note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2001 est.)
Currency:
loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR)
Languages:
Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa
Elevation:
highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m
lowest point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m
Natural hazards:
periodic droughts
Climate:
temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers
Agricultural:
corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock.
Economy:
Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho's primary natural resource is water. Its economy is based on subsistence agriculture, livestock, and remittances from miners employed in South Africa. The number of such mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years. A small manufacturing base depends largely on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries. Agricultural products are exported primarily to South Africa. Proceeds from membership in a common customs union with South Africa form the majority of government revenue. Although drought has decreased agricultural activity over the past few years, completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, generating royalties for Lesotho. The pace of substantial privatization has increased in recent years. In December 1999, the government embarked on a nine-month IMF staff-monitored program aimed at structural adjustment and stabilization of macroeconomic fundamentals. The government is in the process of applying for a three-year successor program with the IMF under its Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.
