cing sound financial policies, invigorating
privatization, and pursuing structural reforms. Additionally, strong
assistance from international financial institutions - most notably
the IMF which approved a three-year Extended Fund Facility worth
approximately $900 million in September 1998 - played a critical
role in turning the economy around. After several years of tumult,
Bulgaria's economy has stabilized. Its better-than-expected economic
performance in 1999 - despite the impact of the Kosovo conflict, the
1998 Russian financial crisis, and structural reforms - and strong
growth in 2000 portends solid growth over the next few years; this
assumes continued fiscal restraint, additional structural reforms,
aid from abroad, and prosperous times in the EU economy.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $48 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,200 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 15%

industry: 29%

services: 56% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line: 35% (2000 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%:
3.4%

highest 10%: 22.5% (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10.4% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 3.83 million (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 26%, industry 31%, services
43% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate: 17.7% (2000 est.)

Budget: revenues: $4.85 billion

expenditures: $4.92 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(2000 est.)

Industries: electricity, gas and water; food, beverages and tobacco;
machinery and equipment, base metals, chemical products, coke,
refined petroleum, nuclear fuel

Industrial production growth rate: 10.8% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production: 36.217 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 51.52%

hydro: 8.35%

nuclear: 40.12%

other: 0.01% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 33.182 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 2.2 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 1.7 billion kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock,
wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets

Exports: $4.8 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: clothing, footwear, iron and steel, machinery
and equipment, fuels

Exports - partners: Italy 14%, Turkey 10%, Germany 9%, Greece 8%,
Yugoslavia 8%, Belgium 6%, France 5%, US 4% (2000)

Imports: $5.9 billion