Current account balance:
$-1.106 billion (2003)
Exports:
$2.763 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities:
coffee, sugar, bananas, fruits and vegetables, cardamom, meat,
apparel, petroleum, electricity
Exports - partners:
US 56.7%, El Salvador 10.8%, Nicaragua 3.6% (2003)
Imports:
$5.749 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities:
fuels, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials,
grain, fertilizers, electricity
Imports - partners:
US 34.1%, Mexico 8.8%, South Korea 7.8%, El Salvador 6.4%, China
4.6% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$2.843 billion (2003)
Debt - external:
$4.957 billion (2003 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$250 million (2000 est.)
Currency:
quetzal (GTQ), US dollar (USD), others allowed
Currency code:
GTQ; USD
Exchange rates:
quetzales per US dollar - 7.9409 (2003), 7.8216 (2002), 7.8586
(2001), 7.7632 (2000), 7.3856 (1999)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Guatemala
Telephones - main lines in use:
846,000 (2002)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
1,577,100 (2002)
Telephone system:
general assessment: fairly modern network centered in the city of
Guatemala
domestic: NA
international: country code - 502; connected to Central American
Microwave System; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic
Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 130, FM 487, shortwave 15 (2000)
Radios:
835,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
26 (plus 27 repeaters) (1997)
Televisions:
1.323 million (1997)
Internet country code:
.gt
Internet hosts:
20,360 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
5 (2000)
Internet users:
400,000 (2002)
Transportation Guatemala
Railways: total: 886 km narrow gauge: 886 km 0.914-m gauge (2003)
Highways:
total: 14,118 km
paved: 4,871 km (including 74 km of expressways)
unpaved: 9,247 km (1999)
Waterways:
990 km
note: 260 km navigable year round; additional 730 km navigable
during high-water season (2004)
Pipelines:
oil 480 km (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Champerico, Puerto Barrios, Puerto Quetzal, San Jose, Santo Tomas
de Castilla
Merchant marine:
none
Airports:
452 (2003 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 11
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 441
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 109
under 914 m: 323 (2004 est.)
Military Guatemala
Military branches:
Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force
Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 30 months (2004)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15–49: 3,421,682 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 2,233,562 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 156,865 (2004 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$202.6 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.8% (2003)
Transnational Issues Guatemala
Disputes - international:
Guatemalan squatters continue to settle in Belize border region;
OAS brokered Differendum in 2002 creating small adjustment to land
boundary, large Guatemalan maritime corridor in Caribbean, joint
ecological park for disputed Sapodilla Cays, and substantial US-UK
financial package, but agreement was not brought to popular
referendum leaving Guatemala to continue to claim the southern half
of Belize intact; numbers of Guatemalans enter Mexico seeking work
or transit to the US
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
IDPs: 250,000 (government's scorched-earth offensive in 1980s
against indigenous people) (2004)
Illicit drugs:
major transit country for cocaine and heroin; minor producer of
illicit opium poppy and cannabis for mostly domestic consumption;
proximity to Mexico makes Guatemala a major staging area for drugs
(particularly for cocaine); money laundering is a serious problem;
corruption is a major problem; remains on Financial Action Task
Force Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories List for continued
failure to address deficiencies in money-laundering control regime
This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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@Guernsey
Introduction