sition by sector: agriculture: 41%

industry: 22%

services: 37% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line: 42% (FY95/96 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%:
3.2%

highest 10%: 29.8% (1995-96)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.3% (FY99/00 est.)

Labor force: 10 million (1996 est.)

note: severe lack of skilled labor

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 81%, services 16%, industry
3%

Unemployment rate: NA%; substantial underemployment (1999)

Budget: revenues: $536 million

expenditures: $818 million, including capital expenditures of $NA
(FY96/97 est.)

Industries: tourism, carpet, textile; small rice, jute, sugar, and
oilseed mills; cigarette; cement and brick production

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 1.255 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 9.56%

hydro: 90.44%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 1.309 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 68 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 210 million kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops;
milk, water buffalo meat

Exports: $485 million (f.o.b., 1998), but does not include
unrecorded border trade with India

Exports - commodities: carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods,
grain

Exports - partners: India 33%, US 26%, Germany 25% (FY97/98)

Imports: $1.2 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Imports - commodities: gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum
products, fertilizer

Imports - partners: India 31%, China/Hong Kong 16%, Singapore 14%
(FY97/98)

Debt - external: $2.4 billion (1997)

Economic aid - recipient: $411 million (FY97/98)

Currency: Nepalese rupee (NPR)

Currency code: NPR

Exchange rates: Nepalese rupees per US dollar - 74.129 (January
2001), 71.104 (2000), 68.239 (1999), 65.976 (1998), 58.010 (1997),
56.692 (1996)

Fiscal year: 16 July - 15 July

Nepal Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 236,816 (January 2000)

Telephones - mobile cellular: NA

Telephone system: general assessment: poor telephone and telegraph
service; fair radiotelephone communication service and mobile
cellular telephone network

domestic: NA

international: radiotelephone communications; microwave landline to
India; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 5, shortwave 1 (January