purchasing power parity - $4,900 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 9.2%
industry: 31.1%
services: 59.7% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
2.75 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 17.1%, industry 17.1%, services 65.8% (2003 est.)

Unemployment rate:
6.3% - but the economy has much underemployment (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
36.1% (2003 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.4%
highest 10%: 39.3% (2001)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
52.5 (2001)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.4% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
16.6% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $2.491 billion
expenditures: $2.782 billion, including capital expenditures of NA
(2004 est.)

Public debt:
41.7% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products:
coffee, sugar, corn, rice, beans, oilseed, cotton, sorghum; shrimp;
beef, dairy products

Industries:
food processing, beverages, petroleum, chemicals, fertilizer,
textiles, furniture, light metals

Industrial production growth rate:
0.7% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production:
4.158 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 44%
hydro: 30.9%
nuclear: 0%
other: 25.1% (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
4.45 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - exports:
91 million kWh (2004)

Electricity - imports:
473 million kWh (2004)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
39,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Current account balance:
$-880.5 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$3.249 billion (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
offshore assembly exports, coffee, sugar, shrimp, textiles,
chemicals, electricity

Exports - partners:
US 65.6%, Guatemala 11.8%, Honduras 6.3% (2004)

Imports:
$5.968 billion (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
raw materials, consumer goods, capital goods, fuels, foodstuffs,
petroleum, electricity

Imports - partners:
US 46.3%, Guatemala 8.1%, Mexico 6% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.888 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$4.792 billion (September 2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$125 million of which, $53 million from US (2003)

Currency (code):
US dollar (USD)

Currency code:
USD

Exchange rates:
the US dollar became El Sa