.az

Internet hosts:

6,995 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

2 (2000)

Internet users:

1.036 million (2007)

Transportation
Azerbaijan

Airports:

35 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 27 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 13 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 2 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 7 (2007)

Heliports:

1 (2007)

Pipelines:

gas 3,857 km; oil 2,436 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 2,122 km broad gauge: 2,122 km 1.520-m gauge (1,278 km electrified) (2006)

Roadways:

total: 59,141 km paved: 29,210 km unpaved: 29,931 km (2004)

Merchant marine:

total: 89 by type: cargo 26, passenger 2, passenger/cargo 9, petroleum tanker 46, roll on/roll off 3, specialized tanker 3 registered in other countries: 3 (Malta 2, Panama 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Baku (Baki)

Military
Azerbaijan

Military branches:

Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

men between 18 and 35 are liable for military service; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; length of military service is 18 months and 12 months for university graduates (2006)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 2,278,888 females age 16-49: 2,291,770 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,696,167 females age 16-49: 1,923,556 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 94,402 female: 89,686 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

2.6% of GDP (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues
Azerbaijan

Disputes - international:

Armenia supports ethnic Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh and since the early 1990s has militarily occupied 16% of Azerbaijan; over 800,000 mostly ethnic Azerbaijanis were driven from the occupied lands and Armenia; about 230,000 ethnic Armenians were driven from their homes in Azerbaijan into Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh; Azerbaijan seeks transit route through Armenia to connect to Naxcivan exclave; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continues to mediate dispute; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia have ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on an even one-fifth allocation and challenges Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters; bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian; Azerbaijan and Georgia continue to discuss the alignment of their boundary at certain crossing areas

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 2,400 (Russia) IDPs: 580,000-690,000 (conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh) (2007)

Trafficking in persons:

current situation: Azerbaijan is primarily a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; women and some children from Azerbaijan are trafficked to Turkey and the UAE for the purpose of sexual exploitation; men and boys are trafficked to Russia for the purpose of forced labor; Azerbaijan serves as a transit country for victims from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Moldova trafficked to Turkey and the UAE for sexual exploitation tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Azerbaijan is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, particularly efforts to investigate, prosecute, and punish traffickers; to address complicity among law enforcement personnel; and to adequately identify and protect victims in Azerbaijan; the government has yet to develop a much-needed mechanism to identify potential trafficking victims and refer them to safety and care; poor treatment of trafficking victims in courtrooms continues to be a problem (2008)

Illicit drugs:

limited illicit cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for CIS consumption; small government eradication program; transit point for Southwest Asian opiates bound for Russia and to a lesser extent the rest of Europe

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Bahamas, The

Introduction
Bahamas, The

Background:

Lucayan Indians inhabited the islands when Christopher COLUMBUS first set foot in the New World on San Salvador in 1492. British settlement of the islands began in 1647; the islands became a colony in 1783. Since attaining independence from the UK in 1973, The Bahamas have prospered through tourism and international banking and investment management. Because of its geography, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US and Europe, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.

Geography
Bahamas, The

Location:

Caribbean, chain of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of Florida, northeast of Cuba

Geographic coordinates:

24 15 N, 76 00 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 13,940 sq km land: 10,070 sq km water: 3,870 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly smaller than Connecticut

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

3,542 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical marine; moderated by warm waters of Gulf Stream

Terrain:

long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Alvernia, on Cat Island 63 m

Natural resources:

salt, aragonite, timber, arable land

Land use:

arable land: 0.58% permanent crops: 0.29% other: 99.13% (2005)

Irrigated land:

10 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

NA

Natural hazards:

hurricanes and other tropical storms cause extensive flood and wind damage

Environment - current issues:

coral reef decay; solid waste disposal

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

strategic location adjacent to US and Cuba; extensive island chain of which 30 are