Trade and services
News •
Export revenue is derived chiefly from clothing and textiles, vanilla, cloves, fish and shellfish, and various food products. Some agricultural exports, particularly cloves and vanilla, have been threatened by world overproduction or by the manufacture of synthetic substitutes.
Imports include crude petroleum, chemical and metal products, machinery and equipment, vehicles, cotton textiles and other basic manufactures, and essential foods and live animals. Although trade with France fell sharply after 1972, France remains an important trading partner. Others include China and the United States.
Madagascar’s unique biodiversity and rich cultural heritage have the potential to form the foundation of a thriving tourism industry. In the late 1980s the Malagasy government introduced a program designed to encourage tourism to the country, and progress has been made, with tourist arrivals to Madagascar—though interrupted by the political conflict of the 2001 election—on the increase.
Labour and taxation
Most union members hold office jobs or work in industry. Popular and extensive trade unions include the Fédération des Syndicats des Travailleurs de Madagascar, the Sendika Kristianina Malagasy (Christian Confederation of Malagasy Trade Unions), and the Union des Syndicats Autonomes de Madagascar.
Tax revenue is derived mainly from trade taxes, taxes on domestic goods and services, and tax applied to corporate income and profit; income derived from property tax is the least significant. Tax collection and revenue are generally quite centralized, and tax evasion remains a significant problem in Madagascar. At the beginning of the 21st century, the proportion of Madagascar’s income derived from tax revenue was quite low, and increasing revenue in order to reduce Madagascar’s ongoing dependence on aid remained an important goal.
Transportation and telecommunications
Transport facilities serve primarily the plateau and the east coast. Facilities are less developed on the western half of the island, although the country’s best natural harbours are located there.
The majority of roads are unpaved. Roads down the eastern escarpment and across the western coastal strip, as well as minor roads everywhere, become impassable during the wet season. The main paved road runs south from Antananarivo to Fianarantsoa, where branches include those that head southwest to Toliara, southeast to Tôlan̈aro via Ihosy, and east to Mananjary and Manakara. There are also paved roads that run east from Antananarivo toward Toamasina, west to Analavory, and north to Mahajanga and Antsiranana.
Railways include those connecting the plateau with the east coast, which run from Antananarivo to Toamasina and from Fianarantsoa to Manakara; plateau routes include those that run from Antananarivo south to Antsirabe, to Fianarantsoa, and north to Ambatondrazaka.
Two main ports are located at Toamasina, which has a fine deepwater harbour equipped with quay berths and directly linked to Antananarivo by rail, air service, and road, and at Mahajanga, which is second in importance. The port at Toamasina has been badly damaged on several occasions by the cyclones that intermittently strike the island.
Although remote from the main centres of economic activity, the harbour at Antsiranana is one of the finest natural harbours in the world; it contains the former French naval base, arsenal, and dry dock and also has a small commercial port. The coastal lagoons and swamps of the Pangalanes Canal on the east coast, which are linked by artificial channels where necessary, provide a waterway that is more than 370 miles (600 km) long.
Numerous airfields are found throughout the island, aiding domestic travel across the sizable and difficult landscape. The main international airport is at Ivato, near Antananarivo, and some international flights make secondary landings at Toamasina, Nosy Be, and Mahajanga. Air Madagascar provides domestic and international service, as do other airlines.
Although Madagascar’s telephone service is considered to be better than the regional average, overall only a small proportion of Malagasy have access to landline or mobile telephone service. Internet access is mainly limited to urban areas.
Government and society
Constitutional framework
The Malagasy Republic became independent in 1960, after a brief period as an autonomous republic in the French Community from 1958. Between 1972 and 1975 Madagascar was under military rule. Socialist political and economic reorganization was instituted in 1975, and a new constitution was implemented later that year for the renamed Democratic Republic of Madagascar. The public grew increasingly dissatisfied with the political and economic conditions of the country, and by the early 1990s the demand for change led to a gradual transition to democracy and a free market economy. In 1992 the country adopted a new name, the Republic of Madagascar, along with a new constitution that underwent subsequent revision. In 2009, following months of political unrest, a transitional regime came to power. A new constitution was passed by referendum in November 2010 and promulgated on December 11, 2010. The first democratically elected president under the 2010 constitution was inaugurated in January 2014.
Madagascar’s current constitution provides for a unitary republic with a president as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of government. The president is elected by popular vote to no more than two five-year terms. The president appoints the prime minister, who is presented by the majority party or coalition in the National Assembly. The legislative branch is bicameral and consists of the aforementioned National Assembly and the Senate. The members of the National Assembly are directly elected to five-year terms. The members of the Senate—one-third are presidential appointments, two-thirds are indirectly elected—also have five-year terms.
Local government
For administrative purposes, Madagascar is divided into a system of decentralized territorial collectivities: provinces, regions, and communes. The provinces, the largest units, are further divided into regions, which are subdivided into communes. Each province is administered by a directly elected head of the province and an elected provincial council. Regional administrations follow a similar structure, with a directly elected head of the region and an elected regional council. Communes, which are classified as either urban or rural, have directly elected administrations.
Justice
The former Merina state that ruled the island throughout the 19th century had an elaborate system of laws, courts, and justice. The present legal system, however, is based upon French codes and practices. There is a High Constitutional Court, a High Court of Justice, a Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and tribunals.
Security
The army played no direct political role in Madagascar until 1972, although the presence of French army units had bolstered the former government. The French troops were withdrawn in 1973, and the French naval base at Antsiranana was handed over to Madagascar in 1975. The Malagasy armed forces consist of an army, a navy, and an air force. There is also a large paramilitary force, as well as a secret police. Detachments of local police are stationed at the headquarters of each administrative division, as well as in Antananarivo. The whole force is under unified command and falls within the responsibility of the ministry of the interior.
Health and welfare
The majority of Malagasy citizens live in rural areas. Conditions of life vary greatly from region to region; some regions, especially those where cash crops are grown, are relatively prosperous and well-linked with the cities, while others—particularly those in the south—are isolated and subject to periodic famine. All regions are dependent on agriculture, and the eastern regions suffer frequently from the devastating cyclones that are a feature of the Malagasy climate. Rural areas generally lack many of the amenities that are available to even the urban poor, including access to electricity, running water, and safe drinking water.
Although infant mortality remains significantly higher than the world average, infant deaths from malaria, which is endemic all over the island, have been much reduced. Debilitating parasitic diseases, such as schistosomiasis, an infection of the bladder or intestines, remain serious and are hard to control, since the parasites’ breeding grounds are the irrigated rice fields and the streams that feed them. Sexually transmitted diseases are also widespread, although Madagascar has one of the lowest rates of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Malagasy doctors began to practice Western medicine in the late 19th century, and a medical school was established in Antananarivo in 1897. The health system includes principal and secondary hospitals, dispensaries, and medical centres. Medical personnel include doctors as well as pharmacists, dentists, midwives, social assistants, visiting nurses, and health assistants. However, there is a significantly imbalanced patient-to-doctor ratio, in part because many of those graduating with health care-related degrees from Malagasy institutions have been drawn to other sectors or to more lucrative positions abroad. Furthermore, hospitals and specialists are located mainly in the towns, with the exception of some rural hospitals run by Christian missions, and it is difficult for many Malagasy citizens to access health care facilities. Health insurance and other social benefits are available mainly to better-paid workers and professionals among the employed population.
Housing
Houses are typically rectangular and crowned with steeply angled roofs. In the rural areas, most houses are made of either mud and wattle or woven matting supported by poles. In the eastern forest, they are built of interlaced split bamboo and are thatched with palm. In the south, overlapping upright wooden planks are used for walls. On the plateau, rural housing is constructed of earth blocks and thatched roofing, while upper-income and most urban housing consists of two- or three-story homes—typically with the kitchen at the top, living quarters in the middle, and storage below—all surrounded by wide balconies supported by brick columns and crowned with steep tiled roofs. This is the lofty Indonesian style of architecture, transformed by new techniques contributed by the missionaries. The original style survives in the house of King Andrianampoinimerina (reigned 1787–1810) at Ambohimanga and reached its pinnacle in the Queen’s Palace built by Jean Laborde in the 19th century; the palace was destroyed by fire in 1995.
The government-sponsored housing authority conducts research into design, materials, and production methods and is seeking to promote inexpensive urban housing, but the problem of overcrowding is expected to increase with continued urban growth.
Education
The educational system consists of primary and secondary schools, technical institutes, teacher-training colleges, and a university system. Education is compulsory between ages 6 and 13. Primary education, which is free, begins at age six and consists of five years of study. Secondary education consists of a four-year cycle of study, followed by a three-year cycle. Universities in Madagascar include the University of Antananarivo (1961), the University of Mahajanga (1977), and the University of Fianarantsoa (1988). There has been an increased use of the Malagasy language in teaching, although some coastal peoples have objected because of the written language’s close relationship to the Merina people.
The level of school attendance and educational attainment is higher on the plateau than in the coastal areas. Protestant and Roman Catholic missions have been providing education since the 19th century, and the missions continue to educate a large proportion of the schoolchildren, although the government maintains official schools at all levels and is attempting to phase out private education. In the main towns there are other privately run schools, which serve those unable to enter either government or mission schools. About two-thirds of women and about three-fourths of men in Madagascar are literate, a trend that indicates a remarkable increase in the country’s overall rate of literacy since the mid-1960s, when less than two-fifths of the population was literate.
Cultural life
Cultural milieu
Malagasy culture is largely composed of Indonesian elements, with other influences evident. Arabic and Islamic contributions include sikidy, an intricate system of divination, and calendrical features, such as the Arabic-derived names of the days of the week, which also apply to the markets held on those days. The coastal areas of the west, north, and south might be expected to show African cultural elements, but, apart from some Bantu words, these are often difficult to identify conclusively.
