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MALDIVES (Continued) President, chief executive; appointed Chief Justice responsible for administration of Islamic law

Government leader: President Maumoon Abdul GAYOOM

Suffrage: universal over age 21

Political parties and leaders: no organized political parties; country governed by the Didi clan for the past eight centuries

Communists: negligible number

Member of: Colombo Plan, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto), IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IMCO, IMF, ITU, NAM, UN, UPU, WHO, WMO

ECONOMY
GNP: $23 million (1978), $160 per capita

Agriculture: crops—coconut and millet; shortages—rice, sugar, flour

Fishing: catch 27,700 metric tons (1979)

Major industries: fishing; some coconut processing; tourism

Electric power: 4,500 k W capacity (1981); 9 million kWh produced (1981), 57 k Wh per capita

Exports: $10.7 million (1980 prov.); fish

Imports: $26.9 million (1980 prov.); rice, sugar

Major trade partners: Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore

Budget: (1980 est.) revenue $5.6 million; expenditure $7.1 million

Monetary conversion rate: 3.93 Maldivian rupees=US$1, official rate; 7.55 rupees=US$1, market rate (average 1980)

Fiscal year: calendar year

COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: none

Highways: none

Ports: 2 minor (Male, Gan)

Civil air: 1 major transport aircraft, leased in

Airfields: 2 total, 2 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: minimal domestic and international telecommunication facilities; 550 telephones (0.4 per 100 popl.); 2 AM stations, 1 TV station; 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT station

 

LAND
1,204,350 km$2$; only about a fourth of area arable, forests negligible, rest sparse pasture or desert

Land boundaries: 7,459 km

PEOPLE
Population: 7,015,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.7%

Nationality: noun—Malian(s); adjective—Malian

Ethnic divisions: 99% native African including tribes of both Berber and Negro descent

Religion: 90% Muslim, 9% animist, 1% Christian

Language: French official; several African languages, of which Mande group most widespread

Literacy: under 5%

Labor force: 2.8 million

Organized labor: National Union of Malian Workers (UNTM) is umbrella organization over 13 national unions

GOVERNMENT
Official name: Republic of Mali

Type: republic; military regime in power since November 1968; fulfilled its plans in June 1979 for a phased return to civilian rule

Capital: Bamako

Political subdivisions: 7 administrative regions; 42 administrative districts (cercles), arrondissements, villages; all subordinate to central government

Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law; constitution adopted 1974, came into full effect in 1979; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Section of Court of State; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day, 22 September

Branches: executive authority exercised by Military Committee of National Liberation (MCNL) composed of 11 army  149