rochemicals, cement, construction, fertilizer, plastics

Industrial production growth rate: 1% (1997 est.)

Electricity - production: 120 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 100%

hydro: 0%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 111.6 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, tomatoes, melons, dates,
citrus; mutton, chickens, eggs, milk

Exports: $81.2 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Exports - commodities: petroleum and petroleum products 90%

Exports - partners: Japan 18%, US 18%, France 4%, South Korea,
Singapore, India (1999)

Imports: $30.1 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs,
chemicals, motor vehicles, textiles

Imports - partners: US 25%, Japan 10%, Germany 7%, Italy 5%, France,
UK (1999)

Debt - external: $26.3 billion (2000 est.)

Economic aid - donor: pledged $100 million in 1993 to fund
reconstruction of Lebanon; since 1993, Saudi Arabia has committed
$208 million for assistance to the Palestinians

Currency: Saudi riyal (SAR)

Currency code: SAR

Exchange rates: Saudi riyals per US dollar - 3.7450 (fixed rate
since June 1986)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Saudi Arabia Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 3.1 million (1998)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 1 million

note: in 1998, the government contracted for the installation of
575,000 additional Group Speciale Mobile (GSM) cellular telephone
lines over 15 months to raise the total number of subscribers to
more than one million; Riyadh planned to further expand the GSM
system in 1999 by adding an additional one million lines (1998)

Telephone system: general assessment: modern system

domestic: extensive microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and
fiber-optic cable systems

international: microwave radio relay to Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait,
Qatar, UAE, Yemen, and Sudan; coaxial cable to Kuwait and Jordan;
submarine cable to Djibouti, Egypt and Bahrain; satellite earth
stations - 5 Intelsat (3 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1
Arabsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 43, FM 31, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 6.25 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 117 (1997)

Televisions: 5.1 million (1997)

Internet country code: .sa

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 42 (2001)