Equatorial Guinea

Airports

4 total, 3 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

1 major transport aircraft

Highways

Rio Muni--1,024 km; Bioko--216 km

Merchant marine

2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,413 GRT/6,699 DWT; includes 1 cargo and 1 passenger-cargo

Ports

Malabo, Bata

Telecommunications

poor system with adequate government services; international communications from Bata and Malabo to African and European countries; 2,000 telephones; stations--2 AM, no FM, 1 TV; 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth station

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, National Police

Defense expenditures

$NA, 11% of GNP (FY81 est.)

Manpower availability

males 15-49, 79,641; 40,369 fit for military service

Agriculture

cash crops--timber and coffee from Rio Muni, cocoa from Bioko; food crops--rice, yams, cassava, bananas, oil palm nuts, manioc, livestock

Budget

revenues $23 million; expenditures $31 million, including capital expenditures of NA (1988)

Currency

Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY81-89), $14 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $112 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $55 million

Electricity

23,000 kW capacity; 60 million kWh produced, 170 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF) per US$1--256.54 (January 1991), 272.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85 (1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)

Exports

$41 million (f.o.b., 1989 est.); commodities--coffee, timber, cocoa beans; partners--Spain 44%, FRG 19%, Italy 12%, Netherlands 11% (1987)

External debt

$195 million (1989)

Fiscal year

1 April-31 March

GDP

$144 million, per capita $411; real growth rate 2.9% (1988 est.)

Imports

$57.1 million (c.i.f., 1988); commodities--petroleum, food, beverages, clothing, machinery; partners--Spain 34%, Italy 16%, France 14%, Netherlands 8% (1987)

Industrial production

growth rate - 6.8% (1990 est.); acounts for about 4% of GDP

Industries

fishing, sawmilling

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

5.9% (1989 est.)

Overview

The economy, destroyed during the regime of former President Macias Nguema, is now based on agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which account for about 60% of GNP and nearly all exports. Subsistence agriculture predominates, with cocoa, coffee, and wood products providing income, foreign exchange, and government revenues. There is little industry. Commerce accounts for about 10% of GNP, and the construction, public works, and service sectors for about 34%. Undeveloped natural resources include titanium, iron ore, manganese, uranium, and alluvial gold. Oil exploration, taking place under concessions offered to US, French, and Spanish firms, has been moderately successful, and some revenues from oil exports will begin rolling in by mid-1991.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Climate

tropical; always hot, humid

Coastline

296 km Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; Territorial sea: 12 nm

Comparative area

slightly larger than Maryland

Disputes

maritime boundary dispute with Gabon because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay

Environment

subject to violent windstorms

Land boundaries

539 km total; Cameroon 189 km, Gabon 350 km

Land use

arable land 8%; permanent crops 4%; meadows and pastures 4%; forest and woodland 51%; other 33%

Natural resources

timber, crude oil, small unexploited deposits of gold, manganese, uranium

Note

insular and continental regions rather widely separated

Terrain

coastal plains rise to interior hills; islands are volcanic

Total area

28,050 km2; land area: 28,050 km2

Administrative divisions

2 provinces (provincias, singular--provincia); Bioko, Rio Muni; note--there may now be 6 provinces named Bioko Norte, Bioko Sur, Centro Sur, Kie-Ntem, Litoral, Wele Nzas

Capital

Malabo

Communists

no significant number

Constitution

15 August 1982

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Damaso OBIANG NDONG; Chancery at 801 Second Avenue, Suite 1403, New York, NY 10017; telephone (212) 599-1523; US--Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires William MITHOEFER; Embassy at Calle de Los Ministros, Malabo (mailing address is P. O. Box 597, Malabo; telephone [240] (9) 2185, 2406, 2507

Executive branch

president, prime minister, deputy prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side and the coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms has six yellow six-pointed stars (representing the mainland and five offshore islands) above a gray shield bearing a silk-cotton tree and below which is a scroll with the motto UNIDAD, PAZ, JUSTICIA (Unity, Peace, Justice)

Independence

12 October 1968 (from Spain; formerly Spanish Guinea)

Judicial branch

Supreme Tribunal Chief of State--President Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO (since 3 August 1979); Head of Government--Prime Minister Cristino SERICHE BIOKO MALABO (since 15 August 1982); Deputy Prime Minister Isidoro Eyi MONSUY ANDEME (since 15 August 1989)

Legal system

in transition; partly based on Spanish civil law and tribal custom

Legislative branch

unicameral House of Representatives of the People (Camara de Representantes del Pueblo)

Long-form name

Republic of Equatorial Guinea

Member of

ACP, AfDB, BDEAC, CEEAC, ECA, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS (associate), NAM, OAS (observer), OAU, UDEAC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO

National holiday

Independence Day, 12 October (1968)

Political parties and leaders

only party--Democratic Party for Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO, party leader

Suffrage

universal adult at age NA President--last held 25 June 1989 (next to be held 25 June 1996); results--President Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO was reelected without opposition; Chamber of People's Representatives--last held 10 July 1988 (next to be held 10 July 1993); results--PDGE is the only party; seats--(41 total) PDGE 41

Type

republic

Birth rate

42 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate

16 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Ethnic divisions

indigenous population of Bioko, primarily Bubi, some Fernandinos; Rio Muni, primarily Fang; less than 1,000 Europeans, mostly Spanish

Infant mortality rate

116 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Labor force

172,000 (1986 est.); agriculture 66%, services 23%, industry 11% (1980); labor shortages on plantations; 58% of population of working age (1985)

Language

Spanish (official), pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo

Life expectancy at birth

49 years male, 53 years female (1991)

Literacy

50% (male 64%, female 37%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

Nationality

noun--Equatorial Guinean(s) or Equatoguinean(s); adjective--Equatorial Guinean or Equatoguinean

Net migration rate

0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Organized labor

no formal trade unions

Population

378,729 (July 1991), growth rate 2.6% (1991)

Religion

natives all nominally Christian and predominantly Roman Catholic; some pagan practices retained

Total fertility rate

5.4 children born/woman (1991)