nt account balance:
$-843.1 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$750 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, tobacco, sugar, gold, peanuts

Exports - partners:
US 64.8%, El Salvador 7%, Mexico 3.6% (2004)

Imports:
$2.02 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
consumer goods, machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum
products

Imports - partners:
US 22.6%, Costa Rica 8.5%, Venezuela 8.4%, Guatemala 6.8%, Mexico
5.8%, El Salvador 4.9%, South Korea 4.5% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$670 million (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$4.573 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$541.8 million (2003)

Currency (code):
gold cordoba (NIO)

Currency code:
NIO

Exchange rates:
gold cordobas per US dollar - 15.937 (2004), 15.105 (2003), 14.251
(2002), 13.372 (2001), 12.684 (2000)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Nicaragua

Telephones - main lines in use:
171,600 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
202,800 (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: inadequate system being upgraded by foreign
investment
domestic: low-capacity microwave radio relay and wire system being
expanded; connected to Central American Microwave System
international: country code - 505; satellite earth stations - 1
Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region) and 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 63, FM 32, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios:
1.24 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
3 (plus seven low-power repeaters) (1997)

Televisions:
320,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.ni

Internet hosts:
7,094 (2003)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
3 (2000)

Internet users:
90,000 (2002)

Transportation Nicaragua

Railways:
total: 6 km
narrow gauge: 6 km 1.067-m gauge (2004)

Highways:
total: 18,712 km
paved: 2,126 km
unpaved: 16,586 km (2002)

Waterways:
2,220 km (including lakes Managua and Nicaragua) (1997)

Pipelines:
oil 54 km (2004)

Ports and harbors:
Bluefields, Corinto, El Bluff

Airports:
176 (2004 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 11
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 165
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 23
under 914 m: 141 (2004 est.)

Military Nicarag