Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout CountryReports.

This glossary contains 1,144 terms used throughout CountryReports — political, economic, cultural, historical, and geographic terminology referenced in country profiles and articles. Terms are drawn from authoritative sources including the Library of Congress.

Andean Group: An economic group, the Andean Common Market, created in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela as a subregional market to improve its members’ bargaining power within the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) and to encourage increased trade and more rapid development. LAFTA, which dated from 1960, was replaced in 1980 by the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración--ALADI), which advocated a regional tariff preference for goods originating in member states. Chile left the Andean Group in 1976. The threat that Peru might withdraw from the pact had receded by August 1992.; Source: Library of Congress
Andean Initiative (or Andean Strategy): At the February 1990 Cartagena (Colombia) Drug Summit, the presidents of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and the United States agreed to mount a regional attack on the drug trade. Their governments thereby qualified for United States counternarcotics assistance. After taking office in July 1990, President Alberto K. Fujimori proposed a comprehensive counternarcotics effort, to include narcotic law enforcement, demand reduction, public diplomacy, and economic development. However, progress in organizing this strategy was hindered by police/military rivalries and corruption. Furthermore, in late September 1990 Fujimori turned down US$35.9 million in authorized FY1990 United States military assistance after the United States failed to meet his concerns about the military focus of its antidrug strategy in Peru. After extensive talks, Fujimori signed the Peru-United States umbrella agreement on drug control and economic assistance on May 14, 1991, establishing a political understanding at the highest level and serving as a framework for a coordinated, comprehensive program to dismantle the drug trade in Peru with assistance with the United States, other developed countries, and international organizations. It addresses the role of the police and military in counternarcotics activities, alternative econmic assistance, crop substitution, and access to establishing legitimate economies versus the cultivation and illicit processing of coca leaf into cocaine products.
Andean Pact: An economic group, the Andean Common Market, created in 1969 by Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru as a subregional market to improve its members’ bargaining power within the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) and to encourage increased trade and more rapid development. LAFTA, which dated from 1960, was replaced in 1980 by the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración--ALADI), which advocated a regional tariff preference for goods originating in member states. Chile left the Pact in 1976. The threat that Peru might withdraw from the Pact had receded by August 1992.
balance of trade: A record of a country’s trade in goods with the rest of the world. The balance of trade differs from the balance of payments (q.v.) because the latter includes transactions for services and the former does not. When the exports of merchandise exceed imports, a country is said to have a balance of trade surplus or to have a favorable balance of trade. When the imports of merchandise exceed exports, a country is said to have a balance of trade deficit or to have an unfavorable balance of trade.
Central American Common Market (CACM): The CACM was established by the Organization of Central American States under the General Treaty of Central American Economic Integration signed in Managua, Nicaragua, on December 15, 1960. Its members include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Its original goals included the establishment of a Central American regional free-trade area, a customs union, and the integration of the industrialization efforts of its member countries. Its efforts were curtailed following the 1969 war between El Salvador and Honduras, when the Hondurans reestablished import duties on CACM products. Despite the continued existence of the organization, most intraregional economic relations have been handled on a bilateral basis since 1970.
CFZ: Colón Free Zone. Free-trade zone in Panama. Goods from foreign countries are landed and stored or repackaged there and shipped onward without being subject to Panama’s customs duties.
colon: El Salvador’s monetary unit, divided into 100 centavos. The colon was pegged by the government at US$1=C2.50 until November 1986, when it was officially devalued to US$1=C5 as part of an overall economic austerity package. As of late 1988, there was no parallel exchange market, but dollars could be traded at a higher rate on the black market.
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): First established in 1962, the CAP aims at ensuring the free trade of farm products within the European Union (EU--q.v.), guaranteeing the prices of these products, and maintaining protective tariffs against farm products from outside the EU.
dinar: Basic currency unit consisting of 1,000 fils; created in 1950 as replacement for the Palestinian pound. Dinar’s value was established at parity with the British pound sterling, or a value of US$2.80 equal to JD1. Jordan, as a member of the sterling area, maintained parity with the British pound until 1967 when the British devalued their currency. Jordan did not follow the pound, retaining the dinar at US$2.80 equal to JD1 through 1972. When United States currency was devalued in 1973, the dinar was unlinked from the dollar, since which time the rate has fluctuated. Beginning in February 1975, the dinar was pegged to the special drawing right (SDR--q.v.). According to International Monetary Fund (IMF--q.v.) data, the average conversion rate of the dinar for trade and other purposes was US$3.04 in 1987, US$2.1 in 1988, and US$1.54 in 1989.
discount rate: Interest rate at which the Bundesbank (q.v.) lends to banks by rediscounting trade bills and treasury bills falling due within three months.
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO): Established in 1985, an economic union of Islamic countries to promote regional cooperation in trade, transportation, communications, culture, and overall economic development. Members in 1996 were Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, the ""Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,"" Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI): A plan announced by President George H.W. Bush on June 27, 1990, calling for the United States to negotiate agreements with selected Latin American countries to reduce their official debt to the United States and make funds available through this restructuring for environmental programs; to stimulate private investment; and to take steps to promote extensive trade liberalization with the goal of establishing free trade throughout the Western Hemisphere.
European Community (EC): The EC comprises three communities: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC, also known as the Common Market), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Each community is a legally distinct body, but since 1967 they have shared common governing institutions. The EC forms more than a framework for free trade and economic cooperation: the signatories to the treaties governing the communities have agreed in principle to integrate their economies and ultimately to form a political union. Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the Federal Republic of Germany (then West Germany) are charter members of the EC. Britain, Denmark, and Ireland joined on January 1, 1973; Greece became a member on january 1, 1981; and Portugal and Spain entered on January 1, 1986. In late 1991, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland applied for membership.; Source: Library of Congress
European Economic Area (EEA): An economic area encompassing all the members of the European Union (EU--q.v.) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA--q.v.), with the exception of Switzerland. Created in May 1992, the EEA went into effect on January 1, 1994. The EEA is a single market for the free movement of labor, services, capital (with some restrictions on investments), and most products. EFTA members have agreed to accept EU regulations in many areas, including company law, education, environmental protection, mergers, and social policy.; Source: Library of Congress
European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Founded in 1960, EFTA aims at supporting free trade among its members and increasing the liberalization of trade on a global basis, particularly within Western Europe. In 1993 the organization’s member states were Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.; Source: Library of Congress
European Union (EU): Until November 1993, the EU was known as the European Community (EC). The EU comprises three communities: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Each community is a legally distinct body, but since 1967 they have shared common governing institutions. The EU forms more than a framework for free trade and economic cooperation: the signatories to the treaties governing the communities have agreed in principle to integrate their economies and ultimately to form a political union. Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) were charter members of the EU; Britain, Denmark, and Ireland joined on January 1, 1973; Greece became a member on January 1, 1981; and Portugal and Spain entered on January 1, 1986.; Source: Library of Congress
franco valuta: A system permitting the private repatriation of hard currency by traders and overseas workers.
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade): An intergovernmental agency related to the United Nations and headquartered in Geneva, GATT was established in 1948 as a multilateral treaty with the aim of liberalizing and stabilizing world trade. GATT’s fundamental principles included nondiscriminatory trade among members, protection of domestic trade through the customs tariff, and agreement on tariff levels through negotiations among the contracting parties. The Uruguay Round of major multilateral trade negotiations, the eighth such round of negotiations, began at Punta del Este in September 1986.
Gdansk Agreement: The first of several major concessions made by the Polish communist government in late 1980 to the rising Solidarity movement. The agreement granted public expression to many groups in Polish society hitherto restricted, promised new economic concessions, removed discredited communist officials, and recognized workers’ right to establish free trade unions.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): An intergovernmental agency related to the United Nations and headquartered in Geneva, GATT was established in 1948 as a multilateral treaty with the aim of liberalizing and stabilizing world trade. GATT’s fundamental principles include nondiscriminatory trade among members, protection of domestic trade through the customs tariff, and agreement on tariff levels through negotiations among the contracting parties. The Uruguay Round of major multilateral trade negotiations, the eighth such round of negotiations, began at Punta del Este in September 1986 and was still underway at the end of 1991.; Source: Library of Congress
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): A policy promoted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development under which developed countries grant tariff exemptions to imports from developing countries. The United States GSP program was authorized by the International Trade and Tariff Act of 1974 and was extended by the International Trade and Tariff Act of 1984. Singapore ""graduated"" from the United States GSP program as of January 1, 1989, as it was no longer considered a developing country.
gourde (G): The Haitian monetary unit, divided into 100 centimes. The official exchange rate of US$1=G5, established in 1919, remained in place in 1989. On the black market, however, the gourde traded at US$1=G7 or higher.
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael (General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel): Commonly known as Histadrut. Founded in 1920, this national- level organization was also the nation’s largest single employer after the government. Histadrut performs many economic and welfare services in addition to trade union activities; leadership of Histadrut has generally been drawn from the Labor Party and its predecessors.; Source: Library of Congress
hard currency: National currencies that are freely convertible and traded on international currency markets.
Industrial Free Zone(s): Also known as free trade zones, or free zones, these industrial parks played host to manufacturing firms that benefited from favorable business conditions extended by a given government in an effort to attract foreign investment and to create jobs. In the Dominican Republic, free-zone enterprises paid no duties on goods directly imported into, or exported from, the free zone. These enterprises also enjoyed exemptions from Dominican taxes for up to twenty years, and they were allowed to pay workers less than the established minimum wage.
Informal Sector: Small, competitive individual or family firms engaged in petty retail trade and services, typically in urban areas.
Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA): A regional group founded by the Montevideo Treaty of 1960 to increase trade and foster development. LAFTA’s failure to make meaningful progress in liberalizing trade among its members or to move toward more extensive integration prompted the leaders of five Andean states to meet in Bogotá in 1966. This meeting led to the creation in 1969 of the Andean Group (q.v.)--consisting of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (Venezuela joined in 1973)--to serve as a subregional structure within LAFTA. LAFTA was replaced in 1980 by the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración--ALADI), which advocated a regional tariff preference for goods originating in member states. ALADI has since declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as the Southern Cone Common Market (q.v.).
Lesser Antilles: The easternmost islands of the West Indies (q.v.) extending from the Virgin Islands through Trinidad and including the small islands off the north coast of South America. Some of these islands are divided further into two subgroups: the Leeward Islands consisting of the northern part of the Lesser Antilles from the Virgin Islands through Dominica and including Anguilla, Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis, Barbuda, Antigua, and Guadeloupe; and the Windward Islands stretching from Martinique through Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent to Grenada. Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, and the islands off the north coast of South America do not belong to either subgroup. The names Leeward and Windward refer to their sheltered (leeward) or exposed (windward) position relative to the prevailing northeasterly trade winds.; Source: Library of Congress
Mauritanian Kadihine Party: Clandestine leftist political party compromised primarily of Mauritanian’s proletariat and other low-wage workers. The party was formed in 1973 after the Mauritanian People’s Party, Mauritania’s sole political party, absorbed the country’s previously independent trade union. Literally kadihine means ""the oppressed"" or ""downtrodden.""
most-favored-nation status: Under the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), when one country accords another most-favored- nation status it agrees to extend to that country the same trade concessions, e.g., lower tariffs or reduced nontariff barriers, which it grants to any other recipients having most-favored- nation status. As of January 1992, Albania had not been a member of GATT and had not received most-favored-nation status from the United States.; Source: Library of Congress
new Israeli shekel (NIS): In September 1985, the new Israeli shekel (NIS) went into circulation, replacing the Israeli shekel that had existed since 1980. (Before 1980 the Israeli currency was called the Israeli pound or lira.) The NIS is equivalent to 1,000 old Israeli shekels and is divided into 100 agorot. The requirement for the NIS stemmed from the very rapid inflation rate of the preceding years, which also resulted in dramatic devaluation of the old shekel against foreign currencies; for example, from 1980 to 1985 the old shekel lost value against the United States dollar by 25,000 percent. As of August 1986, the NIS was no longer pegged to the United States dollar but rather to a trade-weighted basket of foreign currencies: 60 percent United States dollar, 20 percent West German deutschmark, 10 percent British pound, 5 percent French franc, and 5 percent Japanese yen. The currency notes in circulation are 5, 10, 50, and 100 NIS.; Source: Library of Congress
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): A free trade agreement comprising Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Tripartite negotiations to form NAFTA began among these countries in June 1991 and were concluded in August 1992. The United States Congress finally ratified NAFTA in November 1993, and the agreement went into effect on January 1, 1994. NAFTA was expected to create a free trade area with a combined population of 356 million and a GDP (q.v.) of more than US$6 trillion. Chile was expected to be incorporated into NAFTA as of January 1, 1995.
Panch Shila: Literally, five principles of foreign policy: mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual nonaggression, mutual noninterference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. The Panch Shila were enunciated by Jawaharlal Nehru in April 1954 in a trade agreement with China and adopted as a keystone of relations among nations at the Asian-African Conference (the Bandung Conference) held in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955.
Paris Club: The informal name for a consortium of Western creditor countries (Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) that have made loans or have guaranteed export credits to developing nations and that meet in Paris to discuss borrowers’ ability to repay debts. Paris Club deliberations often result in the tendering of emergency loans to countries in economic difficulty or in the rescheduling of debts. Formed in October 1962, the organization has no formal or institutional existence. Its secretariat is run by the French treasury. It has a close relationship with the International Monetary Fund (q.v.), to which all of its members except Switzerland belong, as well as with the World Bank (q.v.) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Paris Club is also known as the Group of Ten (G-10).; Source: Library of Congress
pukpang chongch'aek: Also seen as Nordpolitik, or northern policy. Reconciling traditional ties with the West with new opportunities in the east; establishing self-reliant global posture; expanding and diversifying trade relations on global scale to cope with trade protectionism from the United States; improving relations with P’yongyang.
rupee: (Rs) or Nepalese rupee (NRs), the unit of currency, universal since the late 1960s. The Nepalese rupee is linked to the Indian rupee and is fully convertible although restrictions were imposed during the 1989-90 trade and transit dispute. The equivalency rate used in Chapter 1 is Rs2.1=US$1 in 1919. By 1973 the official exchange rate was Rs6.55=US$1; in 1991, Rs30.80=US$1. One Nepalese rupee = 100 paisa.; Source: Library of Congress
rupee (R or Re; pl., Rs): The national currency, consisting of 100 paisa. From 1947 to 1972, Pakistan was a member of the sterling area, but in 1971, when the United States dollar was devalued, the rupee was unpegged from sterling and pegged to the dollar at the rate of Rs4.76 per US$1. On May 12, 1972, the rupee was devalued from Rs4.76 to Rs11 per US$1. In February 1973, when the dollar was again devalued, the rupee maintained its value in terms of gold, and its value in relation to the dollar rose to Rs9.90 per US$1, where it remained until January 1982. After January 1982, the rupee was pegged to a market basket of currencies important to Pakistan’s trade. The rupee subsequently depreciated steadily against the dollar, reaching Rs30.30 to US$1 at the end of February 1994. Notes are printed in denominations of Rs 1000, 500, 100, 50, 10, 5, 2, and 1. Coins are minted in denominations of Rs1, as well as 50, 10, 5, 2, and 1 paisa.
Solidarity: An independent trade union founded in 1980 in communist Poland. For its defiance of the communist system, the union attained great political power through the loyalty of a large part of the Polish population. It eventually formed the basis of the first postwar noncommunist Polish government, under the leadership of Lech Walesa.; Source: Library of Congress
structural adjustment loan: A program loan, often by the World Bank (q.v.), to effect a structural adjustment program to liberalize an economy. Programs involve maintaining a flexible exchange rate, lowering tariffs, removing quantitative restrictions on international trade, and relaxing price and other market controls.
structuralists: Advocates of structuralism, an economic policy that blames chronic inflation primarily on foreign trade dependency, insufficient local production, especially in agriculture, and political struggles among entrenched vested interests over government contracts. Structuralists advocate encouraging economic development and modernization through Keynesian and neo-Keynesian policies of governmental stimulative actions, accompanied by organizational reforms. Structuralists contend that monetarist (q.v.) policies retard growth and support the status quo.
terms of trade: Number of units that must be given up for one unit of goods by each party, e.g., nation, to a transaction. The terms of trade are said to move in favor of the party that gives up fewer units of goods than it did previously for one unit of goods received, and against the party that gives up more units of goods for one unit of goods received. In international economics, the concept of ""terms of trade"" plays an important role in evaluating exchange relationships between nations.; Source: Library of Congress
TUC.: Trade Union Congress.
UGSR: Uniunea Generalâ a Sindicatelor din România (General Union of Trade Unions). Official organization incorporating all labor unions of blue- and white-collar workers. Membership in 1985 was 7.3 million.
United States Export-Import Bank (Eximbank): An independent corporate agency of the United States government, founded in 1934 to stimulate foreign trade during the Great Depression. The Eximbank facilitates export financing of United States goods and services by neutralizing the effect of export credit subsidies from other governments and by absorbing reasonable credit risks beyond the reach of the private sector.; Source: Library of Congress
Uruguay Round: The trade negotiating round, under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT--q.v.), concluded at the end of 1993. It pitted the United States against France and some other European Union (EU--q.v.) states over EU agricultural subsidies, with Germany in the middle. A compromise was reached, including agreement for establishing a World Trade Organization (WTO). On January 1, 1996, GATT was succeeded by the WTO.
wn: North Korean currency, also used as a monetary unit in South Korea although its value differs. The North Korean wn is divided into 100 chon and has multiple exchange rates--such as for official transactions and for commercial rates in most foreign trade. As of December 1991, US$1=97.1 chon.
World Trade Organization (WTO): Established 1995 as successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), aimed at liberalizing and securing international trade. Formed in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, the WTO had 115 member nations in 1996, and fifteen others applied WTO rules to their trade policies. Administered by a general council, trade dispute negotiation panel, and secretariat.