Editing Economy of Lesotho

{{Short description|None}}
{{Infobox economy
| country = Lesotho
| image = Maseru from Parliament Hill.jpg
| caption = [[Maseru]], the economic hub of Lesotho
| group = {{plainlist|
*[[Least Developed Countries|Least Developed]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2019/01/weodata/weoselco.aspx?g=2200&sg=All+countries+%2f+Emerging+market+and+developing+economies |title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019 |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |website=IMF.org |access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref>
*[[Developing country|Lower middle-income economy]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups |title=World Bank Country and Lending Groups |publisher=[[World Bank]] |website=datahelpdesk.worldbank.org |access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref>}}
| image_size = 300px
| currency = [[Lesotho loti]]|loti (LSL)<br />
<small>([[South African Rand]])</small>
| year = 1 April - 31 March
| organs = [[World Trade Organization|WTO]], [[Southern African Customs Union|SACU]], [[Southern African Development Community|SADC]]
| gdp = {{plainlist|
* {{increase}} $2.42 billion ([[GDP (nominal)|nominal]]; {{abbr|2025|2025 forecast}})

* {{increase}} $7.35 billion ([[Purchasing power parity|PPP]]; {{abbr|2025f|2024 forecast}})<ref name="IMF DataMapper">{{cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/GBR |title=IMF DataMapper: United Kingdom |website=[[International Monetary Fund]] |date=22 October 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref> 
}}
| gdp rank = {{plainlist|
* [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|6th (nominal; 2025)]]
* [[List of countries by GDP (PPP)|10th (PPP; 2025)]]
}}
| growth = {{plainlist|
*−0.4%&nbsp;(2017) 1.5%&nbsp;(2018)
*2.6%&nbsp;(2019e) 0.7%&nbsp;(2020f)<ref name="World Bank">{{cite web |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33044/9781464814693.pdf |title=Global Economic Prospects, January 2020 : Slow Growth, Policy Challenges |page=147 |publisher=[[World Bank]] |website=openknowledge.worldbank.org |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref>}}
| per capita = $3,360 [[Purchasing Power Parity]] (PPP) (2025 est.)
| sectors (value added) = agriculture: 8%, industry: 34%, services: 58% (2010 est.)
| inflation = 3.1% (2010 est.)
| poverty = 40%
| labor = 855,000 (2007)
| edbr = 104th (2018)<ref name="World Bank and International Financial Corporation">{{cite web |url=http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/lesotho |title=Ease of Doing Business in Lesotho |publisher=Doingbusiness.org |access-date=2017-11-23 }}</ref>
| occupations = 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%
| industries = food, beverages, textiles and apparel, handicrafts, construction, tourism, mining
| exports = $1,043 million f.o.b. (2010 est.)
| export-goods = Garments 53% , other including diamonds 47% (2008)
| export-partners = {{flag|US}} 60% <br> {{flag|Europe}} 17% <br> 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)
| import-partners = SACU 85% <br> {{flag|Taiwan}} <br> {{flag|Hong Kong}} and {{flag|China}} 14% (2007)
| debt = $647 million (33% of GDP) (31 December 2010 est.)
| revenue = $1,232 million (57% of GDP) (2009/10)
| expenses = $1,168 million (2009/10)
| cianame = lesotho
}}
The '''economy of Lesotho''' is based on tourism, manufacturing, mining, and agriculture, and depends heavily on remittances from its diaspora.<ref name="World bank Lesotho: Country Brief">{{cite web |url=http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/LESOTHOEXTN/0,,menuPK:356039~pagePK:141132~piPK:141107~theSitePK:356029,00.html |title=World bank Lesotho: Country Brief |access-date=2012-03-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331100012/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/LESOTHOEXTN/0%2C%2CmenuPK%3A356039~pagePK%3A141132~piPK%3A141107~theSitePK%3A356029%2C00.html |archive-date=2014-03-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/lesotho/lesotho_economy.html|title=CIA Lesotho Economy 2011|access-date=2012-03-03}}</ref> [[Lesotho]], a lower middle income country, is geographically surrounded by [[South Africa]] and is economically integrated with it as well. A significant portion of the population subsists on farming with a gradual ongoing transition into tourism and manufacturing.

Lesotho is a member of the [[Southern African Customs Union]] (SACU) in which [[tariffs]] have been eliminated on the trade of goods between the other member countries, [[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 [[Lesotho loti|loti]] (plural: ''maloti''). One hundred '''lisente''' equal one loti. The loti is at par with the rand.

== Economic history ==
Lesotho's early economic history was shaped by its integration into the regional economy of Southern Africa, a heavy reliance on labor migration and productivity in agriculture. In the 19th century, Lesotho was a significant agricultural exporter, supplying grain and mohair to South African mining camps.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Colin |date=1980 |title=From granary to labour reserve: an economic history of Lesotho |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files/LaNov80.0377.5429.006.004.Nov1980.4.pdf |journal=South African Labour Bulletin |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=3-20}}</ref> However, by the early 20th century, worsening land shortages and unfavorable climate conditions shifted Lesotho into a net food importer and a labor reserve for South African mines and farms.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Aerni-Flessner |first=John |date=2014 |title=Development, Politics, and the Centralization of State Power in Lesotho, 1960-75 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43305214 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=401–421 |issn=0021-8537}}</ref> Labor migration became a central economic pillar, with tens of thousands of Basotho men seeking employment in South Africa throughout the 20th century. By 1982, over 100,000 Basotho were working in South African industries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cobbe |first=James |date=1983 |title=The Changing Nature of Dependence: Economic Problems in Lesotho |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/changing-nature-of-dependence-economic-problems-in-lesotho/5F05D00A22F2043F6944B6B9FB6CC3FD |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |language=en |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=293–310 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00023284 |issn=1469-7777}}</ref>

Lesotho's independence on the 4th of October 1966 marked the beginning of increased international aid flows, with Britain, Sweden, and multilateral donors providing financial assistance.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=edfb76eccb887ed2a80c3d5fb7ab3afd0a164cf7 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241113033708/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=edfb76eccb887ed2a80c3d5fb7ab3afd0a164cf7 |archive-date=2024-11-13 |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=citeseerx.ist.psu.edu}}</ref> And early aid efforts were largely directed at agriculture, based on the assumption that Lesotho was a purely agrarian society.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anti-Politics Machine |url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816624379/anti-politics-machine/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=University of Minnesota Press |language=en-US}}</ref> Large-scale rural development projects, including those funded by the World Bank and USAID, repeatedly failed due to, among other reasons, poor planning and a lack of local participation.<ref name=":0" />

Political instability influenced aid patterns. Following a 1970 coup, British and Swedish aid was temporarily suspended but resumed later that year.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dreams for Lesotho |url=https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268103613/dreams-for-lesotho/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=University of Notre Dame |language=en-US}}</ref> Lesotho also leveraged its opposition to apartheid to attract more aid, particularly after the 1976 Soweto Uprising and Transkei border conflicts.<ref name=":1" /> By 1979, development assistance had risen to $64 million.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crush |first=Jonathan |last2=Wellings |first2=Paul |date=1983 |title=The Southern African Pleasure Periphery, 1966-83 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/160586 |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=673–698 |issn=0022-278X}}</ref>

Until the political insecurity in September 1998, Lesotho's economy had grown steadily since 1992. The riots, however, destroyed nearly 80% of commercial [[infrastructure]] in [[Maseru]] and two other major towns in the country, having a disastrous effect on the country's economy. Nonetheless, the country has completed several [[IMF]] [[Structural Adjustment Program]]s, and [[inflation]] declined substantially over the course of the 1990s. Lesotho's [[trade deficit]], however, is quite large, with [[exports]] representing only a small fraction of [[imports]].

The global economic crisis hit the Lesotho economy hard through loss of textile exports and jobs in the sector due largely to the economic slowdown in the United States which is a major export destination, reduced diamond mining and exports, including  weak prices for diamonds;  drop in SACU revenues due to the economic slowdown in the South African economy, and reduction in worker remittances due to weakening of the South African economy and contraction of the mining sector and related job losses in South Africa. In 2009, GDP growth slowed to 0.9 percent.<ref name="World bank Lesotho: Country Brief"/>

==Economic progress==
Lesotho's progress in moving from a predominantly subsistence-oriented economy to a lower middle income, diversified economy exporting natural resources and manufacturing goods has brought higher, more secure incomes to a significant portion of the population.  The percentage of the population living below USD PPP US$1.25/day fell from 48 percent to 44 percent between 1995 and 2003.<ref name="World bank Lesotho: Country Brief"/> The unemployment rate in 2008 was 25.29% and rose to 27.2% in 2012. However, the unemployment rate fell to 23.06% in 2017. The percentage of the population living below the poverty line fell from 58% in 2002 to 49.2% in 2017.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lesotho Poverty Assessment|date=2019-01-16|publisher=World Bank|doi=10.1596/33030|s2cid=240997140 |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33030/Lesotho-Poverty-Assessment-Progress-and-Challenges-in-Reducing-Poverty.pdf?sequence=1 }}</ref> The country is still among the "Low Human Development" countries (rank 155 of 192) as classified by the UNDP, with 42.3 years of life expectancy at birth. However, adult literacy is very high, at 82%, and children underweight aged under 5 are only 20%.<ref>[http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2009_EN_Complete.pdf Human Development Report 2009]. The United Nations. Retrieved 07 March 2012.</ref>

Lesotho has received [[economic aid]] from a variety of sources, including the [[United States]], the [[World Bank]], the [[United Kingdom]], the [[European Union]], and [[Germany]].

Lesotho has nearly 6,000 kilometers of unpaved and modern all-weather roads. There is a short rail line (freight) linking Lesotho with South Africa that is totally owned and operated by South Africa.

== Sectors ==

=== Apparel ===
Lesotho has taken advantage of the [[African Growth and Opportunity Act]] (AGOA) to become the largest exporter of garments to the US from sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>{{cite web |title=Central Bank of Lesotho - Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA): Economic Impact and Future Prospects |url=http://www.centralbank.org.ls/publications/Econo%20Review%20June%202011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715041226/http://www.centralbank.org.ls/publications/Econo%20Review%20June%202011.pdf |archive-date=2012-07-15 |access-date=2012-02-04}}</ref> American Brands and retailers sourcing from Lesotho include: [[Foot Locker]], [[Gap Inc.|Gap]], Gloria Vanderbilt, [[JCPenney]], [[Levi Strauss & Co.|Levi Strauss]], [[Saks Fifth Avenue|Saks]], [[Sears]], [[Timberland (company)|Timberland]] and [[Walmart|Wal-Mart.]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Purchase for Africa: An appeal for American apparel buys |url=http://insightnews.com/business/5126-purchase-for-africa-an-appeal-for-american-apparel-buys |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101064849/http://insightnews.com/business/5126-purchase-for-africa-an-appeal-for-american-apparel-buys |archive-date=2009-11-01 |access-date=2009-10-28}}</ref> In mid-2004 its employment reached over 50,000 mainly female workers, marking the first time that manufacturing sector workers outnumbered government employees. In 2008 it exported 487 million dollars mainly to the United States. Since 2004 employment in the sector was somehow reduced to about 45,000, in mid-2011, due to intense international competition in the garment sector. It was the largest formal sector employer in Lesotho in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Bank - IFC - Africa Can Compete! The Miracle of Tiny Lesotho—Sub-Saharan Africa's Largest Garment Exporter |url=http://smartlessons.ifc.org/smartlessons/lesson.html?id=1342 |access-date=2012-02-04 |archive-date=2013-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731130428/http://smartlessons.ifc.org/smartlessons/lesson.html?id=1342 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The sector initiated a major program to fight HIV/AIDS, called [[Apparel Lesotho Alliance to fight AIDS|Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS]] (ALAFA). It is an industry-wide program providing prevention and treatment for the workers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA) |url=http://www.alafa.info/Pages/Default.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225072316/http://www.alafa.info/Pages/Default.asp |archive-date=2011-02-25 |access-date=2012-02-04}}</ref>

=== Husbandry ===
[[File:High_mountain_Shepherds.jpg|thumb|High-mountain shepherds]]

The western lowlands form the main agricultural zone. Almost 50% of the population earn income through informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry with nearly two-thirds of the country's income coming from the agricultural sector. About 70% of the population lives in rural areas and works in agriculture.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Lesotho National Human Development Report |year=2015}}</ref>

== Women in the economy ==
While women are more subject to access to secondary schooling than men, men make 1.5 times more income than women.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2016-01-22|title=Human Development Report 2015|journal=Human Development Report|doi=10.18356/ea1ef3b1-en|isbn=9789210576154|issn=2412-3129}}</ref> Prior to the 1950s, Basotho women migrated to South Africa for work due to an agricultural decline. Of those who migrated, many of them were unwed and many stayed in South Africa. Married couples also traveled to South Africa together for work. In 1923, the [[Pass laws|pass law]] Natives (Urban Areas) Act was passed in South Africa which required black men to carry passports with them at all times when in white areas for work. Women were included in an amendment to the law in 1952. The amendment caused a decline in migration of female labor, and by the 1970s, only 36.1% of women over age 39 in Lesotho had worked in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gay|first=Judith S.|date=2009-05-22|title=Basotho Women Migrants : a Case Study|journal=The IDS Bulletin|volume=11|issue=4|pages=19–28|doi=10.1111/j.1759-5436.1980.mp11004005.x|issn=0308-5872|url=http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/10763}}</ref> Lesotho women did not work in mines.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mueller|first=Martha|date=1977|title=Women and Men, Power and Powerlessness in Lesotho|journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=154–166|doi=10.1086/493448|s2cid=143515288 |issn=0097-9740}}</ref>

In the 1980s, Lesotho received aid to help with the manufacturing industry.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lundahl|first1=Mats|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781000243987|title=The Dependent Economy: Lesotho and the Southern African Customs Union|last2=Petersson|first2=Lennart|date=2019-06-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-30998-4|edition=1|language=en|doi=10.4324/9780429309984|s2cid=241841313 }}</ref> The main workers employed in the industry were young women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=TANGRI|first=ROGER|title=Foreign Business and Political Unrest in Lesotho|date=April 1993|journal=African Affairs|volume=92|issue=367|pages=223–238|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098611|issn=1468-2621}}</ref> In 1990, 92% of employees in the textile industry were women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=BAYLIES|first1=CAROLYN|last2=WRIGHT|first2=CAROLINE|title=Female Labour in the Textile and Clothing Industry of Lesotho|date=1993|journal=African Affairs|volume=92|issue=369|pages=577–591|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098666|issn=1468-2621}}</ref>

About 86% of the female population in Lesotho works in the textile industry.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tanga|first1=Pius Tangwe|last2=Tangwe|first2=Magdaline Nji|date=2014-01-02|title=Interplay between economic empowerment and sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry|journal=SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS|language=en|volume=11|issue=1|pages=187–201|doi=10.1080/17290376.2014.976250|pmid=25383704|pmc=4272096|issn=1729-0376|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Natural resources==
Water and diamonds are Lesotho's only significant [[natural resources]]. Water is being extracted through the 30-year, multibillion-dollar [[Lesotho Highlands Water Project]] (LHWP), which was initiated in 1986. The LHWP is designed to capture, store, and transfer water from the [[Orange River]] system and send it to [[South Africa]]'s Free State and greater [[Johannesburg]] area, which features a large concentration of South African [[Manufacturing|industry]], population and agriculture. At the completion of the project, Lesotho should be almost completely self-sufficient in the production of [[electricity]] and also gain income from the sale of electricity to South Africa. The [[World Bank]], [[African Development Bank]], [[European Investment Bank]], and many other [[Bilateral trade|bilateral]] donors are financing the project. Diamonds are produced in Letšeng, Mothae, Liqhobong and Kao mines. The sector suffered a setback in 2008 as the result of the world recession but rebounded in 2010 and 2011. It is a major contributor to the exports of Lesotho.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.centralbank.org.ls/publications/Quart%20Review%20Jun%202011.pdf|title=Central Bank of Lesotho - QUARTERLY REVIEW - June 2011|access-date=2012-03-06|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209055906/http://www.centralbank.org.ls/publications/Quart%20Review%20Jun%202011.pdf|archive-date=2012-02-09}}</ref>

==Other statistics==
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2017.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report for Selected Countries and Subjects|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=1980&ey=2023&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=666&s=NGDP_RPCH,PPPGDP,PPPPC,PCPIPCH,GGXWDG_NGDP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=45&pr.y=8|access-date=2018-09-13|language=en-US}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;"
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! Year
! GDP
(in bil. US$ PPP)
! GDP per capita
(in US$ PPP)
!GDP
(in bil. US$ nominal)
! GDP growth<br />(real)
! Inflation<br />(in percent)
! Government debt<br />(percentage of GDP)
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 1980
| 0.65
| 512
|0.43
| −0.8 %
| 19.6 %
| ...
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 1985
| 1.01
| 736
|0.29
| 3.3 %
| 15.0 %
| ...
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 1990
| 1.50
| 935
|0.64
| 5.2 %
| 12.0 %
| 18 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 1995
| 2.10
| 1,131
|1.03
| 2.8 %
| 9.7 %
| 62 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2000
| 2.68
| 1,440
|0.92
| 4.9 %
| 6.1 %
| 88 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2005
| 3.47
| 1,841
|1.73
| 3.1 %
| 3.6 %
| 49 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2006
| 3.73
| 1,994
|1.72
| 4.4 %
| 6.3 %
| 51 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2007
| 4.02
| 2,144
|1.76
| 5.0 %
| 9.2 %
| 51 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2008
| 4.33
| 2,301
|1.65
| 5.5 %
| 10.7 %
| 45 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2009
| 4.50
| 2,385
|1.94
| 3.1 %
| 5.8 %
| 35 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2010
| 4.84
| 2,560
|2.36
| 6.3 %
| 3.3 %
| 31 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2011
| 5.27
| 2,780
|2.57
| 6.7 %
| 6.0 %
| 33 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2012
| 5.63
| 2,963
|2.47
| 4.9 %
| 5.5 %
| 35 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2013
| 5.85
| 3,068
|2.35
| 2.2 %
| 5.0 %
| 37 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2014
| 6.13
| 3,208
|2.48
| 3.0 %
| 4.6 %
| 37%
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2015
| 6.35
| 3,296
|2.20
| 2.5 %
| 4.3 %
| 41 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2016
| 6.63
| 3,425
|2.21
| 3.1 %
| 6.2 %
| 35 %
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 2017
| 6.96
| 3,581
|2.42
| 3.1 %
| 5.6 %
| 35 %
|}

'''Household income or consumption by percentage share:'''
<br>''lowest 10%:''
0.9%
<br>''highest 10%:''
43.4% (1986–87)

'''Industrial production growth rate:'''
3% (2010)

'''Electricity - consumption:'''
626 GWh (2010/11)

'''Agriculture - products:'''
[[maize]], [[wheat]], [[pulses]], [[sorghum]], [[barley]]; livestock

'''Currency:'''
1 [[Lesotho loti|loti]] (L) = 100 lisente; note - maloti (M) is the plural form of loti

'''Exchange rates:'''
maloti (M) per US$1 – 7.32 (2010), 6.10948 (1999), 3.62709 (1995); note - the Basotho loti is at par with the South African [[Rand (currency)|rand]]

==See also==
* [[Economy of Africa]]
* [[Lesotho]]
* [[List of Basotho companies]]
* [[Child labour in Lesotho]]
* [[United Nations Economic Commission for Africa]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927081607/http://www.mbendi.co.za/land/af/le/p0005.htm MBendi Lesotho overview]
*[http://www.trademap.org/open_access/Index.aspx?proceed=true&reporter=426 Lesotho latest trade data on ITC Trade Map]

{{SACU}}
{{World Trade Organization}}
{{Africa in topic|Economy of}}
{{Lesotho topics}}

[[Category:Economy of Lesotho| ]]
[[Category:World Trade Organization member economies|Lesotho]]
[[Category:African Union member economies|Lesotho]]