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

the economy probably rebounded in 2007. The underlying economic policy challenge the country faces remains how best to use oil-and-gas wealth to lift the non-oil economy onto a higher growth path and reduce poverty. In late 2007, the new government announced plans aimed at increasing spending, reducing poverty, and improving the country's infrastructure, but it continues to face capacity constraints. In the short term, the government must also address continuing problems related to the crisis of 2006, especially the displaced Timorese.

Togo
  This small, sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both
  commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment
  for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be
  imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export
  earnings with cotton being the most important cash crop. Togo is the
  world's fourth-largest producer of phosphate. The government's
  decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to
  implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment,
  and bring revenues in line with expenditures has moved slowly.
  Progress depends on follow through on privatization, increased
  openness in government financial operations, progress toward
  legislative elections, and continued support from foreign donors.
  Togo is working with donors to write a Poverty Reduction and Growth
  Facility (PRGF) that could eventually lead to a debt reduction plan.
  Economic growth remains marginal due to declining cotton production,
  underinvestment in phosphate mining, and strained relations with
  donors.

Tokelau
  Tokelau's small size (three villages), isolation, and lack
  of resources greatly restrain economic development and confine
  agriculture to the subsistence level. The people rely heavily on aid
  from New Zealand - about $4 million annually - to maintain public
  services with annual aid being substantially greater than GDP. The
  principal sources of revenue come from sales of copra, postage
  stamps, souvenir coins, and handicrafts. Money is also remitted to
  families from relatives in New Zealand.

Tonga
  Tonga has a small, open, South Pacific island economy. It has
  a narrow export base in agricultural goods. Squash, vanilla beans,
  and yams are the main crops, and agricultural exports, including
  fish, make up two-thirds of total exports. The country must import a
  high proportion of its food, mainly from New Zealand. The country
  remains dependent on external aid and remittances from Tongan
  communities overseas to offset its trade deficit. Tourism is the
  second-largest source of hard currency earnings following
  remittances. The government is emphasizing the development of the
  private sector, especially the encouragement of investment, and is
  committing increased funds for health and education. Tonga has a
  reasonably sound basic infrastructure and well-developed social
  services. High unemployment among the young, a continuing upturn in
  inflation, pressures for democratic reform, and rising civil service
  expenditures are major issues facing the government.

Trinidad and Tobago
  Trinidad and Tobago has earned a reputation as
  an excellent investment site for international businesses and has
  one of the highest growth rates and per capita incomes in Latin
  America. Recent growth has been fueled by investments in liquefied
  natural gas (LNG), petrochemicals, and steel. Additional
  petrochemical, aluminum, and plastics projects are in various stages
  of planning. Trinidad and Tobago is the leading Caribbean producer
  of oil and gas, and its economy is heavily dependent upon these
  resources but it also supplies manufactured goods, notably food and
  beverages, as well as cement to the Caribbean region. Oil and gas
  account for about 40% of GDP and 80% of exports, but only 5% of
  employment. The country is also a regional financial center, and
  tourism is a growing sector, although it is not proportionately as
  important as in many other Caribbean islands. The economy benefits
  from a growing trade surplus. Economic growth reached 12.6% in 2006
  and 5.5% in 2007 as prices for oil, petrochemicals, and LNG remained
  high, and as foreign direct investment continued to grow to support
  expanded capacity in the energy sector.

Tunisia
  Tunisia has a diverse economy, with important agricultural,
  mining, tourism, and manufacturing sectors. Governmental control of
  economic affairs while still heavy has gradually lessened over the
  past decade with increasing privatization, simplification of the tax
  structure, and a prudent approach to debt. Progressive social
  policies also have helped raise living conditions in Tunisia
  relative to the region. Real growth, which averaged almost 5% over
  the past decade, reached 6.3% in 2007 because of development in
  non-textile manufacturing, a recovery in agricultural production,
  and strong growth in the services sector. However, Tunisia will need
  to reach even higher growth levels to create sufficient employment
  opportunities for an already large number of unemployed as well as
  the growing population of university graduates. Broader
  privatization, further liberalization of the investment code to
  increase foreign investment, improvements in government efficiency,
  and reduction of the trade deficit are among the challenges ahead.

Turkey Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that still accounts for more than 35% of employment. It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. The largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiff competition in international markets with the end of the global quota system. However, other sectors, notably the automotive and electronics industries, are rising in importance within Turkey's export mix. Real GNP growth has exceeded 6% in many years, but this strong expansion has been interrupted by sharp declines in output in 1994, 1999, and 2001. The economy is turning around with the implementation of economic reforms, and 2004 GDP growth reached 9%, followed by roughly 5% annual growth from 2005-07. Inflation fell to 7.7% in 2005 - a 30-year low - but climbed back to 8.5% in 2007. Despite the strong economic gains from 2002-07, which were largely due to renewed investor interest in emerging markets, IMF backing, and tighter fiscal policy, the economy is still burdened by a high current account deficit and high external debt. Further economic and judicial reforms and prospective EU membership are expected to boost foreign direct investment. The stock value of FDI currently stands at about $85 billion. Privatization sales are currently approaching $21 billion. Oil began to flow through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2006, marking a major milestone that will bring up to 1 million barrels per day from the Caspian to market. In 2007, Turkish financial markets weathered significant domestic political turmoil, including turbulence sparked by controversy over the selection of former Foreign Minister Abdullah GUL as Turkey's 11th president. Economic fundamentals are sound, marked by strong economic growth and foreign direct investment. Turkey's high current account deficit leaves the economy vulnerable to destabilizing shifts in investor confidence, however.

Turkmenistan
  Turkmenistan is a largely desert country with intensive
  agriculture in irrigated oases and large gas and oil resources.
  One-half of its irrigated land is planted in cotton; formerly it was
  the world's 10th-largest producer. Poor harvests in recent years
  have led to an almost 50% decline in cotton exports. With an
  authoritarian ex-Communist regime in power and a tribally based
  social structure, Turkmenistan has taken a cautious approach to
  economic reform, hoping to use gas and cotton sales to sustain its
  inefficient economy. Privatization goals remain limited. From
  1998-2005, Turkmenistan suffered from the continued lack of adequate
  export routes for natural gas and from obligations on extensive
  short-term external debt. At the same time, however, total exports
  rose by an average of roughly 15% per year from 2003-07, largely
  because of higher international oil and gas prices. Overall
  prospects in the near future are discouraging because of widespread
  internal poverty, a poor educational system, government misuse of
  oil and gas revenues, and Ashgabat's reluctance to adopt
  market-oriented reforms. In the past, Turkmenistan's economic
  statistics were state secrets. The new government has established a
  State Agency for Statistics, but GDP numbers and other figures are
  subject to wide margins of error. In particular, the rate of GDP
  growth is uncertain. Since his election, President BERDIMUHAMEDOW
  has sought to improve the health and education systems, ordered
  unification of the country's dual currency exchange rate, begun
  decreasing state subsidies for gasoline, signed an agreement to
  build a gas line to China, and created a special tourism zone on the
  Caspian Sea. All of these moves hint that the new post-NYYAZOW
  government will work to create a friendlier foreign investment
  environment.

Turks and Caicos Islands
  The Turks and Caicos economy is based on
  tourism, offshore financial services, and fishing. Most capital
  goods and food for domestic consumption are imported. The US is the
  leading source of tourists, accounting for more than three-quarters
  of the 175,000 visitors that arrived in 2004. Major sources of
  government revenue also include fees from offshore financial
  activities and customs receipts.

Tuvalu
  Tuvalu consists of a densely populated, scattered group of
  nine coral atolls with poor soil. The country has no known mineral
  resources and few exports. Subsistence farming and fishing are the
  primary economic activities. Fewer than 1,000 tourists, on average,
  visit Tuvalu annually. Job opportunities are scarce and public
  sector workers make up the majority of those employed. About 15% of
  the adult male population work as seamen on merchant ships abroad
  and remittances are a vital source of income, contributing around $4
  million in 2006. Substantial income is received annually from the
  Tuvalu Trust Fund (TTF), an international trust fund established in
  1987 by Australia, NZ, and the UK and supported also by Japan and
  South Korea. Thanks to wise investments and conservative
  withdrawals, this fund grew from an initial $17 million to an
  estimated value of $77 million in 2006. The TFF contributed nearly
  $9 million towards the government budget in 2006 and is an important
  cushion for meeting shortfalls in the government's budget. The US
  Government is also a major revenue source for Tuvalu because of
  payments from a 1988 treaty on fisheries. In an effort to ensure
  financial stability and sustainability, the government is pursuing
  public sector reforms, including privatization of some government
  functions and personnel cuts. Tuvalu also derives royalties from the
  lease of its ".tv" Internet domain name, with revenue of more than
  $2 million in 2006. A minor source of government revenue comes from
  the sale of stamps and coins. With merchandise exports only a
  fraction of merchandise imports, continued reliance must be placed
  on fishing and telecommunications license fees, remittances from
  overseas workers, official transfers, and income from overseas
  investments. Growing income disparities and the vulnerability of the
  country to climatic change are among leading concerns for the nation.

Uganda
  Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile
  soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper,
  cobalt, gold, and other minerals. Agriculture is the most important
  sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee
  accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government
  - with the support of foreign countries and international agencies -
  has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking
  currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing
  prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages. The
  policy changes are especially aimed at dampening inflation and
  boosting production and export earnings. During 1990-2001, the
  economy turned in a solid performance based on continued investment
  in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for
  production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved
  domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan
  entrepreneurs. Growth continues to be solid, despite variability in
  the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export, and a consistent
  upturn in Uganda's export markets. In 2000, Uganda qualified for
  enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief worth
  $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These
  amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to
  about $2 billion.

Ukraine After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied the unique equipment (for example, large diameter pipes) and raw materials to industrial and mining sites (vertical drilling apparatus) in other regions of the former USSR. Shortly after independence was ratified in December 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output by 1999 had fallen to less than 40% of the 1991