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government type:
republic under multiparty democratic rule; dropped marxism-leninism december 1989 capital: porto-novo is the official capital; cotonou is the seat of government administrative divisions: 12 departments; alibori. atakora. atlantique. borgou. collines. kouffo. donga. littoral. mono. oueme. plateau. zou independence: 1 august 1960 (from france) national holiday: national day. 1 august (1960) constitution: december 1990 legal system: based on french civil law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory icj jurisdiction suffrage: 18 years of age; universal executive branch: chief of state: president mathieu kerekou (since 4 april 1996); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: president mathieu kerekou (since 4 april 1996); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: council of ministers appointed by the president elections: president reelected by popular vote for a five-year term; runoff election held 22 march 2001 (next to be held march 2006) election results: mathieu kerekou reelected president; percent of vote - mathieu kerekou 84.1%. bruno amoussou 15.9% note: the four top-ranking contenders following the first-round presidential elections were: mathieu kerekou (incumbent) 45.4%. nicephore soglo (former president) 27.1%. adrien houngbedji (national assembly speaker) 12.6%. and bruno amoussou (minister of state) 8.6%; the second-round balloting. originally scheduled for 18 march 2001. was postponed four days because both soglo and houngbedji withdrew alleging electoral fraud; this left kerekou to run against his own minister of state. amoussou. in what was termed a "friendly match" legislative branch: unicameral national assembly or assemblee nationale (83 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 30 march 2003 (next to be held march 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - na%; seats by party - presidential movement 52. opposition (prb. prd. e'toile. and 5 other small parties) 31 judicial branch: constitutional court or cour constitutionnelle; supreme court or cour supreme; high court of justice political parties and leaders: african congress for renewal or dunya [saka saley]; african movement for democracy and progress or madep [sefou fagbohoun]; alliance of the social democratic party or psd [bruno amoussou]; coalition of democratic forces [gatien houngbedji]; democratic renewal party or prd [adrien houngbedji]; front for renewal and development or fard-alafia [jerome sakia kina]; impulse for progress and democracy or ipd [bertin borna]; key force or fc [leader na]; presidential movement (ubf. madep. fc. idp. and four small parties); renaissance party du benin or prb [nicephore soglo]; the star alliance (alliance e'toile) [sacca lafia]; union of tomorrow's benin or ubf [bruno amoussou] note: approximately 20 additional minor parties political pressure groups and leaders: na international organization participation: acct. acp. afdb. au. cemac. ecowas. entente. fao. fz. g-77. iaea. ibrd. icao. icct. icftu. icrm. ida. idb. ifad. ifc. ifrcs. ilo. imf. imo. interpol. ioc. iom. iso (correspondent). itu. miga. minustah. monuc. nam. oic. onub. opcw. un. un security council (temporary). unctad. unesco. unido. unmil. unmis. unoci. upu. wadb (regional). waemu. wcl. wco. wftu. who. wipo. wmo. wtoo. wto diplomatic representation in the us: chief of mission: ambassador cyrille segbe oguin chancery: 2124 kalorama road nw. washington. dc 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 232-6656 fax: [1] (202) 265-1996 diplomatic representation from the us: chief of mission: ambassador wayne neill embassy: rue caporal bernard anani. cotonou mailing address: 01 b. p. 2012. cotonou telephone: [229] 30-06-50 fax: [229] 30-06-70 flag description: two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and red (bottom) with a vertical green band on the hoist side economy - overview: the economy of benin remains underdeveloped and dependent on subsistence agriculture. cotton production. and regional trade. growth in real output has averaged around 5% in the past six years. but rapid population growth has offset much of this increase. inflation has subsided over the past several years. in order to raise growth still further. benin plans to attract more foreign investment. place more emphasis on tourism. facilitate the development of new food processing systems and agricultural products. and encourage new information and communication technology. many of these proposals are included in benin's application to receive millennium challenge account funding - for which it was a finalist in 2004-05. the 2001 privatization policy continues in telecommunications. water. electricity. and agriculture in spite of government reluctance. the paris club and bilateral creditors have eased the external debt situation. with benin benefiting from a g8 debt reduction announced in july 2005. while pressing for more rapid structural reforms. benin continues to be hurt by nigerian trade protection that bans imports of a growing list of products from benin and elsewhere. which has resulted in increased smuggling and criminality in the border region. gdp (purchasing power parity): $8.676 billion (2005 est.) gdp (official exchange rate): $4.433 billion (2005 est.) gdp - real growth rate: 4.2% (2005 est.) gdp - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1.200 (2005 est.) gdp - composition by sector: agriculture: 33.9% industry: 13.6% services: 52.5% (2004 est.) labor force: na (1996) unemployment rate: na population below poverty line: 33% (2001 est.) household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: na highest 10%: na inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.2% (2005 est.) investment (gross fixed): 20.1% of gdp (2005 est.) budget: revenues: $766.8 million expenditures: $1.017 billion. including capital expenditures of na (2005 est.) agriculture - products: cotton. corn. cassava (tapioca). yams. beans. palm oil. peanuts. livestock (2001) industries: textiles. food processing. construction materials. cement (2001) industrial production growth rate: 8.3% (2001 est.) electricity - production: 69 million kwh (2003) electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 14.2% hydro: 85.8% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) electricity - consumption: 538.2 million kwh (2003) electricity - exports: 0 kwh (2003) electricity - imports: 474 million kwh (2003) oil - production: 400 bbl/day (2003) oil - consumption: 12.000 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - exports: na (2001) oil - imports: na (2001) oil - proved reserves: 4.105 million bbl (1 january 2002) natural gas - proved reserves: 608.8 million cu m (1 january 2002) current account balance: $-155.1 million (2005 est.) exports: $826.9 million f.o.b. (2005 est.) exports - partners: china 29.5%. india 18.8%. ghana 6.4%. niger 6%. indonesia 4.3%. nigeria 4.3% (2004) imports: $1.043 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) imports - partners: china 32.2%. france 13%. thailand 6.7%. cote d''ivoire 5.3% (2004) reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $523.7 million (2005 est.) debt - external: $1.6 billion (2000) economic aid - recipient: $342.6 million (2000) currency (code): communaute financiere africaine franc (xof); note - responsible authority is the central bank of the west african states currency code: xof exchange rates: communaute financiere africaine francs (xof) per us dollar - 480.56 (2005). 528.29 (2004). 581.2 (2003). 696.99 (2002). 733.04 (2001) fiscal year: calendar year telephones - main lines in use: 66.500 (2003) telephones - mobile cellular: 236.200 (2003) telephone system: general assessment: na domestic: fair system of open-wire. microwave radio relay. and cellular connections international: country code - 229; satellite earth station - 7 (intelsat-atlantic ocean); fiber optic submarine cable (sat-3/wasc) provides connectivity to europe and asia (2005) radio broadcast stations: am 2. fm 9. shortwave 4 (2000) radios: 660.000 (2000) television broadcast stations: 1 (2001) televisions: 66.000 (2000) internet country code: .bj internet hosts: 879 (2004) internet service providers (isps): 4 (2002) internet users: 70.000 (2003) airports: 5 (2004 est.) airports - with paved runways: total: 1 1.524 to 2.437 m: 1 (2005 est.) airports - with unpaved runways: total: 4 2.438 to 3.047 m: 1 1.524 to 2.437 m: 1 914 to 1.523 m: 2 (2005 est.) railways: total: 578 km narrow gauge: 578 km 1.000-m gauge (2004) roadways: total: 6.787 km paved: 1.357 km unpaved: 5.430 km (1999) waterways: 150 km (on river niger along northern border) (2004) ports and terminals: cotonou military branches: army. navy. air force military service age and obligation: 21 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; in practice. volunteers may be taken at the age of 18; both sexes are eligible for military service; conscript tour of duty - 18 months (2004) manpower available for military service: males age 21-49: 1.207.071 females age 21-49: 1.216.180 (2005 est.) manpower fit for military service: males age 21-49: 670.170 females age 21-49: 630.078 (2005 est.) manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 72.841 females: 71.428 (2005 est.) military expenditures - dollar figure: $96.5 million (2004) military expenditures - percent of gdp: 2.4% (2004) disputes - international: two villages remain in dispute along the border with burkina faso; accuses burkina faso of moving boundary pillars; much of benin-niger boundary. including tripoint with nigeria. remains undemarcated. and the states expect a ruling in 2005 from the icj over the disputed niger and mekrou river islands; a joint task force was established in 2004 that resolved disputes over and redrew the maritime and the 870-km land boundary with nigeria. including the sovereignty over seven villages along the okpara river; a joint boundary commission continues to resurvey the boundary with togo to verify benin's claim that togo moved boundary stones illicit drugs: transshipment point for narcotics associated with nigerian trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for western europe and the us; vulnerable to money laundering due to a poorly regulated financial infrastructure
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