Economy of Lesotho

Economy of Lesotho

Maseru, the economic hub of Lesotho
Currency	Lesotho Loti
Fiscal year	1 April - 31 March
Trade organisations	WTO, SACU, SADC
Country group	Least Developed[1] Low-income economy[2]
Statistics
GDP	$2.13 billion nominal (2010 est.) $2.73 billion (2019)
GDP growth	−0.4% (2017) 1.5% (2018) 2.6% (2019e) 0.7% (2020f)[3]
GDP per capita	$1,670 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) (2011 est.)
Inflation (CPI)	3.1% (2010 est.)
Population below poverty line	58% using national poverty line (2002/03), 37 percent using World Bank $1 a day (2002/03)[4]
Labour force	855,000 (2007)
Labour force by occupation	agriculture: About 80% of the resident population are engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 20% of the formal wage earners (about 200,000) work (mainly males) in South Africa, 20% of the workers (mainly females) are in the apparel industry in Lesotho, and 20% are employed by the Government of Lesotho. The others are employed in services and other manufacturing (2008).
Unemployment	24%-28%
Main industries	food, beverages, textiles and apparel, handicrafts, construction, tourism, mining
External
Exports	$1,043 million f.o.b. (2010 est.)
Export goods	Garments 53% , other including diamonds 47% (2008)
Main export partners	US 60%  Europe 17% SACU 19% (2007)
Imports	$1,766 million c.i.f. (2010 est.)
Import goods	food, building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products, inputs to the apparel industry (2010)
Main import partners	SACU 85%  Taiwan  Hong Kong and  China 14% (2007)
Public finances
Government debt	$647 million (33% of GDP) (31 December 2010 est.)
Revenues	$1,232 million (57% of GDP) (2009/10)
Expenses	$1,168 million (2009/10)
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and depends heavily on inflows of workers’ remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).^[5][6] Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and is economically integrated with it as well. The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consist of mainly female workers in the apparel sector, while male migrant laborers work primarily either as miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months or in the employment of the Government of Lesotho (GOL). Half of the country's population work in informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry.

Lesotho, is a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in which tariffs have been eliminated on the trade of goods between other member countries, which also include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Eswatini. Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, and South Africa also form a common currency and exchange control area known as the Rand Monetary Area that uses the South African rand as the common currency. In 1980, Lesotho introduced its own currency, the loti (plural: maloti). One hundred lisente equal one loti. The Loti is at par with the rand.