Madagascar is the
world's fourth largest island, lying about 400 km east of the Southern Africa across the
Mozambique channel. Malagasy culture is essentially Indonesian, yet the country shares
with African countries the problems of poverty and socio-economic and political change.
Formerly a French colony, Madagascar gained its independence in 1960, and the country used
to be known as the Malagasy Republic until 1975.
Agriculture,
including fishery and forestry, is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 33% of GDP
and contributing more than 70% to export earnings. The main export crops are coffee,
cotton, cloves and vanilla. Livestock farming dominates in the savanna regions in the
western side of the country. The natural forests have been seriously depleted, resulting
in extensive erosion. The island has a variety of mineral deposits, but only chrome, mica
and granite are exploited on a limited scale. Tourism is growing, though the
infrastructure is under-developed. The move in the 1970s and 1980s to a socialist economy
led to economic decline, with per capita income dropping by 40%. There has been a move to
an open-market economy and freer political dispensation since the early 1990s. The extent
of government reforms, apart from financial aids, and foreign investments remain the key
determinants in Madagascar to achieve its considerable growth potential.
Madagascar's
telecommunications network had a capacity of 60,000 lines in 1997. In 1999, the number of
connected telephone lines was approximately 50,200, giving a telephone density
of 0.32 line per hundred people.
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