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Bahrain (continued) Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-79), $24 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral Commitments (1970-87), $28 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $9.8 billion

Currency: Bahraini dinar (plural—dinars); 1 Bahraini dinar (BD) = 1,000 fils

Exchange rates: Bahraini dinars (BD) per US$1—0.3760 (fixed rate)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Highways: 200 km bituminous surfaced, including 25 km bridge-causeway to Saudi Arabia opened in November 1986; NA km natural surface tracks

Ports: Mina Salman, Mina al Manamah, Sitrah

Merchant marine: 1 cargo and 1 bulk (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 28,621 GRT/44,137 DWT

Pipelines: crude oil, 56 km; refined products, 16 km; natural gas, 32 km

Civil air: 24 major transport aircraft

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

Telecommunications: excellent international telecommunications; adequate domestic services; 98,000 telephones; stations—2 AM, 1 FM, 2 TV; satellite earth stations—1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1 ARABSAT; tropospheric scatter and microwave to Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia; submarine cable to Qatar and UAE

Defense Forces

Branches: Army (Defense Force), Navy, Air Force

Military manpower: males 15-49, 183,580; 102,334 fit for military service

Defense expenditures: 5% of GDP, or $194 million (1990 est.)  Baker Island (territory of the US)



Geography

Total area: 1.4 km²; land area: 1.4 km²

Comparative area: about 2.3 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 4.8 km

Maritime claims:
 * Contiguous zone: 12 nm
 * Continental shelf: 200 m
 * Extended economic zone: 200 nm
 * Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun

Terrain: low, nearly level coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef

Natural resources: guano (deposits worked until 1891)

Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other

Environment: treeless, sparse and scattered vegetation consisting of grasses, prostrate vines, and low growing shrubs; lacks fresh water; primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife

Note: remote location 2,575 km southwest of Honolulu in the North Pacific Ocean, just north of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia

People

Population: uninhabited

Note: American civilians evacuated in 1942 after Japanese air and naval attacks during World War II; occupied by US military during World War II, but abandoned after the war; public entry is by special-use permit only and generally restricted to scientists and educators; a cemetery and cemetery ruins located near the middle of the west coast

Government

Long-form name: none Type: unincorporated territory of the US administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system

Economy

Overview: no economic activity

Communications

Ports: none; offshore anchorage only, one boat landing area along the the middle of the west coast

Airports: 1 abandoned World War II runway of 1,665 m

Note: there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast

Defense Forces

Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by the US Coast Guard  24