war, removed
a major obstacle to foreign investment, but widespread political
violence and corruption scandals continue to dampen investor
confidence. The distribution of income remains highly unequal, with
perhaps 75% of the population below the poverty line. Ongoing
challenges include increasing government revenues, negotiating
further assistance from international donors, upgrading both
government and private financial operations, curtailing drug
trafficking, and narrowing the trade deficit.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $56.5 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
2.1% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $4,100 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 22.5%
industry: 18.9%
services: 58.5% (2003 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
15.2% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
75% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 46% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
55.8 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.5% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
3.84 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 50%, industry 15%, services 35% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate:
7.5% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $2.741 billion
expenditures: $3.316 billion, including capital expenditures of $750
million (2003 est.)

Public debt:
30.8% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
sugarcane, corn, bananas, coffee, beans, cardamom; cattle, sheep,
pigs, chickens

Industries:
sugar, textiles and clothing, furniture, chemicals, petroleum,
metals, rubber, tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
4.1% (1999)

Electricity - production:
6.237 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
5.559 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
336 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
95 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
21,080 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
61,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:
263 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
1.543 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$-1.106 billion (2003)

Exports:
$2.763 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
coffee, sugar, bananas, fruits and vegetables, cardamom, meat,
apparel, petroleum, elect